Courtyard by Marriott Savannah Downtown/Historic District — Hotel in Savannah

I stayed a single night at the Courtyard, one of downtown Savannah’s many mediocre chain hotels.||||As its name suggests, the hotel is located downtown and near the historic area of Savannah. I would say a fair location description is downtown, as most of the surroundings are urban and not historic. Still, anywhere you want to go within the historic district is no more than 15 minutes walking distance (at a leisurely pace). So, overall, the location is pretty good.|| ||The hotel was built in the late 1990s or early 2000s, although it’s been extensively renovated recently. Aesthetically, the exterior is attractive with brick and cast stone. They've made an architectural attempt to complement the surrounding buildings. The renovation was pretty good, as the new design is much better than earlier Courtyard design iterations. The overall design/décor was more reminiscent of a full-service hotel than a limited-service Courtyard. ||||Whether they can maintain the product that they have is a different question. I encountered signs of wear and tear, including carpets, scuffed walls, a broken cover on the air conditioning unit, and mold or mildew in the walk-in showers. Also in the shower, there was also an extensive amount of hair from a previous guest.||||Additionally, one of two elevators was broken and out of service for the duration of my stay. So, there’s only one functional elevator for a 5-story hotel with 156 rooms. The second elevator is broken. And to make matters worse, the one functional elevator has an expired elevator license. Also, the HVAC system is awful. Even after reaching the desired temperature, the air conditioning never shuts off. It just runs nonstop. ||||The outdoor pool and fitness areas are attractive, although I’m not sure the pool gets much sun due to building obstructions. The gym is well-equipped with modern equipment. ||||The most significant issues I encountered were service and F&B.||||The overall service was somewhere between nonexistent and incompetent. Operationally, the hotel is terrible. ||||Upon arrival, the three valet parking attendants never offered any assistance with bags, but of course they had a big sign at their desk asking for tips. Talk about unprofessional and obnoxious. ||||Inside, the front desk clerk was working by herself. This occurred throughout the stay—the front desk clerk was always alone. I never saw a second front desk clerk, even during peak check-out and check-in times when a long line formed at the front desk. I never saw anyone who looked like a supervisor or manager emerge from the back office to assist the overworked front desk. ||||Ahead of my arrival, I requested and confirmed only 100 percent feather pillows, but of course that request wasn’t fulfilled, despite the confirmation. I received a room with polyester or down alternative pillows. If they can’t fulfill such a basic request, they probably can’t do anything above that. ||||Inside my room, the shampoo and conditioner dispensers in the walk-in shower were empty. When I used the Marriott mobile application to request additional toiletries, including lotion and a dental kit, I was told to come down to the front desk because there was no staff to deliver the items. At the front desk, the clerk told me they no longer provide lotion. How does a hotel not provide a mini-bottle of lotion if a guest requests it? And, more importantly, how does a 156-room Courtyard not have staff working at 4 pm to deliver items? I could understand if it was the middle of the night and only the night auditor was working. But at 4 pm, there should be sufficient staff to operate the hotel properly.||||At check-in, the front desk clerk offered me a choice of points or breakfast. Courtyard is a Marriott brand that doesn’t provide platinum and higher Bonvoy elites their standard breakfast benefit. Instead, you typically get a $10 per person, per day F&B credit. The front desk clerk said because of my ambassador status, I could get breakfast. So, of course, I chose breakfast. ||||The following day, I wasn’t hungry and asked the front desk clerk if I could just convert the breakfast into the $10 F&B credit. This was a different front desk clerk. She denied that I had a breakfast credit as if I would make that up. After I pushed back, she gave me a $10 F&B voucher that I went to redeem in the bistro. All I wanted was a coffee. ||||When I went to the bistro, I encountered Christy, the F&B manager, and an unknown black female employee getting into a confrontational discussion because the food was coming out of the kitchen and they had no idea whose food it was. Meanwhile, many customers sat at tables with no food or coffee. It looked like a complete disaster. I ordered a cup of coffee after interrupting their discussion, which should have occurred away from guests. I handed over my voucher but was told it couldn’t be redeemed because I had to purchase at least $10.00 for the $10 F&B voucher to apply. Christy said she would give me the coffee for free. While that was kind, that was absurd. That’s not how the voucher works. If I want to buy a $5 drink and lose the remaining $5, then that’s on me. But they can’t refuse to accept the voucher because you haven’t spent over $10.00. Otherwise, the $10 voucher merely becomes a $10.00 discount. The F&B manager should know better. ||||I went to the bistro at 5 pm the previous night for a drink. For whatever reason, they don’t open the bar earlier. Why would you not have the bar fully open at 3 pm so guests who check-in can spend money at your hotel having a drink and not go to an off-property bar or restaurant? It’s complete malpractice. Anyway, I show up at 5 pm and the bistro is closed. No staff. By 5:15 or 5:20 pm, one staff member finally shows up and gets the bistro opened. I ask for a glass of chardonnay. He says they don’t have chardonnay. They only had one white wine, a half-empty bottle of sauvignon blanc. That’s it. Nothing else. ||||How does a hotel bar not have chardonnay or a full range of wines and other drinks? More incompetence and more malpractice. ||||So, I walked about 5 minutes to Toasted Barrel Savannah at the Springhill Suites, another Marriott hotel. Toasted is a great little bar with a full range of drinks and a good food menu. In other words, it’s everything the Courtyard bistro isn’t. The Courtyard's owner or management should be embarrassed by their F&B operation. ||||All things considered, the location of the Courtyard is good. The rates are reasonable, although the overall value just isn’t there. You might as well stay at the Cambria, the Springhill, or any of the other half-dozen similarly priced and similarly positioned hotels within walking distance. The owner or management of the Courtyard isn’t making a serious effort. Just think of how much money they could make if they had a competent F&B operation that captured guests’ money instead of losing money because 99% of guests go off-property to eat and drink. ||||Absent a significant service improvement, I wouldn’t return to...

