Marriott Ruined My Wedding Night!
"I got married over Labor Day weekend in North Chicago, Illinois. We did a lot of advance legwork to set up a hotel for our guests that was close to the venue and convenient. Our wedding venue recommended the Marriott Courtyard in Waukegan/Gurnee. It was more expensive then the other hotels in the area and a bit further away, but they offered something irresistible-- a free shuttle to and from the wedding venue for all of our guests staying there. Since we had been contemplating hiring vans to shuttle our guests around so no one would drive drunk, this was a no-brainer. Plus, the Marriott has a good brand name and we felt confident things would go smoothly.
I phoned the sales office and spoke to a lovely, competent sounding woman who told me that yes, the Marriott would provide shuttles to and from the wedding, and not only that, would set up a private meeting room for our "recovery brunch" the next day. She said the Marriott had a brunch buffet (with waffles!) from 9-12, and that we could have the private room from 9-1. In addition, she said our room would be free if 10 rooms were booked, and that the hotel would set us up with champagne and roses for our wedding night. Perfect. We confirmed the details, and reconfirmed several times in the weeks before the wedding. We gleefully urged our guests to stay at the Marriott.
Flash forward to the day of our wedding. I suppose I could have guessed there was a problem with the shuttle when I saw the maid of honor drop off a car full of guests, then turn around to pick up another load. I also might have guessed it at the end of the night when I was urging people to wait for shuttles that were promised to arrive at 11:00 and 11:20, and saw them still waiting at 11:30. Maybe the absence of anything in our room: champagne, flowers or a congratulatory note might have tipped me off. But I was clueless until the next morning when I went to the meeting room that had the sign with our names on it, found it locked, went to the front desk and was informed that they had the brunch and the shuttles for us on Saturday. The day before our wedding. They said these were the dates they had gotten from the sales office. The woman at the desk arranged for us to eat at the bar of the restaurant next door-- we scrambled to call everyone we thought might show-- and we descended on the understaffed and unsuspecting waitstaff.
On Thursday, new husband called the Marriott sales office to let them know all the ways they screwed up. The sales office had all the dates and times correct; they passed the blame to the hotel itself. The sales office called the manager of the hotel and promised we would hear from him. My husband called him directly when we didn't. The manager apologized, asked us what he could do to make things right. We've asked for free hotel stays at Marriott hotels anywhere in the US for the rest of our lives. But I'm so angry, I feel like all our guests staying at the Marriott that night should get some kind of voucher as well. The manager said he'd get back to us. I figure this is just the start of our dealings with Marriott-- the CEO should probably hear about this too.
I keep trying not to think about my father in the lobby waiting for a shuttle that never came, or what might have happened to friends and family who decided to drive after drinking because there was no shuttle to the hotel. These thoughts are overshadowing my memories of our otherwise perfect wedding, and I'm furious!"
Congratulations on your wedding, Natalie! Marriott's executive officers should hear your story. Ole J.W. is pushing 75, so you may want to direct your complaint to his direct subordinate, Marriott President William Shaw. Call (301) 380-3000 and ask for his office. Tell your story to whoever picks up, though don't be surprised if they're less than willing to offer free lifetime stays.
(Photo: egvvnd)
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I can understand frustration with the hotel dropping the ball on your wedding day. That s awful and I can empathize.
That being said I have to call foul on this one....
Personal responsibility is a much overlooked character trait and the last paragraph illustrates my point perfectly:
"or what might have happened to friends and family who decided to drive after drinking because there was no shuttle to the hotel."
It is the height of self centered idiocy to think that someone dropping the ball on providing shuttles justifies drinking and driving.
Risking other people's lives because you can't figure out to call a freaking cab is not acceptable. If something had gone wrong it would have been the driver facing consequences not Marriott.
Did she really expect free rooms for life or was that more of a starting place in negotiating? I suspect the latter but that's not an appropriate way to ask to be made whole. As a business owner myself, I'd never even speak to someone asking for something so absurd.
That being said, if I heard of a fiasco such as thing, unlike the manager ("what can we do?") I'd simply offer the entire thing gratis. They did, after all, screw up one thing they simply can't ever truly make right.
I would not ask for vouhers as that requires your guests to stay with the crappy company again to get any retribution. I would ask for a 50% refund for all guests money and since the bride and groom's room was free I would ask for a free nice marriot resort stay for a few days in a location where air fare would be cheap, like vegas.
