Is it reasonable for a hotel to ban guests from bringing food onto the property? This seems at least like a policy they would need to disclose to customers before they book.
A Marriott Courtyard has a sign posted on every floor that ‘outside food and drink’ is not allowed. Like a movie theater, if you want to eat at the hotel you have to buy your food from them. You can’t carry in food (or leftovers from where you went to dinner), and you can’t order DoorDash either.
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That drives up the cost of food, and it means you’ll often wait longer to eat. You probably have to order once you make it back to the hotel, instead of ordering before you return. And you can’t just drive through somewhere on the way. It’s an inconvenient and costly policy, and I imagine one that’s tough to enforce.
Many social media commenters suggest the policy was probably born out of hosting youth sports teams, brining in plenty of food and alcohol, and making messes and noise in common areas. Or is it just about driving up revenue?
It seems harder to enforce to outside food than to enforce quiet hours! And it makes life difficult for all guests, not just the problematic ones. And problems with youth sports or other groups stem from poor adult supervision as much as from the kids themselves.
This won’t last long. Marriott will loose too much business. They will only attract business people
Good to know, thanks Gary. Another reason to never ever stay at a Marriott property.
The food ban has to be illegal. What about snacks for children or low carb foods for diabetics or people with food allergies?
I’m on the side with the hotel. hotel guests literally dumped the trash at the corridor. the putrid odor went into the room. Hotels would be glad if they didn’t stay at their properties.
When they scaled back their dining/restaurant/room service options, wasn’t one of the arguments their Execs offered that “everyone can get Uber Eats or Door Dash now anyway”?
@ Gary — My response would be to go out of my way to bring food from the outside. This has to be illegal.
Would love to see them try to enforce it. Sorry, you don’t have the right to search my bags and personal items unless you have a warrant. Yes, I know they can just kick me out, but that isn’t going to happen or they will get blasted all over social media.
Given Hotels propensity to find bogus undocumented charges to add to bills, I would be sure to remove any food containers or leftover apple cores when leaving. I could see the $50 disposal fee showing up after checkout.
Name the hotel, location specifically.
Unenforceable.
The menu the Bistro is very limited, as are the hours.
Most are not open for lunch.
I suspect this has more to do with hotel security and people leaving food bombs in their rooms then it does restaurant revenue.
With Marriott revenues and profits at record levels, there is no reason for them to not continue on their path of devaluation and customer-restrictive policies. Unless and until the revenue needle moves, nothing is going to change. Accept it and move on.
There is a Courtyard near a major university (that is also run by said university’s hospitality program) that has a policy against no outside alcohol, mostly for underage drinking and room parties. I didn’t see a food prohibition, but they do have a restaurant/bar with a small menu in addition to the bistro for morning coffee and breakfast.
Just put the trash at hall way or elevator door, what else they can do?
Considering I’m on a liquid diet due to throat cancer, I’d like to see them enforce that with me… I could foresee quite a few legal issues with that…
I chose the Marriott to sleep, not to be forced to eat their food..
This is a violation of Marriott’s franchise agreement. The policy will soon be cancelled.
Not all Marriot hotels are owned by corporate. Many are private franchise owners so this is their rule. Not corporate. Sounds like this article is from a single, undisclosed location. Not disclosing the location is bs. Most hotels have very few, if any, trash cans available that can accommodate takeout or delivery waste, so where is the guest supposed to dispose of their trash? Room service trays are left outside the door with domes to cover plates.
I think Marriott aspires to reach the depths of Hertz. If so, they are doing a good job of sinking into the mud and catching up to Hertz.
Gary, just waiting for you to post a couple of story’s where Marriott had their guests arrested for soiling a towel or drinking a coke on property. It can’t be long now.
Doesn’t Marriott still have a partnership with UberEats, which presumably encourages guests to have food delivered to their hotel rooms? That Courtyard must be in violation of Marriott’s policy that allows outside food delivery.
The policy likely limited to the common area not guestrooms. Groups often congregate in common areas and leave a pile of trash behind. Hotels operate with a skeleton staff at night and clean up before the morning becomes an issue.
As usual, Gary left out most of the story including all of the explanatory points.
