Red Room Chronicles

So says Shel Holtz on his Road Weary travel blog. Seems he got lots of great service at the Marriott Skydome in Toronto, but there was one major problem.

According to Shel’s post, “I noticed earlier that spam-like banner ads were showing up in my browser. I would navigate to a page that I knew had no ads, and one would appear anyway, mostly touting online poker. Curious, I clicked on over to my own blog, and the same ad showed up there.”

Seems that Shel’s browser was being hijacked by the hotel internet service.  You might assume that this type of thing is used to subsidize a free service. Not so. Shel was paying $12.95 a day for the access.

The lesson here is simple. When people are paying for internet access they should get a higher level of service. That includes the option of a wired connection and no extra ads included in the browser. Internet access is important enough to me that I have started making booking decisions based on what I know about a particular hotel’s level of service vis-a-vis the internet.

Hopefully Marriott will get the message and adjust their services accordingly.

Following the New York Times article which included this blog a few folks have sent in some tips about recent experiences with Marriott Hotels.

Gil reports on an experience at the Marriott Residence Inn Beverly Hills: “Stayed there over Labor Day. New, nice flat screen TV’s in all room by ‘LG’ (Korean manufacturer) but … the Input Button for Tv / Line-In has been diabled. I connected my Apple Laptop (which I often do to play DVD’s, test Powerpoint presentations etc.) and although my Mac clearly recognized the TV, the TV’s line-in would not change the source. I called the front desk in the PM and got no help. I called the next AM and was told that the buttons had been disabled to keep guests from playing “unauthorized” DVD’s etc. In other words I have to buy their pay-per-view if I want to watch a movie.”

Mitchell is a ‘former Marriott Loyalist’ who reports: “was a loyal Marriot guest so I decided to sign up for their credit card last year. I received a voucher for 1 free night at a Marriott. I booked a night this summer as part of a 3 night stay at the Marriott Chicago downtown just off Michigan Ave. I had a confirmation and everything. A few weeks before I called to ask about something (check in time?) and I was told that they just realized they made a mistake and can’t accept my voucher, even though I had made the confirmed booking 6 monthsearlier and my visit was in the next 2 weeks!”

These situations involved detail items that might not seem too important but make the difference for regular travelers. I’m a big movie watcher on the road so the first issue would bother me as well. People shouldn’t have to pay to watch movies if the TV has the capability to interface with other systems. As far as the voucher and the credit card goes, it’s always a problem to have an issue with a reservation. Whenever I’m in a situation where I have a special voucher for some kind of reward I like to check and double check to make sure everything is straight. The best way to do that is to call the hotel directly and take down the name of the person that you spoke with.

Tags: Marriott