I didn't even read this whole story, and my first thought was "GET IT IN WRITING." Don't you watch People's Court?
I don't understand how the whole ordeal would happen anyway, there has to be more to this story.. if a bunch of people are getting a room at a block rate how were the guests able to stay at the hotel if they had all been booked by the hotel for the night before. Also, it looked like the Marriott staff tried to make things better for you over the whole locked door thing by letting you go to the bar of the restaurant next door. I think asking for free hotel rooms for life is possibly the stupidest thing you could do as i'm sure people that have been within the company forever don't get that. It didn't ruin your wedding, your wedding had already happened and honestly if your upset because you didn't get champagne in flowers that's pretty sad, you got married! You were lucky enough to find a soul mate for yourself, stop dragging yourself down and start your life together on a better note than this.
"Free stays for life"? While I understand your frustration, I doubt their mistake was THAT severe. I hope they help you, but I doubt they'll give you more than a free stay or two. It's not like anyone was actually hurt here.
I guess there is something to be said for being single!
Wow, you have my sympathy. Did you get anything in writing from them? If so, it would give you leverage in the inevitable conflict over restitution.
By the way, what on earth is going on in that awful photograph? The drunken leer, the tearful bride...it makes me shudder. I'm sure it's relatively innocent, but ugh, what an icky pic.
free stays for life is a little excessive too but hey, if they'll grant that then it'll be worth it. Also, if they give you a free week's stay at any marriott, make sure you see if there are restrictions. I got a free hotel stay once but I couldn't use it on Friday-Sun or from May-August. It kinda ruined any chance of using that during any summer vacation.
I can't decide if the overly dramatic headline is from this bride or from the editors, but Marriott did NOT ruin her wedding night. She freely admits that she didn't even know about the problems until it was over.
Nothing's perfect. And while I'd find having to scramble for transportation at the last minute inconvenient and a bit irritating, it's nowhere near a fiasco. I personally wouldn't let the fact that there was a mixup ruin the memories of my wedding just because I didn't get a free "designated driver" so that my family could get their slosh on, which is what it sounds like you're doing.
Free stays for life is not only excessive, but pointless from the perspective of Marriott.
Since Marriott is a business, it is in there interest to do what is right to win you back AS A CUSTOMER. Free lodging for life guarantees that you will NEVER AGAIN be a customer, and just cost them some marginal amount for the remainder of your lives. I'd shoot for something more like a full refund for everyone, and maybe a few vouchers spread about.
Why in the WORLD would no one have confirmed all this with the Hotel itself? I know weddings are a busy time, but if you want the event to go off without a hitch, you book, confirm, reconfirm and then verbally double check with the hotel manager on duty that will be there when your services are expected.
The biggest screw up here was that no one mentions ANYTHING about confirming with the hotel manager itself the day or so before the wedding.
Agree with confirming. I confirm the even the most mundage things. Rental cars, airfare rez, and even Dr. Appointments the day before and/or day of (are they running on time)
You'd be surprised how often something slips through the cracks and the time I save because of one quick phone call.
I think the most irritating thing about the Marriott's behaviour in this affair is that no one seemed to realize there was something odd when no wedding party showed up on the Saturday (unless by random coincidence another one did? I don't know. They shouldn't have mixed up the dates in the first place, in any case.)
It might not have been a personal disaster for the bride or the guests involved (inconvenient, yes), but it seems like an amazing display of stupidity on the part of the hotel.
Boy, Marriott sure sucks at weddings. The screw up they did for my cousins wedding two years ago wasn't nearly as extensive, but they had double booked the private room for the morning after brunch.
We were told to vacate; and making it worse, my one great aunt (age 85) had just arrived, and had a plate of food and was told "you have to leave right now!" by some jackass waiter. Thankfully they apologized and comped our breakfast and a few of the hotel rooms.
I've stayed in many suburban Chicago Marriot properties. They are usually staffed by high school or part time college students. The managers are usually late 20's early 30's. They usually don't have full/part time shuttle drivers (the Courtyards in Chicago do not for a fact). They are driven by the same front desk staff part time college students, thus leaving a backup/second person to run the front desk by themselves (and during rush check in times, customers complain of course). Turnover is high.
