Don't stay at the Swan. It's been a nightmare this week

[Julie Amber]

So we booked our first resort stay at the Swan several months ago for a large group we had coming to WDW this week. Rates were pretty good and I love the location, so we thought it would definitely be worth the stay.

Nope

Don't do it

Please, I'm begging you not to have to deal with what has happened this week.

We had 6 rooms at the Swan that I paid for and was paying resort fees for

I called the day before check in to tell them not to charge the individual rooms the resort fee, charge it all to my account

At check in, I reminded them that I would be paying for the resort fees and to make sure that those people didn't get charged

None of that happened. They all got charged even after I talked to the manager on day 2

Day 3: they find a major plumbing leak in our suite that they need to tear up the wall to fix. We are forced to move right in the middle of a super busy day and ruined our plans. Nothing was offered for the inconvenience. Got moved to a worse view and took away our balcony

Day 4: an EXTRA $1950 was charged to our account. They charged us for the extra room for the whole week.... and the original room

Day 5: Trying to get the EXTRA $1950 refunded to my account. I was told that THE MARRIOTT doesn't just have $1950 to just refund back right away and that I would have to wait until after check out and talk to the manager that day to try and get my own money back from the hotel that took almost $2000 extra from my account because they messed up

Again, nothing was offered. I was told it must have been a computer glitch and that they were sure it would get figured out in a day or two and then only take 3-5 business days to return to my account after that

Now, I might be crazy, but for the average individual, charging an extra $2000 on their card and refusing to give it back until after they check out can somewhat mess up their vacation plans

I'm fuming right now. I have never seen worse customer service than this. ever. In the history of me traveling monthly for my business all over the world, I have never been treated this poorly.

Don't stay there. It's not worth what you think you'll save. Just don't

 

[Dave006]

Thanks for your feedback it sounds like you had more than a few issues with your recent stay at the Swan.

If you have traveled the world then you know that hotels can't just modify their front desk billing system to suit your individual requests.

The resort fee is added to the folio for each room nightly. There is no hotel folio system or workflow to move only the resort fees to your room's folio. You could have prepaid all the resort fees for all the rooms at check-in. This would have been reflected on each folio as a room credit. As an alternative you could have stopped by the front desk on night before checkout and paid the resort fees for each room to clear the folios for check-out processing early on the check-out day.

Day 3: Plumbing issues develop all over the world and it is unfortunate that it happened on a busy day for you or to you at all.

Did you request a better room and were you willing to pack, leave your luggage at Bell Services while you went about the rest of your day? Or did you accept the convenience of an available clean room over a room with a balcony and a equal or better view than your original room that may have been available late in the afternoon or early evening?

True nothing was offered but did you ask for anything for your inconvenience or the impact to your plans? The most common guest recovery request would be a resort credit for dining or folio credit but you have to ask for it if you expect anything.

Day 4: Did they actually charge your credit card or just put a credit authorization your card? Or do you mean they added an extra room for your length of stat to your folio? Either option would have been human error by the front desk or the back office personnel and not a computer glitch or error.

Day 5: You indicated that you have traveled the world on business, you must know that you don't wait until after check-out to dispute folio charges. If your credit card was actually charged you would know that you could easily call your CC company and dispute the invalid charges on Day 4.

I am not sure why you say "nothing was offered" did you ask for any compensation for you time or inconvenience? Don't expect to be offered random stuff. Don't expect the front desk staff to speak for the hotel, the day manager, night manager or even the General Manager should be available in-person or via a simple phone call. Emails can also be quite effective.

Dave

 

[disneyfan150]

The issue of losing the balcony alone would irritate me. I am sorry you are having these problems. I have stayed in several hotels for different reasons during the Pandemic. Customer service seems to be lacking. I would have thought the opposite would be true and that hotels would be glad to have business.

 

[Hegemon]

I'm so sorry that you had to deal with that. Good luck getting your money back, I know it'll work but it sucks that you have to go through the hassle. (And remember that you can always dispute the second charge with your credit card company if they give you a hard time).

 

[piccolopat]

I agree with the others here. You should have refused the inferior/ no balcony room and requested a credit for the inconvenience. You should have prepaid the resort fees. The plumbing leak was an unfortunate occurrence but these things can happen at any establishment. I'm not sure how it would be enough to ruin my entire day. It wouldn't take me more than 20 minutes or so to pack up and move to another room. If they needed me to come back to the room midday when I was already in a park, they'd have to send a car to pick me up and bring me back to wherever I was but they'd also have to wait if I had reservations for dining or some other thing I had planned. They'd also need to provide a credit for the time away from my plans. Again, you should have discussed this with the manager at the time. Sorry this all happened to you.

