Bob Davidson

Review of JW Marriott Hotel Beijing Cent...

In October 2018, my wife and I (along with another...

In October 2018, my wife and I (along with another couple) stayed at the J W Marriott Central in Beijing. We had no complaints about the facilities or the personnel. The hotel is modern, and our room was very comfortable. Each member of the staff that we met was friendly and helpful. Thanks to a friend, we were given access to the concierge floor; the meals and drinks here were outstanding. The hotel location was also good. Beijing is a huge place; you can t be close to everything, but central was a good description.
Here s the problem. I charged my balance of 5200 CNY to my American Visa credit card, for which I should have been billed $751 by Visa. Instead, the hotel converted the amount to USD at a surcharge of 5 percent, resulting in a charge of $786. I suppose I m the rare guest who actually checks the conversion rates on his credit card bill. This excessive conversion rate also happened to my travel companion, using a different credit card. However, it happened nowhere else during our three weeks in China.
The JW Marriott Beijing Central assessed me an extra $35 for the privilege of using my American credit card. A case has been open for almost two months with zero response from Marriott Customer Service. Today, I called (for the fourth time) to ask the status of the case but gave up after 50 minutes on hold. Perhaps, they are overwhelmed with the Starwood merger debacle.
In summary, the hotel facilities and personnel are excellent, but if you stay there, check your bill closely. And, if you have a problem, don t expect resolution or even acknowledgement by Marriott.

Update (2/12/19). The hotel finally contacted me. They said that "the bank would not allow them to process a refund" but they would be happy to somehow make it up to me if I traveled back to Beijing. I'm fairly confident that the Visa credit card system can accommodate refunds, so I presume that Marriott Beijing (a) wants to keep the overcharge and (b) assumes that I'm an idiot. At least I now know that it was not an inadvertent error.