Aloft Columbus Westerville — Hotel in Westerville

I have had delightful experiences here. Unfortunately, this latest experience has led to a total disgust and I will more than likely never be back.

Sure, I've overlooked the many system issues, poor room cleaning, and a handful of unfriendly/absent staff, and not to mention egregious pricing of rooms and things available for purchase.

I stay at this hotel on a monthly basis and have seen all sorts of family events in the lounge during my stays.

After a family took up the entire lounge and bar space for an all day party(literally AM to midnight) to the point that nobody else could go to the lounge over Labor Day weekend, I stopped at the front desk to discuss options of renting the lounge like they did or renting a conference room. TWO front desk agents advised that the lounge was not for rent but we could do a first-come, first-serve and hold our event in the lounge. To guarantee a space, we could easily rent a conference room - they provided us all of the information for the sales team as we would have to go through them. I even discussed this with another set of 2 front desk associates upon my check out a few days later and received the same confirmation.

So, that weekend, my friend and I started the process of contacting this sales person. Again, note this was in August that I began this practice.

We have been ignored by the sales rep, Danielle Vishaway - phone calls and emails for a month.

The front desk reiterated we can only book the conference space through her.

So, I called last week, 9/18, to be told there are no parties permitted and it's been a rule for, "a very long time." Funny, cause 4 different people gave me, and others, a completely different story not even a month ago. So, I escalate and requested the General Manager call me - they never did.

I called the Marriott reservation line with concerns over a grown adult who is supposed to be a General Manager never contacting me - I get a confirmation request and I hear NOTHING.

I called back to Marriott reservation and get told that this manager updated the ticket to say they called and spoke with me. That's funny - my phone has not received a phone call from that hotel - I've had this number for 20 years and there is nobody else to answer it. In addition, the message went on to say that the General Manager FIRED their front desk staff over this matter.

So now, we have a General Manager who is stating they have terminated staff and is also lying about talking to hotel guests because they don't want to do their job.

My recommendation - don't bother over-paying for a stay here, and, if you do choose to ignore this and have problems, just know that even the General Manager won't do their job to discuss and correct...

Was in town for a family emergency and needed a room for a few nights. I always stay at Marriott brands when possible and have recommend aloft in Westerville as a great option in the past to friends, colleagues and family when in the area. I arrived late and exhausted when I checked in with the woman at the front counter, so her lack of customer service was noted but not as much of a concern as getting to a clean quiet room to be able to rest. She gave me a room on the 1st floor which I had never stayed in a 1st floor room, so I was confused as where to go (she did not offer to help or give directions). After locating my room I was instantly met with the strong smell of wet dog (ahh they offer pet stays here I remembered- and ugh! this is not what I was expecting). I brought my luggage in the room and told myself I would talk to the hotel in the morning (it was after midnight at this point). The walls had random smudges and smears, the toilet paper roll holder was broken and positioned up to keep the toilet paper from falling off and there was hairs on the bathroom floor that were not mine. Again I just needed to sleep. As I lay down on the bed I noticed ants crawling under the table by the window and TV. I tossed and turned trying to sleep and woke up to a huge spider crawling across my blanket while I was laying in there - I shot up out of bed, took a video to show the hotel and decided this was too much- I'm not comfortable enough to even sleep- I need to check out.

When I went to the front desk to check out and discuss the room, my experience, and the video I took of the spider crawling on the bed, I was not met with empathy or an offer to refund my stay or to not charge for the 2nd day (as I had booked with points) no apology just handed me a print out and went back to talking...

Extremely Disappointing Stay

We arrived late due to a flight delay and checked into our room around 12:45 AM. As always, we inspected the room before unpacking and immediately noticed human hair on the shower walls and tiles—clearly unsanitary. We returned to the front desk to report the issue to the night auditor, who was courteous and tried to help by assigning us a new room.

Unfortunately, it took about 25 minutes for her to figure out how to change our room. When we got to the new room, the key card didn’t work. She ran back to get another one, but that also failed. After another 15 minutes, we were finally placed in a room on the first floor. The night auditor was kind and even brought us an extra blanket when she noticed how cold the room was.

Despite her efforts, the second room was no better. The carpet was coming up, the bathroom sliding door was off its track and wouldn’t close, the nightstands were warped from water damage, the shower grout was moldy. Overall, the room felt unhygienic. The AC/heater unit was so loud we barely got three hours of sleep.

The next morning, we spoke with the morning auditor to request a refund. She was dismissive and said she couldn’t issue one. When we asked for the manager’s contact information, she refused, citing privacy concerns. She offered to move us to yet another room, but we had already changed rooms twice and declined. She told us we’d need to open a case with Marriott Bonvoy.

We checked out and contacted Marriott Bonvoy the following day. They refunded three nights but still charged us for the first night, which we feel is unacceptable given the circumstances. We were respectful throughout the ordeal, but the experience was frustrating and exhausting. Writing this review so others are aware of what we...