 

[Julie Amber]

The reason we called the day before we arrived was to prepay for all the resort fees. That was what was supposed to happen. I gave them my card and explained that this is what we wanted to do. We stopped by and reaffirmed this during check in because I could see it hadn’t been done yet.

Moving rooms took us much longer than the average group because we are holding an event in a large suite. So with this event, we have about 4 times as much luggage and and stuff to move as the average person. We asked if they had a better room or if they could do anything for the inconvenience. They just flatly said no and did nothing about it. They didn’t even send bell services to help us. It took hours.

As for the charge- it was an actual charge, not a hold. It was listed as a “purchase.”

We had one day in each park. So moving for several hours in the morning when we were supposed to rope drop with the group made a giant difference to our day. It’s very crowded this week.

I’m shocked that none of you would be mad about a $2000 unauthorized charge to your account, taking hours out of your vacation without compensation, and a downgrade in room. If that’s the kind of customer service you are used to on your trips, by all means, stay here.

If you actually expect to have a good vacation with people who don’t treat their customers like garbage, don’t.

 

[Disneylover99]

The reason we called the day before we arrived was to prepay for all the resort fees. That was what was supposed to happen. I gave them my card and explained that this is what we wanted to do. We stopped by and reaffirmed this during check in because I could see it hadn’t been done yet.

Moving rooms took us much longer than the average group because we are holding an event in a large suite. So with this event, we have about 4 times as much luggage and and stuff to move as the average person. We asked if they had a better room or if they could do anything for the inconvenience. They just flatly said no and did nothing about it. They didn’t even send bell services to help us. It took hours.

As for the charge- it was an actual charge, not a hold. It was listed as a “purchase.”

We had one day in each park. So moving for several hours in the morning when we were supposed to rope drop with the group made a giant difference to our day. It’s very crowded this week.

I’m shocked that none of you would be mad about a $2000 unauthorized charge to your account, taking hours out of your vacation without compensation, and a downgrade in room. If that’s the kind of customer service you are used to on your trips, by all means, stay here.

If you actually expect to have a good vacation with people who don’t treat their customers like garbage, don’t.

I’d be furious and I can understand why you’d be soured on the place.
Hope you get the credit card charge settled soon!

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

Sorry you went through all that. It sounds like you did everything you could to make it right before your trip. I would contact Marriott and let them know what happened. As for the other posters...hindsight is 20/20.

 

[fbb]

Now, I might be crazy, but for the average individual, charging an extra $2000 on their card and refusing to give it back until after they check out can somewhat mess up their vacation plans

The mistaken charge would not impact my vacation, as I’m not paying it, but the loss of several hours of vacation time would be a huge issue, and the room downgrade would be a big issue.

 

[Ronaldo17]

Sounds like they ruined your trip, not sure what the other posters are on about, obv. It wasn't their money. Good luck.

 

[cjlong88]

I'm so sorry this happened. It sounded like a ton of freak accidents happened to you all at once. I don't think the hotel responded in the best way to the trouble they put you through. It would have definitely made me wary to stay there again in the future.

I wouldn't be angry about an unauthorized charge if they assured me it would be credited back, which it sounds like they did. Even if the hotel told me it would be credited back on my checkout day, it wouldn't bother me. In fact, something like this happened to me last year. While it's certainly frustrating in the moment, all that matters is that they correct the error as fast as their system allows them to.

If they gave me a downgraded room, I would have gone up to the front desk and (respectfully and calmly) explained that I paid a lot for a nice room and now I don't have that. I would ask if they have anything comparable or if they could charge me the correct amount for the type of room I'm staying in. This has happened a few times to me, and I feel like 9 times out of 10 they find me even a nicer room than I originally booked or adjust my rate. At least that's my experience with unexpected room changes that don't meet the standard for which I paid. YMMV

We have no control on the external forces that wreak havoc in our lives. We can only control our response to them. With that said, when it feels like a million bad things happen at once, it's totally understandable how upset you were. We are human and can only handle so much in one day.

 

[Farro]

You bet your behind I'd be angry about an extra $2000 taken out of my account!!!

Maybe an $2000 is pocket change for some posters, but not for us. It would inhibit my spending ability for the rest of the trip if it wasn't going to be resolved until after we got home. I would be nervous to spend anything in fear that It took longer than normal to get that money back.
A slightly different issue, but we don't plan to use magic bands at all next trip because we pay "cash" for everything and I don't want anything linked to my checking account for this exact reason.

I'm sorry that happened to you.

