This week the Compensation Clinic case comes from my stay at Marriott Autograph Collection hotel in Lisbon called Fontecruz.
Remember that you can always email me, send me a Facebook message or Tweet me about the issues you have with hotels, airlines and other travel providers. I will feature one new case each week.
You can access Fontecruz Lisbon’s website here.
Marriott has several guarantees from bed type to the welcome amenity that should be offered Platinum level guests at the time of checking in. You can access my post about Marriott Elite Benefits guarantees here (will do update sometime next month).
I stayed at the Fontecruz hotel twice. During my first stay the check in agent asked what I would like to have as my Platinum amenity. This, however, didn’t happen on my subsequent stay and I invoked the Platinum arrival gift guarantee that is $100 in local equivalent in cash.
The check out agent called the manager on duty that offered 20% discount off of my room rate that was less than the $100 in euros. I requested that they honor the guarantee. After he had few words with the manager on phone, he used an online FX site to convert the $100 to euros and handed me 89 euros with some smaller change.
The clerk claimed that the welcome amenity had been chosen as points for the second stay that is a moot point. The key of the welcome amenity is that I can make the choice between 500 points or F&B amenity and it is not up to the property to decide. Nothing was provided at the time of checking in.
Conclusion
I have now had roughly 550 nights with Marriott and have been able to collect this less than ten times. It does appear that properties outside of the United States are more challenged with the elite level guarantees. I had similar issue with Autograph Collection property in Edinburgh (read more here) and Marriott Yorktown (read more here) in Toronto (that gave me a wrong bed type as well).
This Fontecruz property had a boutique almost bit W’ish vibe. They don’t, however, have proper AC. You cold choose the temperature all the way down to 16 Celsius but it wouldn’t go lower than 24 or 25.
This wasn’t problem late August during the night because you could open the windows (and then battle with the mosquitoes), but couldn’t have stayed during a summer heat wave. Let’s hope that they fix it.
I like the fact that Marriott now has more unique properties under its Autograph Collection flag. It would be better, however, if they would spend some more time ensuring that the properties are up to speed with the service standards imposed by the chain.
I have recently stayed at the Radisson Blue in Sydney, the Sheraton in Port Douglas, the Sails in Ayers Rock, and the Hilton Kuala Lumpur. All of them had restricted the Air Con to a minimum temperature of between 20 and 22 Centigrade. Is this a new trend? Is it now becoming a standard money saving technique? Or have we just been unfortunate recently?
Are you trying to play the gotcha game? I only invoke the guarantee if I am not happy with the hotel. People make mistakes, and sometimes it’s nice to give them a chance to correct it.
Would you give a front desk agent a $100 gratuity as a reward for making a mistake?
John, as I have said before, you are a nit-picker! You should be on a no stay list!
How is it nit-picking if you demand to receive what you are entitled to acording to their own rules?
We stayed here the last week in June during a major heat wave. We were in a room on the 2nd floor which was huge, had a small balcony and had fantastic A/C. Our problem was a bit of smell in the hallway (never in our room), apparently from a sewer pipe that had broken (in the garage? or somewhere below street level) and that filtered through the hallway ventilation. Was told the ventilation in room comes from a rooftop system, hence no smell in room. However, the front desk staff was less than forthcoming, so your issues with them are not totally surprising. Have no status with Marriott, and was staying on an awesome corporate rate that included breakfast for both of us – it was a steal of a deal, so I was very happy. Also very convenient that the Aerobus stop is on the corner, so getting to the airport was a piece of cake. Loved Lisbon.