Bethesda Marriott

“Appalling Pool Maintenance”

I recently stayed at the Bethesda Marriott (1 week ago) and feel compelled to write a review. Positive highlights include mostly exceptional staff, in particular “Richard” at the main desk, room air conditioning was comfortable, restaurant food and drinks very good, appreciated later 12 noon che… more

I recently stayed at the Bethesda Marriott (1 week ago) and feel compelled to write a review. Positive highlights include mostly exceptional staff, in particular “Richard” at the main desk, room air conditioning was comfortable, restaurant food and drinks very good, appreciated later 12 noon check out time. However there were some hiccups. Two rooms were reserved, one for my adult daughter and one for my husband and I. We accepted early check in (offered to us) but only one room was ready early, the second room was not ready until after 4pm. I requested my daughter’s room to be billed to her credit card and my room + parking fees to be billed to my credit card, as I was the only driver. The billing was done opposite of my request and because of that my room card did not activate the parking gate. We were forced to have to use my daughter’s cell phone to activate the parking gate, that was very inconvenient. But the biggest issue and disappointment involved an incident at the pool on the first day of our stay. Unfortunately, a child had an accident in the pool causing the pool closure. We were asked to exit the pool patio so the pool could be “drained, sanitized and refilled.” I don’t believe any of that actually happened. I watched from my room as a hotel staff member removed feces from the pool and tossed it into the bushes, right behind where I was previously sitting. He then sprinkled a small amount of a powdered substance into the water. I never saw an exchange of the pool water as that process would have taken hours. I was told the next day that the pool had been drained, sanitized and refilled. I spoke with another guest who was a physician and she was appalled at the poor attempt to properly sanitize the pool, stating that bleach was the only effective disinfectant. Richard took names, including ours, of the guests impacted by the pool issues. I was fearful of using the pool the entire stay. No compensation was offered. Susan Cwynar, Pgh, PA

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