A Marriott Platinum member arrived at the AC Hotel Kansas City Plaza after weather first diverted her flight there to Omaha. She had paid $596.76 in advance for four nights. The hotel had already canceled her as a no-show, released the room and, she says, kept the entire payment.
When she asked the front desk for a receipt, the employee did not hand her one. She told her, “Get the f@$! out of my lobby.”
The 67-second video had nearly one million views, more than 54,000 likes and over 10,000 comments as of this writing. It contains language that is very much not safe for work, or for work from home.
You can see the front desk employee repeatedly ordering the guest to leave, calls her “sweetheart,” tells her to “face the consequences” and says she can leave willingly or by force. When the customer says the charge and receipt are not showing in her Marriott account, the employee directs her to Marriott support.
In the video the customer remains calm, but we don’t see what happened before this. She says she paid in full and simply wants documentation for the money the hotel took. She also invokes her Marriott Platinum status, which the employee correctly says doesn’t change the issue. A no show doesn’t trigger Marriott’s ‘Ultimate Reservation Guarantee’.
The employee calls Westport Security, identifies herself as “Catherine” at the Westport AC Hotel and describes the woman as unruly and not a guest.
What Happened Before The Camera Was Turned On
According to the guest’s detailed follow-up:
- She booked directly with Marriott and prepaid a four-night stay beginning August 18 using an American Express Business Platinum Card.
- Her flight to Kansas City was delayed and then diverted to Omaha because of severe weather. There was a major overnight storm, including as much as three inches of hail at Kansas City’s downtown airport.
- She drove from Omaha to a Kansas City work site the next day and reached the hotel that evening. The desk told her that the room had been given to someone else because she missed the first night, and that the reservation was canceled even though it still appeared active in her Bonvoy account.
- She went outside to call Marriott, noticed what she says were mice entering a hole in the hotel wall, returned to tell the desk, went outside again and then entered the lobby a third time with her phone recording. She says she initially hoped to capture a mouse on video.
A Hotel Employee Offers A Different Account
An Instagram commenter who identifies herself as the bartender at this hotel says the guest belittled several employees, repeatedly entered and left before police or security could arrive and acted calm only after she started recording. The commenter says the hotel was sold out, the guest had been warned that a no show would be charged (presumably this refers to the booking terms) and her room was properly released.
The guest may have been difficult before the camera came out, but the front desk’s behavior in the video remains indefensible.
AC Hotel Westport, Credit: Marriott
The Hotel Probably Could Cancel The Room
Marriott tells customers that if they do not arrive by 6 a.m. after the scheduled arrival date, the reservation is canceled and a no show fee is charged. The woman arrived the following evening, and she doesn’t say that she notified the hotel before that deadline.
The desk reportedly described a one-night no-show fee, while the guest says Marriott corporate later told her that her prepaid rate meant the full four-night forfeiture of $596.76.
She then says a second identical $596.76 appeared on the same card. That seems like a pending authorization that may disappear, so it’s not clear she was actually charged twice. But there’s little reason for the desk not to print a folio, email one, explain when one would be created or tell her exactly how to obtain one.
AC Hotel Westport, Credit: Marriott
Marriott Is Rarely Helpful In These Situations
The 123-room hotel carries Marriott’s AC brand, but it is managed by HHM Hotels. That likely makes the local employee an HHM employee rather than a Marriott one.
That doesn’t matter to the guest. They booked the room through Marriott and the hotel carries Marriott’s name. Marriott licensed the brand and sold the booking. That they have a weak franchise model, failing to do enough to enforce standards on owners in their quest to get more owners under their brand and earn more fees for more rooms, doesn’t absolve them of responsibility.
The guest’s latest update says Marriott’s consumer affairs office directed her back to the hotel’s general manager, whom she says stopped responding.
AC Hotel Westport, Credit: Marriott
Most People Are Focusing On The Receipt And The Profanity
Social media reaction overwhelmingly sides with the guest. The Marriott reddit forum is more skeptical, focusing on the missing beginning, standard no show policies, and that the guest returned after being asked to leave.
Nonetheless, even if the hotel correctly treated the guest as a no show, charged them, and the guest was being hostile they should have called for security and waited, not cursed at the customer.
The sooner you accept that Marriott is running a booking platform at this point, the better off you will be.
