From check-in to check-out, my stay at this hotel was the worst experience that I have ever had. The amount of anxiety that I have had to endure while at this establishment was not worth the money that I had saved by not staying closer to the downtown DC area.
First, upon making my reservations, I specified that there would be 3 guests, and that I required a roll-away bed to be included with the room. When I arrived at this hotel, and checked into the room, I found that the room was extremely small, and that the Roll-away bed was not present. I called the front desk to request that the roll-away bed be brought up, and the attendant assured me that he would bring one up himself, and right away. After about an hour, we still had not received the roll-away bed. I called again down to the front desk, this time it was another clerk who answered, said that the first attendant had gone for the day, and that she would check and see if a roll away bed was available. A half-hour later, we still had not gotten one. When calling the front desk again, she assured me that someone had just been sent to bring it up to us, and 10 minutes later a security guard came to my room to let me know that no beds were available, and gave me instead some extra blankets. I called the front desk, where an increasingly rude clerk informed me that the roll-away bed was a request and not a guarantee. I informed her that the room would not suffice, as 3 people cannot share a bed, and she agreed to upgrade us to a larger room.
For the next 2 nights that I had stayed there, I was terrorized by loud and inebriated guests roaming the halls and knocking on doors in the early hours of the morning. Calls to the front desk were not answered by attendants, and when I complained in the morning, they were very apologetic, but could not provide any answers or satisfaction.
The last incident that I encountered with the Fairfield Marriott is the worst transgression, and the real matter of my discontent with the Marriot family. When attempting to withdraw money at an ATM, I received a message saying that my card was not valid. Customer service at my bank told me that the Fairfield had attempted to charge my card in the amount of $10,002 (Ten Thousand and Two) dollars several times and as a fraud precaution my bank had put a hold on my card. I advised my bank that this must have been an error, notified the general manager at the Fairfield, who agreed that it must be a computer glitch, and he agreed and apologized for the inconvenience. My bank lifted the hold from my card.
On the day of my departure, while performing my online banking, I noticed 2 charges on my account made by the Fairfield, one for $1,000 (One Thousand) dollars, and another for $500 (Five Hundred) dollars. Again, I spoke with the General Manager, and he was unable to find record of these charges to my room. I provided him with the information of my bank, where he was to fax a letter stating that the charge was in error. He assured me prior to my checking out that this was done. Upon my return home, my bank has told me that they have not received this fax, and I have been on the phone several times with another general Manager at the Fairfield, who again assured me that she has resent this fax. I spoke with the complaint department at Marriott, who could not get in contact with the Fairfield DC, nor could they provide me with any recourse.
To this very moment, my bank has not received this fax, and unless the Fairfield rectifies the situation on their end, I will not get this $1500 dollars credited back to my account. As this is a debit account involved, I am out of actual cash and cannot attain mobility until my next pay cycle.
I have never before encountered any situation like this at any hotel that I have stayed at. Rest assured, that I will never frequent the Fairfield at Washington DC, or any other Marriott branded hotel ever again. In addition, I will advise all of my friends, family, business associates, clients, and vendors of my experience, and implore that they do the same. It is quite obvious to me now that employees at the Marriott chain hotels are defrauding their guests, and the management of Marriott is perpetrating this fraud by not taking steps to prevent this activity. I believed the Marriott to be a trusted name in the hospitality industry, but now I see that this is not the case.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Life Lessons Learned from the Twillight Zone
Lesson Number 1: Don't Drink and Drive
A married couple wake up in an unfamiliar house, remembering only that they had both drank too much at a party the night before, and that on the way home, a large shadow had appeared over their car.
They soon discover that the house is mostly props—the telephone has no connection, the cabinetry is merely glued-on facing, the refrigerator is filled with plastic food. They hear a girl's laughter and go outside to find the child. However, once outside, they discover that the town is deserted. They find a stuffed squirrel in a fake tree, search for help in a vacant church, and ring the bell in the church's bell tower hoping someone will come to their aide. When no one comes to help them, the increasingly desperate couple discovers even the trees are fake and the grass is papier-mâché. The exasperated Millie begins to think that perhaps she crashed their car on the way home, and they are now in Hell. They hear a train whistle and, thinking they have finally found a way out of the town, rush to the train station and board the train. As the train leaves the station, they begin a light-hearted conversation, relieved to be leaving. However, when the train comes to a stop, they realize it has only gone in a circle, and they are back where they started.
They leave the train and return to the town, only to be pursued by an ominous shadow, once again hearing a young girl's laughter. The shadow pursuing them is revealed to be the young girl's hand. As she picks them up, laughing joyously, it is revealed that the couple was abducted by an alien giant who brought them from Earth to be "pets" for his daughter's dollhouse neighborhood.
Mass Inteligence
I am from the Bronx
…but I’m not “ghetto”.
I was born and raised in the Bronx, but as my mom likes to say “I grew up in her house, and not on the street”. I think that it’s hard to make friends where I live, because I don’t hang out by the mailbox on the corner, never went to jail, don’t do drugs, etc. These activities seem to be more accepted forms of recreation, and there are built in support groups for people that want to spend time this way, or are reforming themselves from the above activities. I however like to read (books), go to the movies, volounteer, go to art galleries, and try out different cuisines. I have a good job, pay my taxes, and try to live the life of a productive citizen.
Sometimes it’s hard to define “ghetto” without sounding like you are being racist, as more “ghetto” people reside in poorer communities, and they may be immigrants or people of color. There are plenty of rich and well known “ghetto” people out there too. Take the rapper Ole’ Dirty Bastard for instance, who was arrested a short time ago for stealing a Honda. I’m not trying to suggest that this is confined to rappers either. Probably the best way to description of a “ghetto” person would be someone who is low class, crude, rough, and unnecessarily cheap. It is the same definition that would apply to “white trash” like Anna Nicole Smith and Britney Spears.
I think that it is really a shame that being “ghetto” is not only socially acceptable, but it is glorified by the entertainment industry and strived for by a lot of people. And I also think that it is a shame the these people have run away with the Bronx, so it is thought of by a lot of people as being the “ghetto” borough of New York.
Up until about the 1950’s, the Bronx was where the affluent people went to live to escape the dirty, crime-ridden tenements of Manhattan. The Grand Concourse was actually designed in the late 1800’s to mimic the Champs Elysées of Paris, France, and its greatest feature was the art-deco styled apartment buildings that flanked each side. New York City (Manhattan) itself enjoyed the reputation of being the most dangerous large city in America. Do you remember the reputation of Bed-Stuy up until a few years ago? In the 1970’s that neighborhood was immortalized for having the most outbreaks of violence in the streets, and the highest amount of destruction and crime related to the city-wide blackout in 1979. I also seem to remember that in the larger blackout that affected the whole northeastern part of the country, that the first incident of looting occurred in Brooklyn.
Why then, do when asked by a Brooklynite where I live, do they suddenly get a funny look when I answer, “the Bronx”? Even worse, if the person asking the question is from an area with a large Italian population, they suddenly assume that I am fit due to all the running home right from the train station to avoid pickpocketers and potential rapists, and that I am very limber from having to hit the floor multiple times a day to duck the bullets from passing drive-by’s.
I’m really interested in hearing some thoughts and ideas. Is there a way that we can make the Bronx less “ghetto”, or less infamous for being “ghetto?”
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