Over the years, the word “Bonvoyed” has morphed a bit. At first it meant having problems with the then-new Marriott Bonvoy rewards program. But over the past 5 years or so, it’s now used as a way to describe any time something goes on at a Marriott property that shouldn’t have happened and it’s the hotel’s fault. The concept of being “Bonvoyed” is popular enough among travel geeks to have been made into a website, a T-shirt, and even made it into Urban Dictionary (heads up: NSFW, adult language. Hey it’s Urban Dictionary, what do you expect? LOL!).
Joe and I have been Bonvoyed a handful of times, but never something horrid. One time was when our hotel didn’t accept suite award night upgrades. Last year it was when Marriott selected the value of the free night certificate you’ll use. But that’ OK…one time we Bonvoyed Marriott because their IT didn’t know how many days were in a week. So there ya go.
All of those were frustrating, but at least we never felt like their mistake put our safety into jeopardy.
A woman named Maggie was staying at a Marriott property in Pennsylvania in late October. She said that when she got to her room, she discovered the door to her room didn’t lock. So, of course, she asked if she could be moved into a room that had a working lock. The front desk satff informed her that the hotel was overbooked. So instead of walking her to another hotel, they simply offered her a glass of wine and a slice of cheesecake as compensation.
“I checked into the downtown Renaissance Philadelphia this week for work, and noticed that I could not lock my door,” Maggie says in the first of a series of TikTok videos she made about the event. “The only thing securing the door was this little latch on top. I walked outside to see if I could lock it effectively and pulled it tight. There was a huge gap in the door that I could see directly into my room through. And look at that, popped the lock right open with my key card. I did that twice. I showed the engineer, the engineer was appalled. Guess what the front desk did? They offered me a glass of wine and a piece of cheesecake because the hotel was oversold.”
Here’s the video:
@maggiemadecrochet My room door wouldn’t lock at the @Marriott Hotels Renaissance Philadelphia Downtown. AND I could open it from the outside by swiping a card through the door jamb. Do better @Marriott Bonvoy!
In her second video, Maggie showed how she was able to secure the door with some of the items in the room, including a doorstop, a charging cable, her ice bucket, and ironing board (the latter two were jerry rigged so they would make noise if someone opened the door).
“So after I declined the wine and cheesecake 🙄 that was offered to me by the front desk, they asked me if there’s anything else they could do,” Maggie said. “I asked for a doorstop” after several replies to her first video made that recommendation.
@maggiemadecrochet So after I declined the wine and cheesecake 🙄 that was offered to me by the front desk, they asked me if there’s anything else they could do. I asked for a doorstop. Thank you TikTok! I watched several creators instructional videos on how to secure a hotel room door and that is the ONLY way I could feel safe Wednesday night @Dr. Nose Best @Victoriasway @Torrie
In her final video, Maggie showed a screen grab of the email she wrote to a representative of the hotel chain, explaining everything that happened, including the engineer’s apology to her, and asked why the front desk felt it appropriate to offer a glass of wine to a guest who felt unsafe in their room that couldn’t lock.
@maggiemadecrochet #greenscreen @Marriott Hotels @Marriott Bonvoy #tiktok #tiktokuniversity #customerservice #safety
That video was posted on October 28th. She didn’t post any other videos about the event. However her responses to some of the replies she got to her vieos give an idea of what happened next:
- She left a message for the General Manager of the hotel, but never got a response. That’s why/when she emailed Marriott.
- On October 29th, Marriott Bonvoy replied to her original video:
And then, at some point, they removed the stay from her account and 10,000 points (which is still better than a glass of wine and a piece of cheesecake. But still, a measly 10,000 points for having to sleep in a hotel room where anyone could walk in?)
So that’s what happened to Maggie. What would you have done and expected if this had happened to you?
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1 comment
Let them eat cake?