Aloft Wilmington at Coastline Center — Hotel in Wilmington

This was a horrible experience for me and my family. DO NOT STAY HERE, there is ZERO management capacity (the General Manager - Hannah, was missing in action the entire time I was there, and didn't bother to call, email, or even try to clear up the multitude of staffing issues I experienced). I stayed on August 14th and here's a list of the issues I had, and to be clear, I HAVE YET to get a resolution from the open case I have with corporate:

Instead of placing ONE hold for security costs (which I anticipated - and the hotel was fully authorized to do, Aloft placed TWO HOLDS in the amount of $262.75 on my account. So instead of experiencing the anticipated, authorized, hold for the rooms I booked. I experienced DOUBLE that amount being withheld from my account. I don't understand why I was billed an ADDITIONAL, unauthorized, duplicate charge of $262.75. To clarify, I rented two rooms for one night at a total cost of $483.62. I'd expect to be billed about 40% of that to cover a security deposit that's fairly normal. However No one could explain to me why TWICE that amount was held. I paid $483.62 for the room ahead of my stay and THEN had $525.50 in additional funds held from my account by the hotel. I called the hotel (multiple times), filed a case number, and tried to get help . This was clearly an error (it' unheard of to hold more than the cost of the entire stay!). NO ONE corrected this error, instead I was told to just wait for the hold to drop. This response would be perfectly acceptable if I were calling to complain about a single, standard, authorized security hold - but that's NOT what the issue was in this instance. Imagine planning to have $200-300 held up in fees, and instead having $575 held from your account without explanation. I was unable to reach anyone in accounting, the general manager (has yet) to call or return my calls, and rather than receiving support. I had to figure out how to supplement the withheld money from my account until the hold released on its own.

2.The day of check-in, I was told to wait until official check-in time to get my room (I arrived early). I was told there are no rooms available, and that there won't likely be until 4 PM check-in as they were severely understaffed, in the middle of a shift change, and literally waiting for rooms to become available. I was told to 'maybe take a walk outside' (it was literally 95+ degrees outside) or to find something to do in the area. Imagine my surprise when I checked back few minutes later (still before 4 PM check-in) and all the other guests (who were white...I'm black by the way) were checked in smoothly, ahead of the 4 PM time (no problems at all). When I brought this up, I was told 'they were put on a list, you are assuming but you don't have the full picture' I explained that this further proved my point. I'd called HOURS ahead that day to make arrangements for early check-in, why wasn't I afforded the opportunity to be put on a list and called as rooms were available just like everyone else?

ALL of the front desk attendants (except for Alisa, manning the front desk, providing exceptional service in the midst of absolute chaos and NO management support) were rude (one literally walked away from the desk as I approached to be checked in - just walked away, no 'please see the next attendant I have to take a break', or even acknowledgement of my presence, she took ONE LOOK at me as I approached, grabbed her purse and left).

ZERO management support. I watched as COUNTLESS guests came to complain about issues with parking, issues with the rooms, or the check-in process overall. Alisa, the LONE, competent front desk attendant was forced to respond to all these issues. I kept asking myself, what general manager allows the hotel to function with such limited staff and DOESNT decide to roll up their sleeves, come to work, and help out? Hannah that's who... the general manager in name who was missing in action my...

I REALLY wanted to like this hotel. I mean, as soon as you walk in it looks so nice and quaint. Even the outside is gorgeous and it appears as if they have remodeled a portion of a train station for the facade of the building. When I arrived, I had missed my connecting flight and had just driven 6.5 hours through the night and was only going to get about 1 hour of sleep before work that morning. So I was really hoping for a speedy check-in process. Mind you- I should not have even had to stop by the front desk because I had already checked-in and added my mobile key. Unfortunately, the mobile key feature was not working. Upon arriving, there was no one at the front desk and there was a sign that said "we'll be back in 10 minutes". After waiting for I don't even know how long, I finally was able to flag down one of the kitchen workers and ask him if he could please have someone come to the front desk. The staff had EXTREME difficulty in getting me checked-in. I let them know that I was really exhausted and I really didn't care if they put me in my reserved King Suite- I only had now 30 minutes to catch a power nap and the time was ticking away. After waiting an additional 20 minutes and admittedly shedding a few tears of frustration, the lady let me know she was just going to get me into a room without checking me in. That was nice- it would have been nicer if they had done that from the start when I expressed my dilemma. I was placed in a room next to the elevator and all I could hear all night was the "ding" and clicking of the elevator, not to mention the people. The walls in this hotel are extremely thin, apparently. The wifi is pretty much nonexistent. I mean to the point where you can't even watch Netflix on the room television. I really wanted to just sit in bed and watch my favorite show after working 14 hours, but after the app logging out 4 times due to the horrible wifi I finally just gave up. Working on my mac was pretty much impossible since the wifi sucked so bad. The lady at the front desk even admitted it being "pretty shitty". Which is crazy to me that you have a conference room, you know people are here on business, and you don't have proper-working wifi. The air conditioning unit seemed to do whatever it wanted and was not responsive at all to anything I changed on it. I woke up and set it to 72 because it was 76 degrees in my room, waited 15 minutes and it still had not cut on so I switched it from "auto" to "high" and it still wouldn't cut on. I usually love the Aloft brand, but despite the pristine and beautiful location, this hotel is lacking in too many ways for me to consider staying here again. I honestly would have booked at the Best Western if I wasn't Marriott loyal and wanted my points. Highly...

I NEVER leave online reviews but given my recent experience at the Aloft Wilmington at Coastline Center, I felt like I had to share my experience. I booked a four-night stay from Friday, July 19th through Tuesday, July 23rd through the Aloft Hotels website.

Upon arriving at the hotel on Friday with my 2-year-old toddler and 7-month pregnant wife in tow, I was told my reservation was only for Sunday to Tuesday, and they had no other rooms available. Even after showing them my confirmation and the Marriott Bonvoy app showing the 4-night stay, their response was simply “Sorry, come back on Sunday.” When I asked to speak to a manager, I was told she wasn’t available and was given her number to call later. That night, I had to find another hotel at the last minute from Friday to Sunday, and I had to pay a premium rate for same day booking.

I called the general manager, Hannah Magnuson (not sure I spelled her name right), multiple times and left multiple voicemails to see if she could make any accommodation, even just an early check-in on Sunday, to have a place to stay between checkout at the hotel at noon to check in at the Aloft at 4pm. I never got a response from the general manager and on Sunday, the Aloft refused to provide me with an early check in other than “maybe we can find you something at 2:30pm but can’t guarantee it.” On Sunday morning, I had to repack all my things and check out to move to the Aloft that afternoon.

I completely understand that mistakes happen. But what truly surprised me was their response to the issue, especially at a hotel like Aloft, which is owned by Marriott. Aloft made absolutely no effort to remedy their error in any way (e.g., assist me with finding another hotel nearby; put me up at a nearby Marriott hotel at a discounted rate, etc.) and no accommodation was made for my family despite the circumstances. The general manager couldn’t even be bothered to return my call.

So, BEWARE: Don’t risk your vacation on a hotel that can’t guarantee your reservation and will make absolutely no effort to assist you if they make a mistake. Steer clear of the Aloft Wilmington at...