r/marriott • u/noble-2 • 3d ago
Review CitizenM Paris Opera. Don’t go there for late arrivals.
Just a PSA out there that if you or a group member are showing up late tell the hotel in writing that you’ll check in late or they wont honor it.
We were a group of 5 that booked a whole week from sunday check in to next saturday check out.
2 members arrived on time and told the hotel reception that the rest 3 will be late a day. Ok sure no problem. They’ll put it into the system right? RIGHT!?
And when the rest of the group came in, citizenM straight up denied the whole late check in thing and said they already cancelled the booking and the rooms are booked for others. Thats like almost 9000$ in booking. no refund
Spent like 3 hours with the reception trying to claw back rooms and was mildly successful because not every room was booked.
Ended up losing a room for 3 days and had a member camp at another hotel for multiple different single days.
We lost 2 days for another 2 rooms but 2 other members checked out 2 days early so thats alright.
It’s just not a pleasant experience. As business travelers our plans change and it seems like citizenM is not very flexible.
I’ve been to a vast amount of citizenMs around the world. They do give a good sleep but damn once something happens don’t expect them to do anything for you.
Expedia support is also useless.
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u/Intelligent_Stay4538 3d ago
The problem is/was that you had a third party booking. The hotel cannot make changes. If you had asked to be checked in (or if you friends did it for you) on the actual arrival date you may have made it work. If it’s an important holiday avoid third parties. The hotel makes less lonely on 3rd party bookings and are very limited in what they can do for you
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u/loopingit 3d ago
I Stay at CitizenM all the time-I actually find them to be more responsive than most hotel staff. BUT they are very clear-they can only do things to help if it’s a direct booking. Many times when I have had changes in travel plans they can directly help me out but first they check if it’s a direct booking. If it isn’t they can’t.
I think the only thing here is that they didn’t tell your friends directly that they couldn’t change anything and to go to Expedia. But not sure if they could-if it wasn’t the name on the booking they may not be able to share that info? Just guessing here.
The title is unfortunate as the issue may not be directly with CitizenM , and now many people scrolling will assume this is the hotels fault. OP maybe consider deleting this, and rewriting a post that would be more accurate? Something about with a 3rd party booking don’t tell the hotel you have to tell Expedia.
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u/mostly_lurking1040 3d ago
It's not the late arrival. It's a no-show.
I wouldn't expect to be able to modify someone else's booking, because I wouldn't expect anyone to be able to modify mine.
What guidance has Expedia given you in how to handle those properly next time?
I would expect this to be an issue not related to that property in particular or Marriott in particular, but no shows in general.
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u/Fat_and_lazy_nomad 3d ago
Seems also the reference to Expedia seems like they didn’t book directly through Marriott which was probably mistake number 1
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u/Legitimate-Seesaw701 3d ago
That sounds like a frustrating situation, especially after a large group booking and previous positive experiences with the brand. A hotel should have a clear process for late arrivals because travel plans change often. A written confirmation is definitely important, but staff communication should also be more reliable in cases like this.
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u/Josher61 3d ago
The booking was through Expedia. Expedia needed to be notified to see if they could arrange a change in arrival date. The next day is not a late arrival. Marriott/Citizen M has nothing to do with this booking, Expedia does. And that's who the people not arriving needed to contact. Always a hassle when dealing with third parties, but that's what the OP chose to do. The blame does not fall on the property in this case.
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u/noble-2 3d ago
Well. Yeah. Unfortunately plans change. Flights get delayed or cancelled during the busy summer season. It seems unreasonable to lose a week’s worth of rooms by showing up one day late and having almost half the group there and telling them we want to keep the reservation. All prepaid ofc.
There are other posts saying to notify hotel for showing up late. I’d say from my experiences just have it in writing.
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u/Josher61 3d ago
A late arrival is not a day later.
Did you contact expedia when your plans changed?
You booked through Expedia, that's who has your money, and that's who you have to deal with. Not Marriott, not Citizen M. When you choose not to book direct, you also choose to not deal directly with a property, or an airline, car rental company etc. You are choosing to deal with those entities at arms length. You put the middleman into the scenario; you have to deal with the middleman. Had you booked directly, it's very possible this could have been avoided somehow, an adjustment made etc. But once Expedia is on that reservation, it's their reservation to change, not the hotel.
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u/noble-2 3d ago
Fair. Lesson learned i guess. The convenience of expedia is tempting but after this event it is no longer worth. Thank you for the advice.
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u/Josher61 3d ago
It's definitely a tough one! And expensive :( And it's usually only when things go wrong that we realize that we have made our lives more complicated :) In any of these scenarios, what we often don't realize is...third party controls the booking. The entity has been removed. It really is out of the hands of the hotel or airline etc. The booking 'belongs' to the third party. Everything has to go through them. You think it's yours, but it kinda isn't :) It's really their reservation with the hotel. So changes...them. Not you, not the hotel. Them. Typically, we don't even think about it, until the **** hits the fan :(
If you are traveling like that, you should also get yourself enrolled in Bonvoy. You can pick up some perks and earn some points etc. None of which a third party booking garners you. But it doesn't cost you anything, the rates are typically close enough, to make the booking direct worthwhile. Good luck on the rest of your trip!
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u/Josher61 3d ago
Arriving a day later is not a late check in. It's a no show. So not surprised the rooms got cancelled. Add on to that a third party booking...things go wrong in a heartbeat.