Courtyard by Marriott Washington Capitol Hill/Navy Yard — Hotel in Washington

Customer Service and Communication is off!

Upon purchasing 2 rms for approx $295 for 1 night I was expecting a little better customer service than I received but sometimes it is your own people that treat you in such a rude way. I walked in in a pleasant mood. Happy because it was a big day for me and my son who was going to his prom. I stood in line. Waited and saw how Abdullah treated the guest in front of me. And how the other young lady (a black female) did as well. Both giving their customers a welcome bag that had water and a breakfast bar in it with a smile and pleasant attitude. Upon arriving on Saturday after I had called and spoke with a male (Caucasian or Hispanic) on a couple occasions (1) to check that my 3rd party reservation was there and (2) to also see about using a rm to set up for a couple hours for prom pictures. The gentleman was very kind over the phone and in person. Prior to check in we stopped by. This particular guy said it would be ok for us to use a room told me and the other parent. He never mentioned a time limit or a fee. He had a technician open up the Admiral rooms on the 2nd floor for us to view and pick. We left out of the hotel happy thinking we were good for prom day set up and continued preparing with things such as a ballon backdrop planned to have a small food set up not knowing that when we arrived the following weekend on June 11 upon checking in with Abdullah that we were going to be ONLY allotted 15 mins to set up our balloon arrangement and take pictures plus we were made aware that we should’ve paid a fee for the room. Totally unaware and disturbed by what I was being told. Abdullah said ok I will give you a little more time just know we have to set up for a church coming in the next morning. It was 5/6 pm when guests started arriving. Approx 7:30 pm Abdullah came up to tell us our time was up they needed to set up for the church. Within 10-15 mins we had our ppl come out the room and a couple of the ladies stayed to clean up and set back up the 12 chairs and podium for church as it was. In the meantime I passed by Abdullah several times up until at least 10 pm. He never called me over to discuss anything about the room. Upon check out I called to see if both rooms charged on my card incidental charges were returned. That’s when I was notified by a rude young lady (the black female) that “We are charging your card $150.. the room was a mess!”.. Now I set the 12 chairs and podium up myself.. I saw the young lady carefully pop the balloons and take the confetti filled ones outside to pop. The food we had was pizza and nuggets that was nicely placed on 2 table clothes that we scooped up and trashed. To my knowledge the room was cleaned. A young man working there who had our room changed because the AC wasn’t working told me specifically “Yall are good we just had 1 bag of trash to take out”. So the attitude and the charge was a shock to me at this point! In the end I wish I had taken pictures of the room before we started and after, I wished I would have gotten the first gentleman’s name, I wish there were better communication between everyone regardless of skin color because I paid the same as everyone else and I was not rude even after I was told I could only get 15 mins, and also I wish I didn’t have to come back down to the front desk to get our welcome bags that was given to everyone else with a smile after I purchased 2 rooms at this hotel! End result.. **The rooms are comfortable and if there’s a problem the staff is willing to move you to another room. **For the Meeting Room I was not charged $150/$500 although they tried to charge my card that I used specifically for the hotel fees $150 before speaking to me. It did not work. So the new manager onboard said they just kept the $50 incidental fee. Which I was ok with. She was pleasant and apologized.

The principle of the matter is we spoke to someone, came in person prior to our check in date to make sure. We did our part. The Staff should’ve done better and they also should’ve been on...

