My daughter had a softball tournament in Denton, Tx and being a bonvoy member, we decided to book through Marriott. The closest Marriott stay within our budget was this location that was 30 minutes from the field (which I was definitely ok with that over driving 2.5 hours from home. I picked a Fairfield stay because of price and I have always had a decent experience the them in the past…
I checked in for my 2 night stay at 5:15 on Friday. It prompted me to enter the card into the machine to prepay with the refundable incidentals fee. The total prepayment was $290. It instantly started the pending charge but the girl behind the desk said that her computer was saying I didn’t pay yet. I showed her my phone where it shows the funds removed from my card and that it was pending, and I couldn’t redo it unless the funds went back to my card. I told her if they did, I would come back to the desk and make the payment. She bypassed the screen and gave me my room key.
Upon going to my room, I put the key card against the lock and it turned green and let me turn the handle, but the door wouldn’t open. I tried again and it opened that time, but the deadbolt would automatically engage and not allow the door to shut. I called the front desk and politely explained what was going on and said “I don’t want to come back tonight and assume the door is closing behind me and it not, is there any way I can get a different room?” She said she could do that and would try to get me a room close to the original, so I wouldn’t have to tote my luggage too far, and noting that we were Bonvoy members, she said she would talk to the manager about adding extra points for the inconvenience. I ended up with the room next door, which was fine.
We left to go to day 1 of her tournament/training camp and came back that evening and showered. That night at midnight and 3 am, Fairfield attempted 2 ADDITIONAL charges for my stay, on top of the pending amount. So that morning, we went to her tournament and I called cashapp and explained how the girl never saw my payment on her end, but it was showing on mine. I asked if they could cancel the pending charge, so I could pay. They said it wasn’t an issue on their end, but the hotels. After hanging up with them, it was 8:30am, and I called the hotel and explained how they attempted 2 other charges on top of my original payment at check in. She said “well if you got a key card, it’s probably fine” I told her it was NOT fine, if you are still attempting charging my account multiple times and I needed to speak to her manager. She said the manager doesn’t get there until 9:30, she got my name and number and said she would have her call me….I have been a property manager before and know that they have responsibilities as soon as they get in, so I didn’t expect a call back “right away”…so I waited until almost 11am to call back. They must have called ID because as soon as she answered she put me on hold for about 10 minutes, and when she got back, she said that she “just now” spoke to her manager (so she waited an hour and a half and me calling to even talk to her). The manager said she saw the pending amount and it shouldn’t happen again.
That day around lunchtime, I had gone back to the hotel to get my daughters things, so she could stay with a teammate, and noticed that housekeeping was 2 doors down from my room. So after getting her things, I didn’t want to go back in there, if she was about to be in my room. So I went to lunch and headed back to the fields. When I got back that night at around 9:15, I noticed all my trash was full, beds were still messed up, and all of the towels were still in the floor and not restocked, clearly, she never even went in our room. I called the front desk and told the gentleman that for some reason, housekeeping never serviced my room and I need towels and rags because all of mine are dirty. He verified my room, and said he would be right up. I waited 30 minutes and called back. He tried to put me on hold and I said “can you please just tell me how long I’m going to have to wait for the rags/towels I requested?” He said he would be right there, he had to deal with other guests. I waited an ADDITIONAL 20 minutes before going downstairs and requesting them in person. That night, at midnight and 3 am AGAIN, they attempted 2 more charges on my card, we are now at 4 additional attempts, on top of the initial pending charge.
It is the last day of the tournament and my daughter had to be there at 7. Although she stayed with a teammate, I still wanted to get there at least a little early before her game started at 8. So I go downstairs right before 7, to check out. Normally I would just drop my key off and be done with it, but with them continuously attempting charges, I felt it needed to be resolved in person. I get to the front desk and the girl prints my receipt and it is for $329. I tell her that it was incorrect and she asked what was “incorrect about it” I said, I booked 2 nights and you are trying to charge me for tonight as well, when I am checking out at 7 in the morning. She took the 3rd night off and tried to process 2 ADDITIONAL CHARGES, then told me to put my card in the system. I told her “I’m not putting my card in that machine. You have $290 pending right now, you need to finalize that charge, or release the funds and I will pay. She called her manager who said that the initial charge is with incidentals and you have to pay again for those to be released. I said “absolutely not! I have never had to make 2 payments for a hotel, you adjust the prepayment and the balance gets released in 3-5 business days. She told the girl she was on her way (which was a lie, she had no intention on showing up) she called the cops on me and accused me of “theft of services” for not paying for a room that I paid upon check in. I told her “even if I wanted to, I can’t come up with $500 for a $250 stay. And basically you have 3 options: 1. Process the pending charge and refund my incidentals, 2. Release the funds and I can pay the total, or 3. Comp the room…..I now have a case # with the police station, a case # with Marriott because almost the entire staff are incompetent and don’t know how to process pending charges.
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