Denise Cooper

Review of JW Marriott Grand Rapids

Horrible experience! We went here to give our girl...

Horrible experience! We went here to give our girls a nice place to rest their heads before their performance at the State Finals. Our room block was booked 2 months in advance, but when we arrived an hour before the girls, they wouldn't let us in. They said they had to split us up on 3 different floors. We only had 8 total rooms! They put the chaperones, coaches and girls on all different floors. This kind of defeats the purpose of chaperoning the girls. We told them when we held the rooms that there were 5 rooms for girls, 2 coaches rooms, and 1 chaperone room, so they knew all along. When we told them that chaperones and coaches NEEDED to be with the girls, they told us they didn't have rooms together. Seriously? Why did we book a block then?

We paid a high price to stay in these rooms and also paid $25 per kid for a pasta with marinara dinner that included a side salad, a cookie, and tap water. We were told this was half the normal price. There wasn't even any meat on the meal. The food was mediocre but it sufficed. As we moved around the hotel that night, we had issues with the elevators over and over again. I helped an old man out who was stuck in the elevator and 2 of our girls got trapped in the elevator and were terrified and crying because their card wouldn't work. I made a statement to an employee on the elevator about how people kept getting stuck and she agreed that the elevators had issues and it was annoying. The girls had a final meeting at 10pm to get ready for the next day. When 7 of the girls were heading back to their rooms WITH the coach a few of them jumped lightly in the elevator (and I mean lightly as these are small girls and the JW shared the video footage with us). The elevator door didn't open at their floor so the coach tried putting her room card back in and selecting the floor and it wouldn't work. After being here for a few hours and experiencing multiple elevator issues, it seemed like the norm. After a few minutes, they called for help by pushing the emergency button and using their cell phones to call other girls, other coaches, and the hotel. It took over 50 minutes for someone to pry the doors open and the girls had to jump between floors to get out. The next day we got an email that the team was being charged $1200 for an elevator call to open the doors because they broke the elevator when they jumped. First, the jump was a few girls and very lightly and second, it doesn't say that jumping is disallowed anywhere in the elevator or our contract with the hotel. We told them we disagreed but apparently at the JW, they are the judge and jury and listen to their side of the story only. Basically we were told, we don't care what you say, your girls jumped and broke our elevator and we are charging you. Period! Never-mind the fact that- the girls did nothing wrong but with the JW you are guilty with no opportunity to be proven innocent; that elevator issues had been occurring ALL night and we asked them to review the footage but they refused; there is no sign or contract that say jumping is not allowed; and we had already spent almost $3000 in one night at this hotel (we fundraised for a year to save for this special event). These are good girls that never, ever get in trouble, and are very respectful of others property, but we were treated like criminals. I chose the JW because I travel around the U.S. and have stayed in JWs in many cities. I will never give the JW my business after this incident. They do have some good qualities--Shout out to Conner at the front desk who realized that the JW did us wrong and almost ruined our plan to put gifts in the girls rooms and surprise them. He helped us quickly do this. Also, Macauley H. was helpful to get the room block set up but not sure what happened when we got there. Kelsey B. was, well, a B. the whole process. Cody was polite and helpful with our dinner. The GM, Nicolas R, was of no use! We went to meet him but he "wasn't available" and doesn't answer or return a call, but can sure email.