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Yesterday I posted the events in regard to my arrival at the Marriott Beach Resort Grand Cayman. Clearly this is not the kind of welcome anyone would ever want for their family to endure and it was shocking how quickly things escalated from tropical smiles to ugliness. Many readers were clearly disgusted over the events and shared those comments on the post as well.
One thing I did not share in the initial post was that right away, after the events occurred, I did reach out to @SPG on twitter via DM to share my concerns over what happened (since none of the Marriott social media follows me). Plus, SPG on twitter has always for years now been flat out outstanding. After their initial response back to me they ignored me even though I followed up with them the next day. Very disappointing. In fact I have not had anyone from Marriott / SPG Corp reach out to me at any point.
But it seems the Marriott Beach Resort Grand Cayman does care about what happened as Andrew, the hotel room operations manager, called me last night (vs. just a cold e-mail) and honestly and sincerely apologized for what happened and the way it was handled. It should have been done differently.
Thank you Andrew – that really matters!
He shared that he felt “this was an isolated incident” and I do in fact agree with him. The post I am working on about the hotel itself was going to, and will, reflect that other than the hostile greeting on day one, all other staff at the hotel were nothing but smiles and provided outstanding service (even over the top at times like Neil at the beach). Andrew said all those involved at my check-in will be talked to about this event and changes will be made at the property. Lastly, they are going to “review the video recording policy at the hotel to learn from this and improve”.
This was honestly all I was hoping for and I did not ask for anything more from Andrew and I was feeling much better about the situation. I thanked him very much for his real and sincere apology. He then stunned me by stating they would be taking this a step further and will be fully refunding my Marriott Rewards points for my stay and he said he hoped I would return again to the property.
Really impressive, Marriott Beach Resort Grand Cayman!
Readers please know my review of my room and the property itself, or the rest of my stay, will be unaffected by the above. As to if I will take them up on their offer to return to the hotel? That is a very tall ask (for now). It will take some time for me to get past the very uncomfortable feeling I have about this property due to the arrival events. I will say that Andrew’s call has at long last lifted the gnawing feeling deep in the pit of my stomach from the past week. That positive turn, I hope, will stay with me longer than the event that started this mess! – René
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Cool
Ugh I have a Spring Break week planned there!!! I hope they don’t do this to me and my family as well. How scary.
@Nathan – I think this will not be repeated (like ever again) and you can expect a nice visit.
Having stayed there in the past I was very surprised by your last post. Upon reading today’s post I’m not surprised as everyone at that resort went above and beyond to make our stay awesome. Glad to hear they still do this. If it were me I’d take them up on the offer but I also understand a bad taste is hard to get rid of.
@Davy – I am not ruling out a return, just can not think about it for now.
If you were not a blogger, this update would have never happened!
@Paul – Maybe, maybe not. The hotel has responded directly to folks on other sites like Trip Advisor etc.
I agree with others that you should have asked if you could film first. Nobody likes a camera at their face without consent. Also, hotel could have responded better.
Last year we stayed in the Marriott Grand Cayman and the service was phenomenal, really outstanding, but the beach is terribly crowded, so as we speak I am in the Westin Grand Cayman where the service is awful but the beach is the best in the world
I agree with the reader that says this would not have happened if you were not a blogger.
Rene, really glad to hear of this positive update. Hope your travels are smoother going forward. BTW, it was nice seeing you and your lovely wife in the Seattle Sky Club a few weeks ago! Cheers! 🙂
The entire initial scene was ghastly! True u should have asked first but reactions did not equate with your actions. Clearly they want you to share positive comments being an extensively followed blogger. So savvy business is prob the reason 4 the refund — just enjoy! I guess we r all still learning via our travels! Hi from Inverness
I am not a demanding traveler but I am willing to ask for what I want. If the hotel is not accommodating then OK, I just don’t go back and if it is a bad experience I share it with with many people.
There are a million hotels and if they don’t want to make EVERY visit a great experience then their competitor down the road will.