 

[CynBeth]

Marriott is the worst. We had an issue with the trip we were supposed to take this past summer. We were going on a Med cruise out of Rome but had planned to fly in 4 days early so in Aug 2019 booked the hotel. My mom was joining DH and I and since she was a Marriott Bonvoy member is the one who called the US phone # and got over to the area for members. We do not have a lot of experience with overseas travel so when the person she spoke to told her there was a special deal for a junior suite for $3,000 but had to pay in advance she did that. He did not tell her this was non refundable. Once we knew in April that we would be unable to go mom does not have a computer so I e-mailed the hotel requesting a refund and was told they would only give a voucher or to pick another date. I explained we would be unable to travel there for a few years at least and insisted on the refund. Again was told only a voucher. I then sent an e-mail to the manager of that hotel who said the same thing. Then mom contacted corporate in the US. She spoke to different people including several managers and went as high up as the VP under the CEO and was told the hotel in Rome is an independent franchise they have no control over it there is nothing that can be done. Mom then contacted her credit card company and was told to send an e-mail to claims explaining the situation along with attachments showing our booking info and the e-mail showing the cancellation plus the e-mails back and forth between me and the hotel but it was denied since the hotel gave us a voucher. It said once the voucher expires in Aug 2021 to resubmit for reconsideration. We will try then but are doubtful. We know now to never pay in advance for a hotel and we are never staying at a hotel in the Marriott Bonvoy group again.

 

[Pats Dragon]

Sorry about your experience. We had an amazing experience at the Swan with above average service. Every employee was exceptional.

 

[cvjw]

Link a credit card for charges and it won’t inhibit your vacation - no money coming directly out of your account and let the credit card company deal with the extra charges.

Sorry this happened to you. I have had less than magical vacations also, but always with a disney hotel. It does stink to use your vacation time to have to change rooms, but sometimes bad things happen to your assigned room. And, the two times something similar happened at kidani village, we weren’t given anything extra to make up for the intrusion.

 

[disneyseniors]

OP, I;m also sorry for your problems with your trip.
I may be naive, and please correct me if I am wrong, but if the resort can receive the l950 quickly over the wire, then why can't they return it just as quickly over the wire, or online??? It seems it would be a click of a button, just like it was for them to receive it? Just a thought.

 

[zoo2tycoon]

OP, I;m also sorry for your problems with your trip.
I may be naive, and please correct me if I am wrong, but if the resort can receive the l950 quickly over the wire, then why can't they return it just as quickly over the wire, or online??? It seems it would be a click of a button, just like it was for them to receive it? Just a thought.

It is credit card company that takes time to refund. I had a manicure and pedicure- cost $41. My nail tech gets look in her face. She input $471! She had no clue how to cancel so long story short refunded money- took 3-5 days for credit to appear.

 

[MICKIMINI]

I'd be furious! Back in the early 1990's we booked a room at the Holiday Inn on Sherbrooke in Montreal. We arrived to find the hotel under construction, there was no quick shop, soda machines or cafe open. The front desk wouldn't do anything for us. I made quite a few phone calls when we got home and finally got to the VP of Holiday Inn. I had all the names and dates and discussions noted. HE was furious as this went against corporate policy (not to notify guests) and planned to contact each employee individually and call the franchisee on the carpet. He wrote a personal letter of apology, sent us a check for a refund and gave us a discount for future use. He was grateful that I let him know!

I'd do what you can for now (I'd call my cc company for sure) and then try to get someone at corporate. Not a good look Swan... That ought to take care of it! No one should have to deal with a situation like that. Good luck!

 

[SaintsManiac]

I’m shocked that none of you would be mad about a $2000 unauthorized charge to your account, taking hours out of your vacation without compensation, and a downgrade in room. If that’s the kind of customer service you are used to on your trips, by all means, stay here.

I would be furious and it would keep me from enjoying myself. Don't let the replies bother you. There will always be posters on these forums who try to downplay issues people have. It will never change.

I appreciate you taking the time to post your experience.

 

[pirate33]

Don’t expect to be offered random stuff.

I don’t agree with this. A well-run hotel would have offered some courtesies for being moved out of the room, especially when the new room was a downgrade. At a minimum, the rate should be reduced if the better room was what was booked and paid for. And the hotel should have accommodated with a temporary downgraded room if necessary before an equivalent or better room was available. This is the hospitality business after all. Some free drink coupons or meal credits are easy for the hotel to offer and pay off in customer goodwill.

I agree though that asking the hotel to move around resort charges to different folios was not likely to be do-able and the workarounds suggested are good ideas.