Mar 01 2007
Marriott Karachi – Extremely Bad Experience
Imagine this:
You made hotel reservation a month in advance. Midnight, upon arrival at a security heightened country, you found out that you have to share room with a complete stranger, and you have no other options but to accept it. Not only that, you have to sleep in the living hall on a made-shift bed, and yet expected to pay around RM700 ($200) for that.
This happened to me, in Marriott Hotel, Karachi. This is the most ridiculous thing that I’ve ever encountered in my travel life.
I arrived Marriott Karachi at 2:30am KL time. I was exhausted, desperately needed a shower and a good sleep. But upon arrival, I was told that the hotel was overbooked, and they have simply put me and another lady stranger in the same room, without seeking our agreement. Though this lady comes from the same country and same company as me, I do not know her at all! Furthermore, I need my privacy to express my breastmilk, and this has completely infringed my privacy rights!
The Full Story
During check in, we were not informed about the situation. They just made us sign the check-in form/agreement. Then, I got a glimpse of the room booking printout – someone shares the same room number as mine!
Upon asking, the receptionist then told us their problem of insufficient room. They have ‘kind enough’ to upgrade me and the other lady to an expensive presidential suite. They convinced us that it has two separate rooms.
We thought it was two bedroom suites. We finally agreed to say in the ‘two room’ suites. BTW, same thing happened to my boss too, has to share with another HK lady.
But then… when we opened the door, it was actually a 1-room suite. They put up a made-shift bed in the living room, in between the dining table and sofa; expect one of us to sleep there! And they dare called this as ‘2 separate rooms’!
I needed my privacy to express my breastmilk. The other lady was kind enough to give me that room. But I feel bad. My boss has to stay in her living room, coz we arrived later than the HK lady who took the (only) bedroom already.
We were very upset of this incident. After arriving in the Pakistan office this morning, we told the officers, and we were asked to change hotel and do not pay for the night we stayed. We did, with a lot of arguments at the lobby. It was just too dramatic just now, if you can imagine.
It is just not right in principal:
Dishonest
First, they were not honest with us. They should inform us the situation, instead of conned us into signing that form/agreement and used it against us. That receptionist brought us to our room. When we realized the real situation, he tried to sneak out. He thought he could just dump us into the room and his duty was over.
Room Rate
They expected us pay the full rate of Rs11,900 (RM700/$200) each, for sleeping in the living room. Only after we protested and refused that room, they then offered us half the price. But that wasn’t what we want. Even with that half price, none of us would like to stay with a stranger or in the living hall, especially on business trip and for me – who need privacy to express my breastmilk.
Gender Discrimination
This really pissed me off. There are 6 of us from my company, 4 females 2 males. The males arrived later than my boss and I. They got single (normal) room. We had to share. The HK lady arrived at least 3 hours before us, she had to share with one of us. Why it has to be females to share and the males have their own rooms?
Unprofessional Attitude
The staffs were rude. They kept defending that it was ‘2-separate-rooms’. Ya, one is living room. We told them that it was unacceptable, but they just don’t understand. The worst thing is, until the moment we cancelled our stay, they still thought we were being difficult, and they couldn’t understand why we were not happy with their ‘nice presidential suite’.
What Is Acceptable?
Well, if they have problem with availability, they should have called our office yesterday, and immediately arrange for us to move to another hotel. It is actually more professional that way! If they really want to try that so-called presidential suite, they should have checked with us instead of conning us and trying to dump us in that room. If it was agreed by our office, then we will accept it. Furthermore, our office would be able to advise them who can be put together and who cannot.
Next Steps
I am going to write to their HQ, and I’m also going to write to our procurement department to de-list them as our panel hotel. It is not cheap to stay in that living room, you know?
Now…
I am so happy that we have taken necessary steps, and I had some kind of pleasure – seeing their shocking faces when we cancelled our stays. Moving into Sheraton now is a good choice. This hotel is much newer, larger, with better facilities, and cheaper!
Added on 6 Mar
This incident in Marriott is only an isolation case, which should not be used to evaluate the country. Please do not generalize this experience to the general public. In fact, I enjoyed my trip very much, met a lot of nice and helpful people. Sheraton is also a very good hotel to stay in. I will write separately to share the fun with you all later.
Wah, liddat also can ah? You do the right thing! Black-listed them!!
what!??!…they think their guest is stupid or something???
Marriot somemore…..they think they very ‘pa-pai’ ??
Complain ! Black list them! muahahahahaha
Haha..you went to Karachi FINALLY! Now, I have someone to share my nightmare.. I stayed at the same hotel..yes USD200/night. That hotel was so rundown, like those we have in Chow Kit right? I guess I was a bit lucky, I have my own room but the room smells like toilet. I have no regret tho, it was good experience, thanks to your company.
beckysmum: ya, ridiculous right?
paupau: That’s exactly my feeling. Wan-Ngo-Ban like that. And hard to believe this came from Marriott, the reknown international 5 star hotel some more!
cabbage girl: Ya loh, FINALLY. What nightmare did you have last time? I didn’t hear your complain wor? But you were with the coo-coo, it must be another fun.
