TownePlace Suites by Marriott Orlando at SeaWorld

Front Desk: There is an employee named Shantise/Shauntise (or something similar) who is completely unfit for customer service. If you do some research, you'll find numerous reports of her being rude to hotel guests. I, too, had a terrible experience with her. I stayed at the hotel for over 10 nights while visiting Orlando, and from check-in onward, she answered all our questions with a sarcastic tone, dismissing our concerns rudely. Her unprofessional attitude made us feel unwelcome, and I will not be returning to this hotel because of that. Security: At night, the front desk is almost always unattended. The hotel staff spend their time in a back room, chatting and using their phones. The hotel has at least three entrances, making it easy for someone to come and go unnoticed. As a result, the sense of security is very low. One night, several police cars were parked at the entrance, and officers were seen talking with the hotel staff. When I asked what had happened, they refused to provide any information. Infrastructure: The hotel's infrastructure is excellent. The rooms are quiet, clean, and spacious. The kitchen is fully equipped and served us very well. The parking lot is large, and there were always plenty of available spaces. The location is superb—just one block from SeaWorld (we even walked to the park). Getting to Universal Studios and Disney is also quick and easy. There are several restaurants, supermarkets, and pharmacies nearby. Breakfast: The breakfast is good, but there are few healthy options, such as fruits and natural juices. The restaurant area also gets crowded during peak hours; on some days, they even opened an additional dining room to accommodate everyone.

They said they cancelled our reservation because even though we checked in on the app, they couldn’t confirm our physical presence. We never got a cancellation notice and even noted a late arrival through the app. The front desk agent, Shauntise, was smirking, rude, and unapologetic the whole time. The manager, Alejandra, didn’t care much that we didn’t get a cancellation notice and that the app told us we still had a reservation. They reinstated the reservation, but we lost a whole night. The room wasn’t available until 11:50AM the day after our check-in date. Alejandra finally called and offered to give us Marriott points to compensate, but she hasn’t followed through. Also, the app still shows our original reservation dates as though we received a room on time. They had the other front desk agent, Judy, do our check in. Judy was the most professional of all, but it was still a terrible customer service experience after dealing with Shauntise who had no manager present and on duty; then, Alejandra who said their franchise makes up their own rules. They’re thieves in my opinion. It’s a fraudulent operation.

This was the worst experience I had in the last 25 years staying at any hotel, and it all had to do with how we were treated at the front desk and subsequent handling. I arrived 8:30PM with my wife, a young child, and a toddler after a long day traveling. A young lady, Shantise, walks out after a few mins looking at her phone, didn't even look at me or say Hi. I proceeded to check-in. I then asked if she sees a 3rd night extended as I had called the hotel to extend 1 more night, was told we have to go through the 3rd party. Expedia (3rd party) told me it has to be done by the hotel, they called the hotel, took my card and confirmed over the phone that a third night was extended. She then got pretty annoyed, standoffish, and sarcastic, prolonging her tones and making facial expressions as if she was talking to a child. She I don’t see a 3rd night, you have to check with the 3rd party. I: I was told it was confirmed. She: again, call the 3rd party, your card was denied. I: why would it be denied, it is the same card I used for the original reservation. She: again, not my problem. call the 3rd party.. I: I understand it is not your problem, but would you please let me know how much it would cost now to extend one more night. She again, annoyed, looked up the system and told me a price higher than what I had when I supposedly extended. I mentioned that. she: that rate was 2 day ago. now it is 2 days after, isn't it? This conversation was happening while she was occasionally looking/typing/smiling at her phone. I told her that she can at least look me in the face while she is talking to me.. She: wow wow wow, what’s with the attitude I won't help someone with such an rude attitude. I: you've been looking at your phone and frankly this is no way to speak to or treat a customer. She: alright, feel free to find some place else. I won't check you in.. I told her I have kids and it is late, and won't go around looking for other hotels now, and I thought she was the one with an attitude and asked to speak to a manager. She told me there is no manager. I asked her to call a manager. She told me there is nothing she can do and I am welcome to wait till 11:00PM and possibly a manager can come in then.. After some back and forth, she told me she would check in my wife not me, even though the reservation is under my name.. Since it was late and the kids and us were tired, my wife proceeded and she checked us in. Next morning, a different lady was there. I asked about a manager and if I can extend one more night (we still didn't want to have to pack and unpack for one more night). She told me there is no manager on duty and that they were fully booked. I mentioned that I see availability online if I can reserve online if she can keep the same room, she said sure. I reserved online, and approached her again. She said she sees in the notes by the shift manager and the person that worked the evening shift that I am not allowed to extend my stay because of the issue I had with the staff the night before. I explained to her that I was the one who was mistreated and the manager should have at least spoken to me before putting those notes. I asked again if a manager can call me when they get in (which I was told around 2:00pm) I didn't get any calls, I called the hotel around 2:30pm, no manager. I called Marriot, they told me they see that my reservation was cancelled by the hotel and charged me a penalty. At night, I got to speak to a manager. She told me they had done their investigation and saw it was best for the hotel to not extend my stay. I told her if they watched/listened to the video-tapes, I wasn't disruptive, loud, or disrespectful in any manner, and they would've seen the girl on her phone, and I never received a call from a manager to hear my side if a real thorough investigation was to be done, she kept repeating her answers but was respectful throughout and mentioned that there should be no penalty. Note, I saw how that girl (form the check-in) was treating customers when the manager was around and it was completely different from how she treated us.