Residence Inn by Marriott Arundel Mills BWI Airport — Hotel in Severn

I stayed here for 6 weeks in a 2-bedroom suite and am checking out today. These are my experiences: Housekeeping comes only once a week. The last long-term hotel (also during COVID) I stayed in serviced the rooms with hard cleanings three times per week and soft cleaning three times per week.  This hotel did not do so.  Regardless, I accepted the fact anyway; however, the service is still lacking. The toiletries were never replenished and I always had to request it at the front desk. The room is very dusty and not thoroughly cleaned. I ended up purchasing my own vacuum (since the reason we are at the hotel is because we are waiting for our house to close) and supplementing with my own cleaning.  You would not believe the amount of dust I picked up in the common areas. I filled half of the dust container in just one pass of the room. My daughter and I have documented dust allergies, and the level of cleanliness is horrendous.  Additionally, I still find strands of hair in the tub after it has been “cleaned.” The room was not properly stocked and inventoried before we checked in.  For example, we had one butter knife and one fork.  The telephone in the room does not work. Additionally, the communication between the front desk and cleaning staff is subpar. Sometimes, I was able to get an extra cleaning day in, but I never knew when. Although the front staff told me I could schedule a day or request a time, often the cleaning did not happen when expected. This is quite frustrating because the new hotel COVID rule requires us to vacate the room for cleaning. I am pregnant with two young children. Vacating the room with them is a large chore. One time, we left for the whole day and came back to an unclean room. The kids were tired from the day out and needed a nap. The cleaning staff decided that was the time they would clean so I had to move my sleeping kids out of the room or risk that my room will not get clean for a week. On that note, there was another instance when I literally did not have my room cleaned for a week and a half.  One Wednesday, to receive better communication, I called the front desk to see if the cleaning staff were going to clean that day. I was told no, it’s the next day on Thursday. The next day, I received a call from the front desk requesting that they would like to clean the following day on Friday because there were 30+ rooms checking out that day. I am not here to overtax the cleaning staff, so I accepted. Well, Friday came and there was no cleaning. Apparently, since they planned on coming on Saturday to clean, they decided on their own that they would not come on Friday at all. No one informed me of this change.  When I tried to inquire about this issue at the front desk, I was met with a dismissive and flippant attitude, and was hushed with Marriott points.  I was always greeted with an insincere sorry and no real action to correct similar future issues. The room is falling apart. The closet sliding door keeps falling off the rails or gets stuck. The knobs on the cabinetry fell off. The dishwasher mysteriously fills with waste water when not in use. The fire alarm keeps going off and I feel like I am in the dorms again.  Every week or so, the fire alarm goes off and usually in the middle of the night. This has happened at least four times over my six weeks stay. While I know you cannot control guests, Marriott has control over the aftermath. As I am writing now, I am basking in the discordant sound of the fire alarm. It is 8am at the moment with no end in sight. The alarm first went off around 3:30am and has not stopped. Multiple attempts to call the front desk about the issue have been met with “someone will come turn it off.”  Is it really acceptable to allow hotel guests to sleep through the fire alarm for half the night especially with small children with sensitive ears?  This is now the image and sound I associate with staying at a Marriott...