Sign was posted at a property with several teams for a kids sports tournament staying. I’ve had the misfortune twice recently to be at such a place on a weekend (usually near airports as they’re trying to sell inventory in blocks on weekends… places like the Homewood Suites in Phoenix I was at recently). These large groups tend to take over the bistro/lobby area with outside pizzas, parents with alcohol from offsite meeting in there and drinking all night. This hotel I was at had similar signs (though it said no consumption of any food/drink in lobby not provided by or bought from hotel). And they also had postings around the hallways taped up stating that “Quiet Time” starts at 10pm, nobody can loiter in hallways. Even at that, had two adults sitting in the hallway a couple doors down drinking beer in front of their doors.
If there isn’t a sign, they can’t take action because “You never told me I couldn’t.” When there was no room to throw away plates from the breakfast (well, what was left of it after being attacked by dozens of teens, and nowhere to sit) because filled with solo cups and pizza boxes, that’s what the hotels want to avoid.
I’m sure the signs were taken down after the groups left.
There are some jurisdictions though where technically you can’t bring alcohol onto property by law and consume it because it goes against the hotel’s liquor license. But that’s not many places.
The Marriot sub brands do a terrible job when it comes to food and beverages, in house. Terrible selection, significantly overpriced, awful ambiance. And poor quality. If they would address those issues that may alleviate the problem. And I might add, it appears to be heading that way with the mainstream brands also. Went to the actual Marriott in my hometown recently for dinner with my wife, the website showed an upscale steak house but when we arrived the restaurant looked and felt like a Courtyard. I’ve been a Marriott loyal customer for a long time, my rewards number begins with 001.
Totally lame and distorted reporting. Suggest you get another job.
Just stayed in a Courtyard two nights ago. No sign of such a sign. And good thing since the computer when down at the “restaurant” and they could not take any orders.
I suspect this is a policy established by the franchise owner and not Marriott corporate.
Where is this Courtyard? (so I know to NEVER go there)
Amazing that most of these comments are taking a stand against being restricted rather than pointing the finger at those that abuse the property by taking over floors, making more work for house keeping without any benefit for the hotel.
If they put trash receptacles in locations that the guests can easily access, they might solve their problem with trash in the hallways.
Last Courtyard I stayed at there were no visible trach receptacles anywhere but the small ones in my room.
Also, the last Courtyard I stayed at had a fridge and a microwave in the room.
Interestingly I just looked up the Marriott/Uber partnership on the Marriott website and found this:
Order Uber Eats at Designated Hotels†
Earn 2 points per dollar on Uber Eats restaurant and grocery orders of $40+ delivered to Residence Inn®, TownePlace Suites®, or Element® hotels.
SO Courtyard is not part of this and this might be how they got it “approved” by Marriott.
I would love to know exactly what the hotel would do if they caught you with food?
Has anyone contacted Marriott Corporate Services with clarification if this is enforceable – Marriott is known to let individual owners dictate stuff. So I’d be curious.
Lastly, if the hotel is worried about trash piling up in the hallways…then they should hire more staff to clean up the hallways. I stayed at a Courtyard in September and there was food bags in the hallway infant of some doors for 2 days…?????
I wish these hotels would provide some trash receptacles . I am happy to throw out my trash on the way out but they are either not to be found or so small they are already full.
When people use then when it should be than, I lose all respect.
Sounds like a typical Bombay Bob trying to squeeze money out of customers. Too many of them run scams or dirty hotels like not honoring the online cost or not swapping out bedding between customers.
Anyone wanna take bets on how long it takes for Marriott to walk this back and start crying ‘victim’ because people stop giving them business over this? Seriously, not quite sure who these ‘people’ think they are, but they have absolutely no right telling people where they can and can’t eat.
Who’s to say that you want or like what the hotel serves.
Will the restaurant be opened all day for me to eat there instead of outside.
Do the meals come with the room if not you can’t tell me what I can bring in as long as I clean up my mess.
Please name them.
It’s this particular location, not the chain in general.
They can’t legally enforce it if they didn’t disclose it before you paid for the room. If you reserve and pay ahead of time, that is. But if you reserve but don’t pay until checkout, it’s different legally.
As far as whether they would enforce it, do you think that they would evict someone over it? If they did, I’d expect them to not only have the guest refuse to pay , I’d also expect a call to HQ complaining.
Pfft. Sign says no outside food or drink. It does not say no outside trash. If i was confronted my food would be called my trash! Seriously doubt this would be enforced.
I worked for Marriott and they actually have a partnership with UberEats encouraging you to order through them to earn Bonvoy points, this is a case of a franchisee going rogue and should be reported.