Not an excuse for Marriot's lack of performance, but a little more research would have been appropriate. Booking an event like this at a JW Marriot or other equivalent hotel, you would have encountered more experienced hotel personnel with full time shuttle drivers. Also, a little less turnover, and more competence overall.
I had my wedding at Marriott West in Wisconsin this summer. Everything went beautifully for us! We didn't have any guests staying in the hotel, but we were able to negotiate a free stay in their suite on our wedding night. We had ordered french toast for the next morning, and we were told it was on the hotel.
This situation does truly suck though. Bride's maids shouldn't have to shuttle guests to the wedding! The only reason I can think of for the mishap is that Saturday weddings are way more common than Sunday ones. I had my wedding on a Sunday as well. It does not excuse their behavior though!!
Free stays for life is pretty excessive. They definitely screwed up but let's be reasonable here.
"We've asked for free hotel stays at Marriott hotels anywhere in the US for the rest of our lives."
You CANNOT be serious.
All of these details should have been provided in a written contract and confirmed by a deposit on the block of rooms. I would work directly with the manager of the property and the sales manager to make sure this is resolved.
Free rooms for LIFE? And no one ever called them at any point during the day when the shuttles didn't show up...TWICE...and the things promised weren't in their room?
Sorry, this bride(zilla) is way out of line. A wedding coordinator or maid of honor or SOMEONE should have called the first time the shuttles didn't show up. Too many things went wrong to wait until the next day. I realize that weddings are overwhelming and there's lots of stuff going on, but that no one contacted the hotel is ridiculous.
She can ask for a free stay at a Marriott resort since no one at the hotel seemed to notice or care that no one showed up for the shuttles or breakfast when they had these services on the wrong day, and I would also alert the venue to the problems since they recommended the hotel and she wouldn't have used it otherwise. But what she's asking for it is way out of line.
The "free rooms for life" notion is absurd. The writer clearly doesn't deal with the hotel industry very often.
I think the mere request will make the manager/CEOs office laugh.
I had my privacy violated in a hotel room once. A drunken man and women walked right in to my room because the front desk gave them keys. Even for that f-up, I didn't ask for more than what I paid for my stay.
::full disclosure:: I didn't flip the latch on the door, from then on, whenever I'm in a room I flip latches and put do not disturbs on the door.
The OP sounds like this was all oral - doesn't she have a written contract? What does it say? If not, why in the holy hell not?
Hahahah, sorry to see that the husband is already whipped. How pathetic when you judge "how special" your wedding is by minor external happenings (oh boo hoo, the shuttle didn't arrive). It's called being grown up and dealing with what life throws at you - get used to it.
Wow, y'all are getting really harsh around here. Have all the stories of companies blowing up what they claimed they would do made everyone here so cynical that they have to blame the person who was wronged?
I say give it to them. Make sure their first stay is in a high floor with balcony. Bulgarian hit man disguised as room services enters room and grapples and fights with hubby, wife smashes champaigne bottle over his head, but it's no match. They both topple to the cement poolside patio to the shock and dismay of those sunbathing.
Oh wait that won't work. Then all surviving family members demand free nights for life.
I read the title expecting a real nightmare of a story. But this is just life. The entire Marriott chain probably deals with hundreds of thousands of weddings a year. And transposing dates is simply not worthy of a lifetime of free stays. They should consider themselves lucky if this is the worst thing that happened during their wedding.
@Marcus-T: Wow, what jackass reason did they have for throwing people out WHO WERE ALREADY SERVED and had a reservation!?
As I've witnessed countless times on Judge Judy and The Peoples Court, when a wedding is "ruined" like this the bride (who's always more upset then the groom) demands blood and the first born of the party that wronged her. Unfortunately, it never works out that way and they only get the actual damages suffered without the $$$$ rider for emotional distress.I think that what the OP is requesting (Free rooms for life) is way over the top to even be considered by Mariott.
No wedding, despite any planning by a fleet of wedding planners/coordinators EVER goes off without something wrong. It's an emotional day, and the best way to mitigate mess-ups is to take them with a grain of salt, make the best of it, and move on.
We don't know all the details (signed contract? confirmation of dates and times?). In this particular situation, Mariott did screw up, but there's no way to rewind history and change that.
My advice is to take the emotion out of it, and ask for something reasonable to turn it into a positive. Why not ask for a free stay for a second honeymoon or special getaway for just the two of you including the champagne and roses... Maybe an industry discount on the airfare to get there.
