A guest at the TownePlace Suites Colorado Springs Garden of the Gods found the windows open to their room when they checked it. They suspected it was to air out a bad odor. The smell didn’t go away.
The family opened up the sofa bed the next night to watch a movie together, and they found the smell.
I opened the sofa and found the source of the smell. A rat gave birth on the mattress and all of the dead babies were still there rotting away.We were shocked and disgusted that we had ou[r] child in there. This is a health hazard! I immediately went to the front desk to show them the photos. The front desk worker almost threw up right there and offered to move us to a new room. I told him I wanted to inspect the rooms first.
DO NOT STAY AT TOWNEPLACE SUITES – CO SPRINGS GARDEN OF THE GODS!!
The guest reports that several rooms were offered to move to were dirty – from previous guest socks to hair to knitting needles found in the pull-out sofas. Eventually, they were moved to one that seemed clean.
The next day, a hotel manager refunded the stay and promised additional Marriott Bonvoy points, pending approval from the General Manager. They also contacted Marriott customer service, who seemed to take the incident seriously. However after follow-up calls, Marriott reported that no points would be issued.
Credit: Marriott
The hotel appears to be managed by Sun Hill Properties which also has the Hilton Los Angeles / Universal City, Courtyard by Marriott Ventura Simi Valley, and TownePlace Suites Denver Southwest Littleton in its portfolio.
Marriott loyalists seemed shocked in social media, suggesting that this was the worst they’ve seen, although I’d suggest other candidates. To me, the takeaway is:
- that Marriott isn’t doing a proper job monitoring its franchises
- it strikes me that there’s a fairly clear connection between this experience and Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano mantra that ‘they’ll put “net rooms growth” on my tombstone.’
- The chain’s orientation has seemed to shift to one where they don’t alienate owners with pesky things like brand standards or costs, for fear of pushing them to a different chain that’s even more lax.
Still, it’s shocking that no points were offered by way of an apology. Surely 50,000 points is the minimum, remember that these guests already stayed in that room. Although this is more than a points issue. This ought to be reported to the local health department.
Thank you, Gary, for naming and shaming these bad actors at Sun Hill Properties. Avoid. And Marriott should make this right immediately. 50K points for their troubles is a far better settlement then getting sued. That’s a real health-safety issue. Rats are no joke.
This is literally one of the grossest things I have ever seen.
I guess there’s no bottom anymore on how low Marriott will go to ignore poor franchise owners and stiff the actual Marriott guests.
Oh wait, I forgot – we’re not their customers anymore! We’re prospects. Franchisees are their customers.
Forget the points. I would immediately contact local health officials. Then my lawyer. Because a child was involved…lots of legal ways to go here.
I have no clue why people still patronize Marriott properties.
Same way I don’t know why people still collect Delta sky pesos.
The guests are lucky Marriott didn’t try to have them arrested for keeping rats in their room. That’s what Hertz would probably have done.
The hantavirus is deadly, spread by rodents and active in Colorado. I would have checked into a hospital!
I am surprised that this Marriott property in Colorado Springs didn’t inform the guest, as a valued Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite or higher, that the complimentary dead baby rats you discovered in your bed, when they were alive, help eat the bedbugs to give you a more restful sleep.
Nothing surprises me anymore. People want everything for nothing. You don’t get a $100 a night hotel room without a lot of corners being cut.
@Maryland, what do you expect a hospital to do?
Do you wear a mask on an airplane? If not, don’t complain. The risk of COVID is greater than the risk of hantavirus from looking at a dead rat for a few minutes.
I hate to say this is expected at a TownePlace but it’s a TownePlace in Colorado Springs. Some of these properties in Colorado Springs and Denver have been used as shelters for homeless people as well as illegal immigrants. Other times they have been used by pimps and drug dealers.
At least they got a refund….
At least it wasn’t a used dildo.