More context is needed for the sign. Is the sign posted in the lobby/Bistro area? If so, it is probably indicating that outside food is not allowed in that area. Local health code probably prohibits the hotel from allowing outside food being brought into the Bistro. Would be because of food borne illnesses. Would be the same reason that you can’t bring your own food in when you go to a regular restaurant like McDonald’s or Applebee’s. I’m sure you can still bring food into the hotel to eat in your room
everyone say after me: “AirBnB”
‘No DoorDash, No Leftovers, No Exceptions’- I don’t understand where that quote is coming from. It’s not on the sign. Does that mean Uber Eats is ok?
Marriott needs to deal with their bedbug problem.
In other news Marriott has publicly announced that in addition to the new dining policy
of no incoming food that use of the guest bathroom will be prohibited and all guests will need to do their business @ the local Starbucks.Please prepare yourself accordingly
We appreciate your loyalty and busine$$
Well, there’s one rule I would thoroughly ignore. If it was disclosed at reservation time, I’d not go there; and if it’s just some sign in the place, well, that’s not what I signed up for.
I was at one place that gave notice that one might be charged for food stains (… since there were both an Indian restaurant and one that sold racks of BBQ ribs nearby, I assume people’d sit in the bed eating BBQ or curry and get sauce on the sheets.) But that’s different, it’s pretty standard to already be “on the hook” for any room damage and it’s just giving notice about this specific type of room damage, as opposed to laying out a very unexpected policy after one is already in the hotel.
(Since I can’t edit my own post…)
I didn’t read enough comments first — Yeah bringing a big group to a hotel with no meeting rooms, and deciding you’re just have them loiter about in the lobby and bistro with pizzas and whatever the hell else, that’s no good. I would have phrased the sign differently, but I can see popping up a sign at that point.
I love the people who say it’s “illegal”. Like there are laws about this. What it definitely is is a violation of the basic franchise agreement between the hotel owner and Marriott. The fact that this location is not named means to me that this is not real, because if it were true why not name the location so that people could complain to Marriott. If it’s true – name the location and report it to Marriott. That is what a real news article would do.
Based on the comments, Gary won at clickbait and lost at actually informing his readers.
Screw Marriott. If challenged at the hotel tell them–NO. I provide MY food and if Mgt doesn’t like it, call the Cops. Also, challenge the final hotel bill w/your credit card company for fraudulent services charge. Jam Marriott with challenges and they’ll surrender.
I find it funny when higher end or more “expensive” hotels try to limit their guests on normal things people do at hotels, like bringing in food or drinks, when 90% of the time there are countless other hotels usually right near them of similar caliber. Once a year, I go to a convention, and if I experienced something like this or a hotel tried to enforce this (you can pry my energy drinks from my cold dead hands!) I would simply take my business elsewhere. Frankly, I have no desire to give money to or do business with companies that treat me like an ill-mannered toddler when I’m paying them $$ in order to relax and enjoy myself
Saw this on the reddit sub yesterday and figured it would only be a matter of time before the click bait made it here.
At some point corporate needs to put their foot down on brand consistency with franchisees rather than trying to increase their footprint by pushing conversions.
Stripping the license from the franchise owner of the property in question because it jeopardizes the value of external partnerships for corporate (Uber Eats) would be a small step in the right direction.
It feels more likely to me that the policy is intended to curb the consumption of outside food in public spaces .. like a group taking a bunch of take out pizzas into the lobby seating area and make a mess. There’s no way they could stop you from taking left overs from a dinner out back to your room… And I doubt they would stop an individual adult from getting a door dash order.
What Nedskids said. I work at a Marriott courtyard and people can door dash and do whatever they like. They only time we ask them not to sit in the lobby with their catered meals is when our bistro is open for business because that blocks our other paying guest from having a space to enjoy the food they purchase from within other than that they gather with outside food, drinks, and games and do them long as they not disturbing nobody they are always fine. And if those signs were posted for whatever reason it was a location specific thing from someone who worked there and not a Marriott thing.
Did we do the responsible thing and reach out to Marriott for clarification before we did an article on this? It’s it location specific or chain-wide?