Ya, the hotel was terribly rundown, I agree. My room has 2 big portraits of lady, they were staring at me, quite spooky too. I hate portraits in my room/house… But agree with you, it is an experience that worth having – afterall, we won’t go there if it is not for business, right? I will be going there more often this year. At least 2 more trips… 
You did the right thing. No hotels would make two person share a room.. this is ridiculous..! i’ve been in the hotel industry for 15yrs.. and we’ve never asked 2 hotel guests to share a room.. irregardless. If we were over-booked.. it is the duty of the hotel to farm the guest out. .to the nearest .. and same star hotel.
Make sure you get some response from the owners of the Marriot.. and if you donch have the names for the right ppl to write to .. let me know.
MamaBok: Hehe, I was waiting for your comment, you know?
I wrote to the Marriott website’s comment. They responded to me in email, saying they’re investigaging and will get back to me within 7 to 10 days. Is that the right channel then?
I am from Karachi, Pakistan and we posted your experience on our city blog.
http://karachi.metblogs.com/archives/2007/03/marriott_hotel_1.phtml#more
We are truly sorry for such a horrible expereince, We will write to newspaper about this incident. We are loving people but some people makes us look bad.
MN: Thanks a lot for sharing the story in your blog, and thanks for taking this to the local newspaper too.
Yes, I agree that the people in Pakistan are wonderful people. Don’t worry, I will not generalize the country based on this single incident (though some may – the HK lady shared room with my boss just did it!).
In fact, once I settle down (just back to my country), I will write something nice about Karachi in my travel blog. It is a nice country that worth visiting!
Hi Suzette,
I’m a Karachiite, although I’m living somewhere closer to where you are (in Singapore).
I am truly sorry that you had to go through with what you did. I agree the staff at the Marriott are very unprofessional.
Might I recommend one of our excellent local hotel chains for your companies panel (as well as your next visit). The Pearl Continental is probably one of the best hotels in the area. The Sheraton is of course, not too shabby.
Once again, truly sorry to read about this. Hope you had a good time in Karachi though.
Cheers.
Well, don’t dare to complain coz you were my client ma (at that time). But seriously, it was fun..so we never thought of complaining. Details as below..
1. My room : 1 horrible painting (at least you have 2), tiny room, can actually jump straight to the bed from the door. But TV was huge – 29 inches! All door knobs on the furniture not properly aligned (I took photo of this)…and I was waked by a bad smell in the middle of the night .. I tot someone farted on my face. Must be the weird air-cond. But at least I have my own room!
2. Coo coo’s room : Also tiny, TV also tiny..plus his door was ‘automated’ – meaning will open anytime! Glad that the laptops were still there. Another thing was he could actually dive into the swimming pool from the window (only 5 inches away!). But he wasn’t interested to swim with the crows…crows seem to be having a pool side drinking party straight from the pool.
3. The airport : We got 10 stamps on our boarding passes the moment we passed immigration till the boarding gate for whatever reasons. The Q started outside of the airport…not Q actually..it was more like bottleneck. And we were threatened by a guy who helped us with our luggage to pay USD160 for his service. Strange thing is that guy was actually the airport staff in uniform. Of course Coo Coo told him off by giving him 10 bucks or nothing. Coo Coo was not ‘harassed’ badly by the customs.. …while I was ‘harassed’ by more than 5 female custom officers at different stages….pulled me to booth/room to search my body, though I wasn’t even carrying any hand carry.
4. The driver from your company was so nice to drop us for 2 hrs to do some shopping at a mall. However, we only discovered 2 hrs was too long just right after he left our site. *sigh* We got done with the mall in 10 mins …then ended up eating pizza (slow motion) for 1 hr, spent the remaining 50 mins smoking, starring at sky & the crows, talking craps and starring at each other.
The trip was wonderful after all…
What an absurd way for Mariott to mar its reputation and name like that! Good thing you guys gave them a piece of their mind!
Zaki:
Thanks for your comment here. I saw PC when I moved in Sheraton. It is just opposite each other, right? Looks big from far. Please don’t feel sorry for what you’ve read. I had a good time after all (apart from the hotel). And I am glad to announce that I am happy to return to Karachi again later this year. 
Giddy Tiger: Ya loh, the strangest thing is they don’t understand why it is not right to do that… ??,??
Cabbage girl: Tell you what? I really LOL when I read your comments. Have you ever wonder item 1 can be the… THAT thing? The room was so spooky and old, possible?
Nah, don’t want to scare you, coz I travel frequently and might return to that hotel too (just in case all others fully booked). 
For item 3, I wonder why they didn’t arrange the officer to help you with the process? I will write about my great experience separately in my travel blog, in short – I didn’t have that problem.
for item 4, hahaha, at least you ‘shopped’, I didn’t have the time. You know, my boss and the HK lady shopped for a few hours! Maybe you just went to the wrong place?
Yes for item 1, I actually tot about that ‘thing’…according to chinese, it either smell ‘heong’ (good) or crap. But I was dead tired, if the thing tried to disturb..I bet ‘it’ will regret very much. I heard Pearl Continental and Sheraton are better place…
You have to write to Marriot International.. citing what happened in Marriot Karachi.. and then from there.. they will take up your case.
Do not just go to the Director of Rooms or Reservations or even Sales. Go directly to the CEO or COO.
Bill Marriott is the chairman and CEO of Marriott International.
You can either fax.. or do snail mail address directly to him.
mamabok: aiyoh, from Marriott’s international website’s comment also cannot ker?
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