Horrible customer service and even worse resolution. First, the hotel is extremely poorly lit, cramped, and dirty. The staff were stressed, anxious, and unfriendly. My girlfriend and I drove down from Northern Ohio, and chose this location because it was in the historic district and close to bars, restaurants, etc., so we could drink and enjoy the city without worrying about driving. I prepaid for the rooms and booked weeks early to avoid any issues with the check-in. When we arrived, the group before us was admitted with no problem, as was the group behind. Yet when we went to the desk, we were informed that due to "renovations" we were not able to stay in the hotel, and they had instead moved us to a hotel 25 MINUTES OUTSIDE OF THE HISTORIC DISTRICT. I asked why they didn't inform me of it sooner so I could make alternative arrangements, they told me they sent me an email ONE HOUR EARLIER (didn't even call). I explained that the entire point of the trip was to be in this district so I could drink and enjoy and didn't have to drive, and was met with absolutely no sympathy front the front desk guy, whereas in the past at other Marriott when I've encountered this situation they do a good job of making it right and working with the customer. Luckily, I was able to make arrangements at another hotel for the exact same price, better location, and way better ambiance and customer service. Also, I asked to speak with another representative who told me that the hotel had overbooked by 25 ROOMS. A lot of unhappy customers followed me, I'm sure.

My advice is to not give this place your business, not even because of the bad customer service and dark, dirty environment, but because its abundantly clear that they purposely overbooked the hotel and waited until the last possible minute to inform their customers in order to ensure they had limited options, and instead of making it right like I've known Marriott to do to with its loyal Bonvoy members (upgrading, putting us in a better location, etc), they put them in a dingy, cheap holiday Inn 25 minutes out of town.

I stay at Marriotts every city I travel to, because they've always done a good job at ENHANCING my experience, helping me troubleshoot and figure out an acceptable solution to everyone, even when things don't go to plan, not make it more stressful. That wasn't the case here, and it's made me rethink my loyalty. There are plenty of great, affordable hotels in historic savannah with a better environment and customer service. My advice is to go there and allow yourself to start your trip the right way. I...

I will never stay at this hotel ever in my life. There is a mandatory $30/day valet parking charge because there is no other parking in the area. So, when my husband tried to get our car from the valet to pick me up from a conference, he was expecting his car but the car was not there. The valet said he did not know where the keys or the car were and he was not going to tried to find the keys either. So, my husband goes to the front desk where the staff is smirking like they thought this situation was funny. Finally, he got a manager who put his hand on his shoulder and told my husband "What do you want me to do about your car???" My husband said I want you to take your hands off me and find my car before I call the police and report it stolen by the valet. Then, you need to fire the front desk staff and the valet parking staff for being incompetent and rude. Finally, after 50 minutes or arguing with staff and the manager, the car magically appeared. No apology; no waiving the valet fee for their sheer ignorance and incompetence. The staff and manager acted like nothing had happened. INCREDIBLE!!!!

The next incident was a 2am fire alarm. There was no staff to tell us where to go so all the guests just went down the stairs and we walked out to the back of the hotel. Again, no staff no where in sight. After about 40 minutes in the savannah heat and humidity at 3 in the morning, we all decided to walk to the front of the hotel to see what was going on. The firefighters told us it was all clear and we could return the hotel. So we go in and there is the entire staff. They were just having a great time in the air conditioning while we were burning up in the heat outside. The staff was looking at us smirking. They thought it was funny that we were left outside.

The room itself was super dusty. I had to use my inhaler everyday I was there and the bed spread had a cigarette burn stain on it. The wall unit air conditioner was so loud that I could not sleep at night but I could not turn it off because it would be hot and suffocating in that room. But, the bed was very comfortable I will give them that.

I would not recommend this hotel to my enemy. Another guest complained that the maid threatened to physically assault him and the manager was like I have to hear both sides of the story. INCREDIBLE!!! Just pay extra and go to a nice hotel on Bay Street so you can actually be near the river and the nice stuff. This place...