Thank you, Gary, for your insightful article regarding the policy on outside food when staying at a Courtyard by Marriott. According to Marriott’s guidelines, “all food and beverage must be purchased from the hotel.” This restriction means that lactating mothers cannot bring supplemental breast milk for their infants. Additionally, Marriott’s policy raises concerns for guests who require Halal food in accordance with Islamic dietary laws, as Marriott restaurants may unintentionally serve prohibited items such as pork, frog, carrion, or meat from carnivorous animals. Similarly, some guests prefer kosher meals to avoid eating pork, rabbit, squirrel, camel, kangaroo, or horse. Lastly, because “all food and beverage must be purchased from the hotel,” it is worth noting that service dog owners are not allowed to bring in any food for service dogs. Instead, guests must purchase food for their dog directly from the Courtyard by Marriott restaurant’s dining menu. With the Courtyard by Marriott “no exceptions” policy, I recommend lactating mothers, disabled service dog owners, and guests needing a kosher or halal meal sidestep getting Bonvoyed by avoiding staying at Marriott properties.
I guess that it would be quite embarrassing for many guests if the sign “No cooking in the room with no kitchen.” appeared in Marriott’s facilities.
Does no one spell check anymore? Must be an American writer. They are so poorly educated. Particularly ivy league graduates.
I travel a lot. There is something wrong with this story as presented. It would be nearly impossible for hotels that barely have staff for day to day operations to police who brings food into the hotel room.. I have only seen a few Marriott restaurants in major cities. Most of them have small convenience shops, vending machines and no real food options. Maybe this is a specific Marriott’s policy. It is hard to believe it is corporate policy, that was vetted by their legal team.
I just door dashed to a Marriott last night. I doubt this a nationwide thing. Seems like something that would be ridiculously unpopular.
It’s a pity that you didn’t name and shame this particular property, then at least we can vote with our feet and choose an alternative. The policy is probably illegal and impossible to police; are they going to stop and search guests as they arrive? On a long vacation trip I always take a bottle of vodka, some mixers and a bag full of snacks. Hotels gauge enough out of us as it is what with ludicrous parking fees, resort charges etc.
Congrats Cathleen Grant
you have won “Jerk of the Year”award for your comment
I am a platinum titanium member plus a lifetime platinum member. I have never had this experience. We bring food in and then buy drinks at the resort. It seems a win win. If I had everything at the restaurant of choice the courtyard would lose. Also, the courtyard meals are not that special if you are embracing a local experience. I would love to know what courtyard this is, as I would choose a different Marriott.
If you’d actually read the comments, you’d see that it’s likely one of two problems – bringing outside food and drink to the Bistro, bar, patio, or other common areas; or kids groups (sports teams and such) trashing rooms and common areas. No individual is getting kicked out for ordering delivery or bringing takeout and eating it in their room.
Hotels in Jerusalem do not allow outside food/beverages during Sabbath. No location provided so this could very well be a “non-story”
Should have made some popcorn catching up on these comments haha. That a lot of people are legitimately confused is not a good look or indication for Marriots reputation!
I get contexts and areas where the policy makes sense but putting the notice seemingly by the elevator and wording it the way they did to make it sound so generic are not smart moves and the hotel should have thought it out much, much better.
Marriott allows a great amount of independence for its hotels. I’m not sure they have much of a corporate policy and this is why each Marriott location is so different than the other. Sometimes great, Sometimes terrible. I would order my food as I please at the location being so finicky and allow them to try to find a way to punish for eating out. LOL its so stupid but kinda sounds like it could happen at Marriott.
So guests are getting Bonvoyed. It’s Marriott, that’s what they do.
Congratulations @proud of you, you’ve taken second place, it was a close call.
They just lost business and they’ll be closed soon since word gets around quickly with the help of social media.
LOL. I remember coming out of the pandemic, hotel companies like Marriott experimented with doing promotions with Uber Eats, DoorDash, etc that gave extra Marriott points if you ordered food delivery to a property like a Residence Inn. The idea was to encourage guests to order food off property so that food wouldn’t have to be provided on property. Guests to still order food delivery (as they always have), but restaurant staffing has come back a bit.
Per their sign, I think it is reasonable that no horses are allowed in to play with.
This must be location-specific. How do you enforce something like this? If you are an owner who does this, you just wrote off a lot business. Hilton will love it.
Plus, I often arrive after the so-called restaurant is closed.
And, Marriott corporate, you need to quickly issue a statement that such a policy is against brand standards?
