Complaint about Marriott/Renaissance

Dear Mr. Marriott/Customer Care Department

I want you, Mr. Bill Marriott, to know that I am a long-time guest and loyal customer of the Marriott hotels. And I am very unhappy and DISSATISFIED with the level of service from the entire team at Renaissance Harbor View in Hong Kong.

I also have an unresolved issue that I would a resolution to. As a long time Gold member, I expect Marriott to do something for me. I checked into the Renaissance Harbor View in WanChai, Hong Kong at 12:10 am on Feb. 8th, for a one week stay. On early Tuesday Feb 10th morning as I was heading to the fitness center, I slipped on a puddle of milky fluid at the entrance of the fitness center and was severely injured. When the hotel staff came to wash the blood off and clean my injury, they came with an inadequate first aid kit. There was no antiseptic wash in the kit, and no anti-bacterial cream for the fresh wound. I requested for some anti-bacterial cream (Neosporin) and they came back to my room 3 hours later, only to tell me that they cannot find this cream. But they gave me something else for my wound (but they were not antibacterial creams.) Then I called the United States customer care department and made an incident report (David Hilger—who then sent a message to front desk to tell them that if I needed medical assistance I should receive it.) Subsequently, I called the front desk to request to see a doctor to check my wound, but the front desk staff did not comprehend Basic English. She asked me if I wanted to check-out of the hotel. I was in pain, and very, very frustrated with everyone because no one seems to understand basic English, this is a reputable 5 star international hotel we are talking about, not some hostel or 2 star hotel. I expect simple assistance. I then have to call their Director of Guest Services, and tell him I want to get my wound checked by a doctor. The day of the incident, I already told the Guest Service Manager I wanted to see a doctor, but he kept saying to me that it’s a minor scratch, and asked me to wait until the next day to see if it will be better. On the next day, Feb 12th, I insisted to see the doctor again; then the Director of Guest Services (Ralph Tang) finally came around 1pm and walked me to the doctor’s office, but by this time an infection developed on my wound already. At the doctor's office, he said that the hotel will take care of the medical bill. But a few hours after the doctor's visit, he called me and asked me to speak to the management office that spilt the milky fluid at the entrance of the fitness center to make a medical expenses claim. He said that the spot where I got injured is outside of the hotel (but it is the only way to get to the gym, is via this running path, which they advertised as part of the hotel service.) He harassed me everday from then on, to request for payment of the medical bill or file a claim with them for the medical expenses.

Here I am injured, wasted all this time at the hotel and doctor's office and having to deal with the pain, and this guy is harassing me to deal with a 3rd party to get back the medical expenses. What kind of service is the Marriott team providing to their Elite guests? It seems that everyone is quick to shift responsibilities and accountability. I even wrote to the Resident Manager (Michael Muller) and his reply to me after one week's wait was also unacceptable. Mr. Muller also said that the incident occurred outside of hotel premise. But how do they expect the guests to get to the fitness center, fly over the garden area? That clearly was the hotel’s negligence, but they do not want to take accountability. My entire vacation was ruined due to this injury on my knee cap and not to mention, all the harassment I received from the Director of Guest Services (Ralph Tang.) Then when I was checking out of the hotel on the last day, I was told that I have to pay for the medical bill (800+ HK dollars.) I was really outraged by this, especially after Mr. Tang himself has told me that the hotel would take care of the medical expenses! Did he think he could sneak it on my hotel bill? It was outrageous!!!! Kristy who works at the concierge/club level lounge then called another Guess Service Manager to the club level to tell me that they only charged it to my hotel bill because it was under the instruction of Mr. Ralph Tang. I don’t know if it was poor English or is it just his sneaky way of trying to get me to pay for the medical expenses.

So when I returned to New York, I tried to call the Marriott customer care office here to tell them what happened since my first call to David Hilger. And with the exception of the first Customer Care agent-- David Hilger (whom I spoke to while i was still in Hong Kong and reported the incident the day it happened) and Lydia Walker (when I returned to NYC,) what I received when I called customer care was a lot of rudeness, lack of interest to hear what I have to say (and Cynthia was the rudest customer care agent out of all of them, she kept saying "are you done?" before I can finish explaining the incident.) I also felt a very real sense that my call was an inconvenience to the customer care representatives.

Is this how Marriott handles issues? You make me question your much talked about Elite/premier service. I can only assume that your business is good enough that you do not want or need me as a consumer. It is true; it seems that this occurs to many other customers. My experience was quite severe, but no one from your exectutive team or office actually picked up the phone and gave me a call as promised by the customer care department two weeks ago. I hope that someone at Marriott Corporate Office will actually care enough to do something about this and reply to me, as this was a physical injury. This is a severe negligence on the part of the hotel's staff, so I expect the someone from your office to do something and provide a resolution to me, atleast more than an email from Mr. Muller as a form of apology.

This certainly does NOT indicate to me that Marriott is committed to excellence and premium customer care, especially to its loyal and elite (GOLD) customers. I already cancel my Marriott Rewards Visa Card last year, but now I am ready to drop Marriott from my list of hotels for travel, close my Marriott Rewards account, and share this story with all my co-workers and anyone who stays at the Marriott or travels internationally and domestically.

I am very frustrated and unhappy with the level of customer service provided by the Marriott staff.

As per my request to Mr. Michael Muller at the Renaissance, I am now making the same request for all the reward points back to my account (150,000 point) for the one week stay from Feb 7th to Feb 14th as compensation for my injury which impaired my mobility, caused pain to me, wasted a lot of my time and ruined my entire vacation--with the added frustration of having been harassed by the Director of Guest Services the entire duration after the injury.

I am hoping that I can get a simple resolution to this issue and book a my reservations for complimentary week of stay during my next visit to Asia. I would also like to receive a call from an executive at your corporate office before the end of February for a resolution.

Many thanks for your kind attention, I hope to hear from you or someone from your corporate headquarter soon.

Regards,

Binh V.