Kathleen M.
Yelp
Please read, as this information is beneficial to know in case you are thinking of making a reservation at his Hotel. Read to the end as I want to caution people and explain a practice that this hotel employs called "walking a guest".
I made a reservation for last Friday night, August 2nd, to celebrate my boyfriends birthday. I chose this property specifically because it is within walking distance of the beach. I was in communication via email with Kyle Gomez, Guest Relations Coordinator, earlier in the week setting up a reservation at Topside Roof Deck for that evening at sunset as my boyfriend took me there for drinks on our first date. I also wanted to solidify with Kyle that it would be okay to check in early and leave our luggage at the front desk until our room was ready since we were coming straight from the airport. He responded with yes to both.
Seemingly, everything was all set for the big Birthday weekend...
When we approached the Front Desk to check in, rather than being welcomed and given a room key, we were informed by Annabeth Amarasuriya, Assistant Room Operations Manager, that "Unfortunately we will not be able to accommodate your stay. We have no rooms available." She then went on to say that she had sent an email a few hours earlier letting me know this. I was picking my boyfriend up from the airport so obviously wasn't checking emails, Nonetheless, they only contacted me the morning of our stay. It's actually laughable because when I reserved, they indicated that I would have had to cancel 3 days prior to our stay to not be penalized, and yet they only gave me a few hours.
Of course I asked how this could even be possible. Why would I be able to secure a reservation if there were no rooms? To which she replied that it is standard practice to overbook with the anticipation that there will be cancellations, "and sorry, but there were no cancellations for this evening so we regrettably have no room available for you".
Annabeth then let us know that their sister property in Fashion Island, several miles inland, had available rooms, and "if you are in need of assistance making this reservation, please let me know, and I would be happy to complete that for you". No offer of paying for the room, just an offer to help make the call to reserve.
As if the whole thing wasn't disturbing enough, the fact that there was absolutely no compensation offered was downright negligent on their part.
No offer of a dinner at their in house restaurant, a room for possibly a lower rate in the future, no offer to comp our drinks at Topside, cover the room at the different hotel, absolutely nothing. In fact, Annabeth made us feel stupid for standing with jaws dropped as if we were an inconvenience at best. We had to go out and ask the valet to bring our car back around, as the front desk didn't even offer to help us with getting our car and packing it back up.
Feeling very naive, having never heard of anything like this, we went on Google when we got home. And yes, in fact there is something called "walking a guest". Quoting one of the websites that gave an explanation, "Walking a guest is something that happens when a hotel oversells their rooms. These hotels will select candidates, usually one night guests, (if a one night reservation is a problem, especially on the weekends, make it a 2 night minimum policy), third-party reservations, and non-rewards members, to "walk". The hotel that is oversold will then make accommodations at another hotel for the person who gets walked. These accommodations are usually fully paid for by the hotel walking the guest".
Well, clearly Marriott does not hold to this higher level of customer service and just downright decency.
The complaint I have against Lido House, and clearly the Marriott conglomerate as a whole is this:
-The lack of ANY compensation for this extreme inconvenience. Not only did we have to completely rearrange our plans, but also the emotions involved...the let down of having a time we were very much looking forward to being taken away from us.
-That such a huge corporation has zero integrity and absolute disregard for their guests.
-The obvious deficit in providing even the most basic customer service.
In closing, to Marriott/Lido House:
My boyfriend was going to propose to me at Topside where our first date started and our relationship began.
So take note...
All of those people who you have "bumped", who are so unimportant, so insignificant, especially in regard to your bottom line, are the people who are making memories at your properties that are very significant in their lives, and in so doing, actually supporting your growth financially.
We had talked about this as a possible venue for our wedding.
We would have made this our destination for years to come.