When I’ve had a long busy day of travel or business meetings, I’ll often just grab a “light” Subway style sandwich and cold drink to take back to my room. I just want a fast shower, then to flop, watch TV or a movie and eat quietly. I DON’T want to have to get dressed again to go out and eat.
If this is going to be Marriott’s new policy, then I will simply advise out corporate travel department to remove Marriott hotels from our corporate booking system.
Maybe Marriott simply doesn’t care if they lose an entire corporate travel department, but that’s their choice. They must be flush with cash.
I encourage other travellers to do the same!
@ken,
I just curious. Were kangaroos present in pre Christian Judea? How does kangaroo get on the kosher no eat list? But, your point is well considered.
Nonsense! Hotels can’t restrict free trade and association as part of their licensed lodging compliance! It’s not a private club
I suspect this runs afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Say a family with a diabetic child. They need to have food available in case of hypoglycemic episodes. I doubt the hotel has food available at all hours.
I stayed at the Courtyard with the signs on each floor. I saw the manager chase down a guest who was boarding the elevator who appeared to walk through the lobby chewing on something. The manager made him spit it into a nearby trash can.
So they are serious about this, and they apparently expect people to follow the rules.
They don’t want to have a mess around in the common areas when big groups come in fresh from having done a big group fast food pit stop. They certainly lack capacity to quickly serve dinner for such groups unless they get the hotel to cater and arrange a dining area long before such groups arrive.
Most of the US Courtyards I go by seem to have access from the sides (and allow skipping the staffed front desk) if you already have a room key.
I guess they could watch the security cameras to try to see what comes in, but they will never know what’s in suitcase or backpack or box just by looking at the camera.
As a Courtyard GM for several years I can tell you this is NOT Marriott policy. It is obviously a rogue owner or GM. The only restrictions placed on outside food is during active Bistro serving hours, Even then the restrictions only apply to the Bistro’s designated restaurant area. Other areas of the lobby can certainly be used for outside food. Although, we always encourage our guests to try the Bistro – ours is actually very good, we never tell them that outside food delivery is not allowed.
The hotel is not named and no mention was made of contacting the property to get clarification on the sign. Weak reporting. Seems more interested in just getting clicks than understanding what is happening.
What’s the point of this post?
Corporations can do whatever they please – that’s what voters voted for.
And Presidents can do pump and dump. You tell me if that’s a reference to Musk (and his XXth child), Tr*mp, to Argentina’s President Milei, or any combo with them.
@Pilot93434: To be kosher, meat must come from an animal that has split hooves and chews its cud. Kangaroos do not meet either of these criteria. Kangaroos have single-chambered stomachs, while animals that chew their cud, like cows and sheep, have four-chambered stomachs.
Other animals that are not kosher include:
Pigs, Rabbits, Squirrels, Camels, Horses, Lions, Tigers, and Foxes. Scientists have identified three new species of the extinct giant kangaroo – Protemnodon viator, Protemnodon mamkurra and Protemnodon dawsonae, which lived 5 million to 40,000 years ago. Currently, kangaroo meat is available in Australia. It is considered a sustainable and healthy source of protein, low in fat and high in iron. Kangaroo meat can be found in various forms, including steaks, minced meat, and sausages, and is sold in supermarkets, specialty butcher shops, and restaurants across Australia. It is also exported to other countries.
@Proud of You — Did you steal that line from George Constanza?
As for the policy, I suspect it was for large groups who take up entire common areas and leave lots of trash with ordered food. It’s likely worded very poorly.
I’ve never run into this and I would not comply if I did.
The Westin Lake Las Vegas, where I stayed earlier this month, has signs posted where outside food isn’t allowed to be eaten in public areas. I don’t really *like* that, but that’s more defensible than this, which is ridiculous.
What if their onsite restaurant doesn’t offer food that meets the dietary restrictions of a guest?
“…not disturbing nobody” means that you are disturbing somebody. Double negative. “…not disturbing anyone or anybody.”
There is a clue in the article that will tell you where this Courtyard is.
Just another Patel Hotel that fired all of their housekeeping during the worldwide freakout and didn’t want to pay the money to get them back.
Marriott will claim it’s “Not technically” their hotel….kinda like when something happens on a regional plane. The first thing out of the parent carrier’s mouth is that it’s a subsidiary and “not really them”.
The next step will be saying you have to buy your meals at the hotel. No outside food allowed, even in one’s stomach.