Let me get this straight. The entire stay was pre paid for. I don’t care how late she was. It was paid for and Marriott would not have lost money because, ummm, IT WAS PAID FOR!!! If it was just a reservation and not paid for then OK give the room away. But they gave away a fully paid for room. It was her room because she paid for it. Why prepay for anything then?
Rule #1: Prepay with a credit card that offers decent trip cancellation/trip interruption insurance. In this case had she used such a card, she could just have booked another room at this or any other hotel, with the knowledge that her earlier prepayment would be refunded to her by her credit card company.
Rule #2, reread rule #1.
Totally agree with @Mysterous Jay. I’m a lifetime Platinum Elite and rarely stay at a Marriott property. I also don’t book non refundable rooms because there are too many variables out of my control that would precipitate a change or cancellation of a reservation.
I have never understood the loss of the full payment and not having the ability to access the room on any of the days when you miss the first night. Maybe someone can help me get it. I understand you lose the first night. I also understand if you miss any other nights. But if you show on day 2, why is the room not yours and you lose all the money. I never prepay nights because of this policy.
It’s why I wish hotels were not allowed to keep more than the first night for a no show UNLESS they state they will hold the room for the guest.
If someone books a room for a week, it’s insane that a hotel can claim they can keep a 7 night payment because the guest failed to check in within the first 5% of the time they had the room. The first night? Absolutely. But if the no show fee covers the entire res, that guest should be able to show up 5 days ina and be shown to their “no show” room.
Why is it so important that the customer remain calm, if you’re not going to provide me the service that I paid for as a customer I should have every right to be annoyed and angry about the whole situation.
For whatever reason, we have been indoctrinated into wanting the customer to always be calm and collected, no matter how royally they’re being screwed by the big corporation.
Most parts of the world that that is not the case.
As always we don’t know what happened before tsping.
If, and this is a big if, she contacted the hotel detailing the flight delay and a day-later check in, and they didn’t keep “her” room open, shame on the hotel. I don’t have a problem with them renting out the soace she would have used if she is a no show. How would the hotel know she’d show up on day two? I have had friends experience such a problem and show up on day 2 after informing the on day 1 of the problem. When told check in wasn’t until later, he asked if he was being charged for day 1. When the answer was yes, the agent was willing to check him in right then.
I know folks who reserve a room a day earlier on TATL and TPAC flights so they can check in during morning hours. They keep the hotel informed, and it works without a hitch.
So bottom line: did she call/email on day 1 (or just assume they’d hold her a room because of prepayment)?
The front desk agent has a bright future at the new 6 star Aman property in Mexico
She can welcome vips influencers and bloggers in grand hospitality style.
As a lifetime titanium member i received a pre arrival letter from a Westin that 4 pm check outs are now subject to black out dates.They now provide a calendar for your enhanced experience and the guest can pay to confirm the possibility of a late check out
wtf?Also if they upgrade you no late check out is possible
is any of this in their terms and conditions?
I have been in the same situation because of flight delays (except with a cancellable reservation), and called the hotel on the night I was supposed to check in, told them what was going on, and asked them to hold my reservation including changing me for the first night (even though I would not be there). Never had an issue.
I’ve missed the first night of a prepaid reservation before. It has never been a problem as long as I let them know on the original check-in day. If you don’t communicate with them, they are going to assume you are not coming and really you room.
Something happened before this recording. Simply call and explain what happened, offer to send documentation, and you will be accommodated.
for a 100% prepaid stay, there is no reason to charge for no-showing. Any attempt to do so is an attempt to double-dip on the hotel’s part. I paid your asking rate for something and it’s none of your business how much of it I consume and you don’t get to tell me if I don’t use it all, you keep the money, take the remainder away from me, and then sell what I paid for to someone else. Nope. No.
@ Dwondermeant
Was thinking similarly…. Send a copy of that video to any US airline as the employee’s guaranteed ‘in’ to a rewarding career in inflight service !
Wonder if the potential guest kept the hotel apprised of her sked change(s) … Also why not just dispute the charge with the credit card company ? Or will that result in a retaliatory lifetime ban from those ‘hostile hospitality’ folks @ Marriott ?
But, but… I’m a Bonvoy Platinum… /s