I reserved a 2 bedroom queen suite at TownePlace Suite by Marriott hotel. I arrived to check-in around 9:45 p.m. I waited in the lobby for twenty minutes for the receptionist to come down. While in the lobby, there was a young woman hanging out on her phone talking and cursing. After time passed, I did ask her did she know where the receptionist was and she stated that she had went upstairs. Let me make you all aware that I have four children and they were sitting in the car after a four and a half hour drive we were all exhausted and hungry. She recalled my name and reservation and stated that she could not find my name attached to a room. She entertained other patrons in the midst of trying to find my room number I was supposedly assigned that truly had already been booked out to someone else. Frustrated up to my neck but trying to keep my composure, she called over to the Residence Inn & Suites to ask if the hotel had anything available because the best she could do is give me 2 king rooms not a suite like I reserved . My children are 3, 6, 8, and 13 so that was out the window for comfortability. I drove over to the other hotel and was greeted by Ms. Laurie she heard the frustration in my voice especially since now at this point my son has urinated on himself. She called over to Towne Place and notified them that they would be responsible for my stay since I had not been notified that my room was unavailable by phone or email. The gesture was grand and she was very well-versed in hospitality offering towels, blankets, and wash cloths. I believe that was the only positive that came out of the situation. I got up to the room but throughout the hallway to approach the door it smelled so awful. There was old trash lining the doors, the carpet was in horrible conditions, and the room was deplorable to say the least. I set out to do an inspection check of the room and the floor was dirty in the kitchenette for starters. There was urine and hair found on the toilet seat in the bathroom in which the lights had a shortage and would not stay on. There was bugs in the closet of that room. Then, in the other room there was old blood on the pillow cases, and when attempting to check the tub there was bugs in there as well. Also, there was yellow gunk in each toilet and the tub did not drain. I went down to the front desk because at this time frame it is now after 11 p.m. Mrs. Laurie is no longer there and it is a male on duty. I advised him of the issues and he looked at the fact the room had been comped and he said he could not do anything additional. There was no offer to send housekeeping, electrician, or himself for the room disaster. I asked for some type of cleaning agent to try to at least clean the room. So, we could be some form of comfortable until this situation could be squared away. I was given a bottle of Eco (which is peroxide solution), a rag that may have been given to someone else to wash their body with, and a pair of disposable gloves. The next morning, I awoke and went to the front desk and Mrs. Laurie was back and advised her of what occurred. She apologized but it was then met with "they are trying and are probably rushing that's what it is." As well as in order for the electrician to come to the room to fix the lights, we had to leave. This of course was the last straw for me. I packed my kids and I up and told her we would not be coming back. She told me about her staying in a 5-star Marriott hotel in the inner harbor and they had things that needed to be worked on as well. I assume to her that would mean that because we are only at a 3 star hotel that I should be more understanding. Relevance, I nor my kids asked to be here. If I had received a phone call prior to my trip I would have planned for a different hotel. Overall, I was patient, kind, and extremely calm for someone who received the short end of the stick. I would not recommend either hotel. Use at...

There’s cheap but with some redeeming value, and then there’s cheap that’s just plain cheap. Based on my stay there, Residence Inn by Mariott Arundel Mills BWI Airport is cheap with no redeeming value. There’s no hotel-supplied shuttle from BWI airport to the inn. Immediately after check-in, I went to my suite to shower and rest. The single bar of soap supplied was one-quarter the size of a regular bar of soap and one-half the size of a bar you’d get at any other hotel. The shower lever was of the flimsiest (cheapest) type, so that I’d turn it ever so slightly in one direction and get scalded and ever so slightly in the other and raise goose bumps on my skin. If and when I finally got it to rest on a temperature that was bearable, if I bumped the shower lever even the slightest, it would move to one of the unbearable temperatures and I’d have to start all over trying to adjust it to a reasonable temperature. The towels are paper thin – any thinner and they’d be good for nothing. The mattress was almost as thin. Each evening (of my 4- night stay) I went to bed feeling okay, but I arose the next morning with severe back pain (which I don’t normally ever get).

On check-in, I was given the choice of having my suite made up on the second night of my four-night stay, and I declined it. Once I got to my suite, I decided I should change that, so I went down to the registration desk and indicated I would opt for room makeup service on the second night, to which the desk clerk said she would make sure that was the case. Because the desk clerk’s English was severely limited, I went through the same exercise at two subsequent intervals to ensure that my preference was recorded. Did room makeup occur after all these reminders? No, it did not during any of the 4 days of my stay. You may think that I am anti-immigrant with this comment, but as the son of immigrant parents, I am not, believe me. I want businesses to hire immigrants to give them a good start in this great country of ours. I just think it incumbent on those businesses that hire non-English-speaking personnel for customer-facing positions that they select those whose English language facility is at least good enough to speak with and understand their customers at a moderately satisfactory level.

Finally, on check-out, I looked over the charges on my bill and noticed charges for the day I had bought at the desk a TV dinner plus a bottle of soda (total $9.50), but also charges of $22 (including tax) for wine, which I did not buy. I brought this to the attention of the same desk clerk mentioned above, who told me (I think) in her broken English that I would be credited with the erroneous $22. On receiving my credit card statement some weeks later, I saw that the charge was not credited or corrected, necessitating my spending further time objecting to the charge, filling out the credit card issuer’s form, waiting for them to clear the matter up, . . . etc., etc.

If cheap is what you are going for at Residence Inn by Marriott Arundel Mills BWI Airport, believe me, that’s what you’ll get. If you want cheap accommodations with at least some redeeming value,...