A guest was at Marriott’s AC Veracruz hotel in Mexico when the bathroom sink in his room collapsed – causing, he says, a muscle tear and hernia. This happened in February and he still can’t get a response from the hotel or from Marriott over the incident.
Marriott has been so little help, he tells me, that when he spoke with a Marriott Elite Services manager she told him that by sending the incident back to corporate “she would be written up.” Joeta, who he says identified herself as a supervisor, said:
Now, that one I’m going to get written up on — but you know, that’s the way it goes. Demands are demands, and I’m just going to follow through. I’ll get written up for it, but that’s okay.
Apparently the sink had no structural support underneath, even though the sink in the room he was moved to had support brackets.
The sink collapsed while I was washing up after breakfast and landed on my foot. It was immediately clear that it hadn’t been secured properly — no brackets, no straps, no screw holes — unlike the identical sink beside it and the ones in the room we were moved to.
…Hotel staff acknowledged the issue and arranged for me to be taken to a nearby hospital, where I was X-rayed (luckily negative) and given a boot, pain meds, and a single crutch. The bigger issue, though, was my back — the pain started immediately from how I twisted when the sink fell.
The guest relays that the hotel offered to “refund the points for the remainder of our stay..[but] later credited the full stay (plus a bonus).” The hotel then directed the guest to discuss the matter with their insurance and stopped communicating (even while they were still on property). They’ve had ongoing medical issues that’s forced them to curtail their full time travel and stonewalling from the property where it happened and from Marriott.
Unfortunately, that sounds to me like exactly what I’d expect since (1) it involves Marriot just passing things off to an owner and (2) the owner ignoring it because it’s not just a franchisee but a franchisee in Mexico. You think you’re booking with ‘Marriott’ but really they’re just selling you to a hotel owner. I’ve written about a Marriott owner’s description of Bonvoy members as “leads” (prospects for selling rooms to).
Sounds like another American looking for a payday. Other countries don’t just have insurance companies dish out cash knowing courts aren’t going to approve outrageous money demands.
You’ve been Bonvoyed!
When you are Bonvoyed, Marriott guests should visit bonvoyed.com to tell their story.
How do you get a hernia from a falling sink, unless you were under it or tried to lift it?
Viva la Mexico
It appears that the Marriott brand and corporate ethics ends at the border. On the flip side, this is precisely the reason why web sites like http://www.bonvoyed.com exist…
@Ken A — That’s awesome. Thanks for sharing that website. Had no idea. Love it.
@Ray — ‘Sounds like…’ those affected can feel free to sue and let the courts decide if there are any relevant damages owed *wink*
@paul — Well said, Pablo… yup, this only happens there, nowhere else… never…
I can understand the request to handle larger claims through the insurance company. The hotel bought insurance just for that reason and is not the insurance adjuster. The insurance company will deal with the situation according to the policy coverages and the governing laws in Mexico. I have dealt with Mexican auto insurance before. In the 1980s I went to Mexico a lot, usually driving. I always bought Mexican auto insurance just on the other side of the border when driving and the company I usually bought from was called Seguros de la Republica. One time a Mexican guy crashed into me in downtown Tijuana at slow speed, causing body damage to my car. The insurance company required two repair estimates from shops near me in the Los Angeles area. When I supplied them, the insurance company gave me a check for the lowest repair estimate in USD drawn on an American bank. Easier to deal with than American insurance companies.
@CJ- His foot was under the sink, and he did need to lift it off.
Not that I condone this, but I imagine once one is talking to the insurance company about an incident, the insurance company wants to be the sole one handling it and don’t want people at the hotel also talking to them about the incident any further.
Unfortunate! I imagine this hotel will have someone go through the rooms now to make sure there aren’t any more missing brackets!