Please understand that paying for a room at this hotel doesn't mean you GET a room at this hotel. This is the bulk of an email sent to the hotel, its owners and the Marriott chain in an effort to reach an agreement over the brutal treatment we received there. Even now it has not been resolved. "The modification/cancellation made by Marriott/Crestline and the timing with which it was sent represents I believe the lowest possible level of customer service a hotel can reach. We booked this room originally over 2.5 years ago because it was a convenient walk to Nationals Park to attend a concert. COVID delayed the concert for nearly 2 years and as each delay happened we updated the reservation. The itinerary emailed back to us clearly says: This booking is Non-Refundable and cannot be amended or modified. And yet it was, by Crestline Hotels. And because the email notifying us of this modification was sent to us less than 24 hours prior to our check-in time our trip had already begun and we didn't learn of this change until 3pm of the day of the event when we tried to check in. This trip was planned entirely around your Courtyard hotel. Because we could not stay there we were forced to find other transportation to the new Homewood Suites hotel to check in there and then transportation back to the venue. So instead of a 20 minute walk from Courtyard to arrive a few minutes before the gates opened we had nearly a 1 hour and 50 minute round trip to the new hotel and then back to the venue in gridlock stadium traffic where we finally just jumped out and walked the last few blocks anyway. We missed the entire first act and much of the second due to the Courtyard hotel cancellation. After the show we walked several blocks in the POURING RAIN and waited just outside a different Homewood Suites hotel (Why weren't we re-booked to that one?) for 50 minutes for an Uber to pick us up and take us back to our Homewood Suites. I mention we waited OUTSIDE in the rain because the staff at the second Homewood Suites refused to let us or anyone come in out of the rain and stand in the lobby. (They call this the HOSPITALITY business?) Since I have been Bonvoy member for many years and the reservation was made so far ahead of the event the only reason to change this on very short notice was to give our room to others who where booking a longer stay. Putting short term profits ahead of long term customer loyalty. Yes our room charge is slated to be refunded but that in no way makes up for the cost to the three us this caused. The additional out-of-pocket costs for three Uber rides for three people in a big city at absolute peak times due to the event was nearly what we originally paid for the room. We were originally told by the desk clerk when we attempted to check-in at Courtyard that those transportation costs would be paid by Courtyard but that offer was rescinded when I asked how to claim that reimbursement and the clerk returned from talking with the manager and explained that those costs would need to come out of the refund for the room. I spend up to 20 weeks a year traveling because of positions I hold and held with several international organizations. I have never experienced this type of cancellation. I even spoke with the front desk just an hour or two before the modification email was sent and never did they mention even the possibility of...

Terrible experience. Copy and pasting bits and pieces of an e-mail I just sent management:

The check-in process ran smoothly; we were helped by Mia. Mia handed us two envelopes with keys for room numbers 614 and 616. We went upstairs, dropped off most of our stuff in 614, went into room 616 and dropped off only a hairbrush and a few beers in the fridge.

We arrived back at the hotel after a great night. When we went upstairs, we heard voices coming from room 616. None of us were in the room, so we knew that someone else, a stranger, was in the room we had a few items in, and a room that was previously assigned to us.

We went downstairs to talk to Eric, who was incredibly rude from the start of the conversation. Instead of simply apologizing, Eric proceeded to argue with me, and showed me the computer telling me that 616 could not have been registered to me because the computer isn't showing that. I re-explained the check-in process to Eric, explained that we were given a key to room 616 (I also showed him the envelope that was given to us which shows the room number being 616). After an incredibly unprofessional back-and-forth with Eric, where he refused to contact the current people in 616, I went upstairs with two of my friends to knock on the door of room 616 in hopes to get our belongings back. The two women who answered the door were just as shocked as we were to learn that the room was previously registered to us. One of them explained that they did see a hairbrush, and did feel like someone was previously in the room, but that they didn't say anything because they simply thought the cleaning crew just didn't toss the hairbrush, and because everything else was clean, they didn't give it much thought. They were extremely apologetic and called downstairs to speak with Eric to verify (because apparently we, as guests, have to prove our statements to be factual) that they did in fact see a hairbrush and a few other belongings of ours when going into the room. Eric's response to this call was to blame the two women for not telling the front desk and for staying in the room despite seeing someone else's belongings, which I think we can all agree is not AT ALL how this should have been handled.

The many issues, separate from the unprofessionalism and aggressive tonality Eric took with me, is that your front check-in desk apparently gave us a key to room 616, but never actually registered the room under my name. What would've happened if we had valuables in the room and those guests took it? Can we also discuss the SAFETY ISSUES concerned with guests having to knock on someone's door at 2am to discuss all of the above? How badly that could have turned out?

I will not be returning to...