I'll choose another branch of the story and pick at it...
If your guests chose to drive to the hotel drunk because the shuttle didn't arrive... they're idiots and that's certainly not Marriot's fault.
Anywho, yes, confirmation should have been made by some designated person the week of, day before, and with the hotel, no one else.
Free hotel stays for life.. that's funny.
@wesmills: Well, uh, "get it in writing" IS pretty common advice. Making that suggestion isn't exactly the same as blaming them. They did confirm several times, and the hotel still screwed up.
Heh, this reminded me of my wedding night. The PGA tour was in town and the hotel we booked the suite at gave our room away (most likely to some golf person). I had even called the day before to confirm our late arrival and verify they had the correct credit card on file.
We ended up staying at a Super8 or Motel6. I tore the manager a new one the next day and we ended up with a free night at their hotel in the same room and then he paid for a free night any where we wanted out of his pocket.
One thing that people should note is that this isn't directly Marriott's fault as they don't own all of their hotels. You might want to research what company owns that Courtyard.
Seems to me someone from the wedding party should have called when they first noticed that something was wrong. A simple phone call could have resolved a lot of this.
Yes the hotel screwed up on the dates, but it seems to me that some part of the story is missing.
How did the hotel not notice the entire part the following day.
I have had enough experience dealing with companies to know you can't ask for something unreachable to help ease your suffering. Like free hotel stays for life! There is no way an employee is going to go to there boss with that request, they would be laughed out of the office.
Start with a reasonable request and negotiate. Most employees will go to bat for a customer if the request is reasonable.
Frankly I don't think the hotel should do much more than say they are sorry and possibly offer them free meal at the restaurant.
And if your guest are stupid enough to drink and drive well there is no excuse for that.
Sounds like someone got nailed by sales. Having some background in engineering, you learn one thing very quickly, sales departments suck. They promise the moon without actually checking to see if it's for sale, and then, once they get their commission, they are off to the bar (especially in industries with high turn-over). They only worry about losing repeat customers, so when they heard wedding, they knew it would be a one-off. If you wanted responsible service, you should have dealt with the hotel managers, not the sales staff.
i understand that Marriott messed up, but asking for free stays for the rest of their lives is outrageous. like others have stated, perhaps asking for some kind of refund, a free second honeymoon, or some kind of small discount for your wedding guests would have been more reasonable.
im all about free stuff when a company wrongs you, but that is just asking for way too much! i am finding myself unsympathetic to your case because of the ridiculousness of your request.
i find it very hard to believe this "ruined" your wedding. i am willing to bet your guests, friends, family, etc, are intelligible people and would not think to drive drunk and just take a cab instead. if these thoughts "overshadow" one of the most special days you may ever have, well, i just dont know what to tell you!
I read that story and for the life of me I can't understand why you didn't call to confirm the details a couple days before the big day.
Hotel staff are only human. If they were perfect, they sure wouldn't be working at a Marriott. From my point of view it sounds like something was mistranslated between sales and the front desk. That should not have happened, but I think you are somewhat to blame for not calling to confirm.
It sounds like the Manager was trying to be accomidating. Free stays for life is a bit much o ask.. I mean, I could understand that request for that if the Night Auditor sawed your legs off or something.
Try calling the Manager back and appologizing for demanind such an unreasable request and then perhaps asking for the rooms to be refunded and maybe a weekend comped for you and the Mr. If he's unwilling to do that, try asking for a partial refund, since your butts did occupy rooms for your entire stay, but still ask for the two nights comped. A partial refund is better than nothing!
Well, as a wedding videographer, we have something called 'errors and ommissions' insurance so that, in the case something insane goes wrong (triple-failure of all cameras recording event, theft of equipment resulting in loss of footage, etc.), the party at least gets their money back.
You can't recreate the day, but you can offer an apology and that trivial expense of whatever was charged back if something goes wrong.
I can see how losing out on a 'perfect' experience would make a bride ask for the impossible (lifetime free stay?), but ultimately people are just human and mistakes happen. Get your money back, get your guests a free night, and try to keep it in perspective...your guests arrived and left ok, you had a good wedding and married a great person.
If your guests were intoxicated and really having issues, cabs could and should have been called.
