Hi-
I am trying to figure out how to handle the following situation.
Several months ago, I booked 2 rooms for 2 nights at the Westin Playa Conchal for Presidents Weekend at the conclusion of a weeklong trip to Costa Rica for my family of 5. At the end of December, the reservations disappeared from my profile on the website though my points were not returned. I called Marriott and the agent at first said she didn't see the reservations in one system but after searching some more, she found the reservations in a second system and said not to worry- all good with the reservation. (given the merging reservation systems, I figured all was good)
A week before I was scheduled to leave for Costa Rica and still not seeing the reservation on the Marriott website, I e-mailed hoping to get written confirmation of my reservations. Marriott responded that 1 reservation was cancelled and 1 reservation was never valid.
This led to me frantically calling Marriott and trying to get this sorted out. After numerous hours on the phone, Marriott/Starwood told me the hotel cancelled the reservation for one of my rooms but had 1 reservation. They did not know why. And I would have to deal with the hotel on my own. And the hotel was now sold out for this weekend. This would be my problem to solve. Marriott was suggesting that I make reservations at a new hotel so that I would have a place to stay. Marriott said they would open up a case as to what happened but that would take 7-10 days business days to resolve (no- it couldn't be expedited even though this would be after I was already abroad) and they would get back to me with a report and possible compensation.
Thankfully, after some back and forth with the hotel, within 3 days they were able to reinstate both reservations.
I never did hear back from Marriott so I called after I returned and they said they showed my 2 reservations were reinstated so my file/complaint was closed on their end.
Any compensation for wasting 15 hours of my time and creating a stressful situation (waiting on hold to be connected, trying to deal with agents, transferring to managers, speaking to the hotel directly with language barriers, finding new hotels, making sure to cancel new hotels) would have to be negotiated with the hotel. They did give me the phone number to Marriott Corporate Headquarters if I wanted to complain.
I have a very bitter taste in my mouth- I made 2 reservations through Marriott/Starwood- and then when there was an issue- they made it my problem to solve. The whole situation left me very unimpressed with Marriott and Starwood but also very befuddled at the lack of customer service.
Am I missing something here?
Should I be complaining to Marriott Corporate for compensation or just forget it as everything worked out at the end?
Thanks!