R. P.
Yelp
I stayed at The Element Boston Seaport from March 20 - 25, 2024 during PAX East, which was a return stay for me. I'll say at the outset that the hotel is comfortable to stay in and has an incredible location. My problems all stem from a completely bungled series of billing errors and a callously indifferent staff that refuses to admit error and tries to pin blame on guests.
When I checked in, a hold was placed on my card for the room fees as well as an amount for incidentals. In the morning of the last day of a five-day stay, an amount equal to the fee for two night was actually charged to my card. Then I started getting "card declined" alerts from my provider. Frantic something had gone wrong, I curtailed spending and started trying to figure out what was wrong. I also checked with the Element's desk to see why they only charged a partial amount and was assured that the balance was still on hold and all was okay. I checked out the next day with no problem.
Four days later, I received an email from the Element's (and the next-door Aloft's) general accountant, Mr. Bender, saying that I hadn't paid my bill and requesting payment. After checking with my card provider, within a couple of hours I had replied that it was confirmed that the hotel still had more than the outstanding balance on hold and was not trying to capture those funds, but was trying to run a new charge.
It took six days for Mr. Bender to respond, during which I sent follow-up emails with updates and the details from my card provider on how to cancel the old charge and what was needed from the hotel. I tried to leave voicemail as well. When we spoke, his reply was that he was sorry I received sub-optimal service and that in order to fix things, *I* should do the work to follow up with my card provider. He did at least provide the needed letter, where the hotel never admitted mistakes and took a magnanimous tone about generously releasing the hold. Since the hold amount was for more than the balance, during this whole time, they were also holding on to money that belonged to me.
While waiting for his reply, I had also contacted Marriott's corporate offices, trying to find someone who might care about how poorly I had been treated. In this pursuit, I also exchanged email with the Element's front desk manager. I let it be known that I would like to speak to the general manger and received a reply after their investigation that simply parroted back to me all the information I had given Mr. Bender. I renewed a request to speak to the Element's general manager as well as pointed out that I didn't know how the hotel intended to proceed once my card provider fixed the current mess.
There was also an exchange with the Element's (and Aloft's) Dual Property Director of Room Operations in response to a satisfaction survey where I was blamed for all problems due to the card I used for payment, which the Element accepted at the time of reservation.
My last contact with the Element was the email to the front desk manager on April 7 with no reply. I heard absolutely nothing until May 8, when I once again received email from Mr. Bender requesting payment. In it, he mentions the general manger getting in contact with me with me not responding, except I never received either a phone call or email from the general manager. I had also never received a reply as to how the hotel was going to proceed once the mess from their first billing attempt was cleaned up.
Overall, no one at the hotel spent any effort in determining the problem and left it to me to fix, nor have they ever admitted any error, even though they did manage a partial payment. And of course, in all the time they've been ignoring me, the card I used started showing fraudulent charges in Boston, forcing me to cancel it.
I have no problem paying my bill once the card account is straightened out if they have someone competent enough to run the charge properly. (I dearly wish they could have managed that in March.) However. I did ask to speak to the general manager again in hopes that someone in this "hospitality" business might give a damn about how very poorly I have been treated throughout this stupid saga. I have been alarmed by card declined messages, accused of not paying my bill while they were holding my money, left to investigate and find a solution on my own, told it was my fault for using the card they accepted as payment, and offered hollow apologies when not being ignored. There hasn't been a hint of caring enough to make any amends.
Finally, I noticed that Mr. Bender copied several Marriott executives in his email to me, perhaps as intimidation, and I happily included them in my reply which was sent immediately after I read his message. Maybe they'll care about the bungling, if not the insulting way I've been treated.
Not surprisingly, all of that was six days ago and - you guessed it - I've heard nothing from Mr. Bender, the Element management, or Marriott corporate.