Overall, typically every mistake gets magnified on a wedding day because there's such a high watermark in your mind. Just keep in mind that years from now, if the rest of your day was perfect, that's the part you're going remember. The hotel mistake will only become a sidenote in your memory.
Many happy days, and congratulations!
By the way, in your area there are several resources that could have helped you check up on the hotel.
For one, never underestimate the experience of your videographer or photographer. They've been in more venues and situations than you can count, and would have known if the place was a known trouble spot.
Illinois Videographers Association would have been a great place to start, and traditionally most are willing to share a great deal about the people they've worked with (coordinators, caterers, churches, etc.) at no cost to you, time permitting.
For two, wedding coordinators are around for good reason. By taking off the responsibility of planning and acting as a point of contact for all the vendors involved, they could have been in touch with the staff and had it corrected the day of your wedding. I agree with the above posts (hosting a brunch and nobody shows up? red flag!), but still, having that coordinator probably would have been a good idea.
Finally, the free shuttle and low cost would have been a red flag for me. Any time that you have a site with a shuttle point, there's been a guarantee made by somebody somewhere (ie event location said they'd only recommend x hotel in exchange for shuttle service). I wouldn't have taken it at face value, but then again, I've been around this stuff way too long.
If you have to be your own coordinator, ask for and track down references, and not just the ones that they give you. Get in contact with local associations and anyone that may have done business with them to get the full picture.
Before you use the term "ruined wedding" go check out Kill Bill Vol. 2.
The problem with free stays for life is...someone like myself would basically move into a hotel. Forever.
But definately comped or vouchersfor another stay.
I don't understand why some of you even read this website. You find whatever little flaw you can in the person's post/request and turn it into an O.P. bashing party. I think the errors made by the hotel were very serious, and considering a wedding is a one-in-a-lifetime thing (or supposed to be, anyway), the Marriott should be EXTREMELY careful about these type of things. Yeah, we all make mistakes, but guess what? We all PAY for them, and so should they. They should at LEAST refund her all her money for the hotel stays and anything else that she paid those jackasses.
Also, it's very easy in hindsight to say "you should have done thing, you should have done that", but many of us learn those things through past mistakes, which is probably how you learned them. I'm sure after this, she won't be making the same mistakes again!
@Major-General:
LOL, good point MajorGeneral. I would be living it up there too. I'd move to a different Marriott/city every month!
"or what might have happened to friends and family who decided to drive after drinking because there was no shuttle to the hotel."
MIGHT HAVE---I don't think she's saying anyone DID make the mistake of driving drunk. It's just those 'what if?' thoughts that scare people when the control is taken out of their hands.
You guys are being unduly harsh to her!
This is simply proof that God hates heterosexuals marrying.
PS: good luck, bride - it's rotten.
That' terrible but I really don't thinkg Marriot is going to give you free lifetime passes. LOL, may as well sell your home and go LIVE at the Marriot!
I think the bride in this case was using the free stays for life as an opening bid to try to convey how devastated she was by the hotel's failure to perform.
In fact, I find it interesting that we're so focused on the consumer's greediness, rather than the hotel's incompetence. I think it's horrible that the bridal party had to drive shuttle to and from the venue. It's worse that the hotel treated the bridal party so badly on the day after.
The hotel business has enough competition that any bad press is enough to turn me off a property. I thoroughly read Trip Advisor and make decisions based on the bad reviews even more than the good ones.
And granted, the wedding was obviously not ruined, but the hotel committed significant errors that would stop me from using Marriot for an event. Is it too much to ask for competence?
Personally, I think the bride should be offered a complimentary one week VIP stay at a Marriot resort (like the one in Las Vegas). And the hotel should release a statement telling us how they are going to avoid errors like this in the future.
The only thing that can ruin a wedding night is failure to consummate.
Free lifetime stays is a ridiculous demand. For this kind of a scheduling error you should get 2 nights free - at most.
Life throws all kinds of curveballs at you during marriage. If you consider this minor incident so troublesome, I can't even begin to imagine how you will deal with serious, inevitable problems later on.
Good Lord, you'd think that once stuff didn't start happening on the day before your wedding and nobody showed up that MAYBE they had the date wrong!
Aim high- Ask for a free week at a marriott resort and a free night stay for every guest you had there.
maybe even cry a little when you do talk to them... Nobody likes to hear a new bride cry...