A woman booked a room with the Marriott, only to end up sitting in the lobby at 2 a.m., no key in hand. The reason why? According to her, a Marriott employee never showed up at the front desk, despite her waiting more than 40 minutes to check in.
Ash (@ashleykjonees) said Marriott didn’t provide her with a mobile key to get inside her hotel room. So when the content creator went to check in and no front desk worker was available, she ended up getting stuck in the lobby for nearly an hour.
She posted about the encounter in a TikTok that received more than 1.2 million views.
What Happened At This Marriott Hotel?
Ash arrived at a Marriott location at around 2 a.m. after working for 24 hours. She told her audience that she put her anticipated check-in time in the app and followed every step she reasonably should have. She said she was exhausted after a long day, so all she wanted to do was get in her room.
But she got the opposite of a relaxing experience. Instead of checking in within a few minutes, she ended up waiting in the main lobby. In her video, she showed how she found the front desk—devoid of human life. She then panned the camera toward herself, as she was sitting on a chair within view of the desk in question.
In her description, Ash described the lengths she went through to try and get into her hotel room.
“I was waiting for 40 min before making this video, I called the hotel multiple times, was knocking on the door and calling for an associate, and called the titanium hotline who also could not contact the front desk,” Ash said. “I always stay Marriott for work and i have never had to wait this long so i was taken aback by how difficult it was to contact anyone at the hotel.”
She later commented that it took her 40 minutes to get inside her room.
Ash jokingly said in her video’s on-screen text that she should stay with Hilton in the future as a dig that she thought only her friends would see. Then thousands of people began commenting on her video.
A Divisive Comments Section
Many viewers assumed that Ash wasn’t trying to get into the room herself, despite her clarifying in the description and comments section that she made an effort to do so. Commenters, then, attacked the content creator and asked whether she truly went through all available options to try and get inside her room.
Ash clarified that she “didn’t expect so much unkind discourse about [her] intelligence,” and that she “thought it was a silly tiktok to make.” She didn’t intend for commenters to question why she didn’t go further to find a resolution.
But other viewers defended the content creator.
“Yikes! Why is everyone assuming you’re incompetent??? These comments are so aggressive for no reason,” one viewer said.
Ash replied, “I didn’t realize this would gain so much negative attention! at the point i posted this video i had exhausted all my options that i had and i used every point of contact for the hotel/marriott, but it does still surprise me that some people maybe don’t consider that.”
Other viewers clarified that the hotel not having a night auditor is unusual.
“As a hotel night auditor this is very unacceptable.. an auditor knows not to leave the hotel …. The longest I’m gone from the desk is less than 5 mins to use the bathroom,” another commenter said.
Major brands in the United States all generally have 24-hour front desks. But sometimes customers accidentally discover no one’s manning the desk: It could be because of a sudden employment termination, an employee call-out, or a number of other factors.
Did Ash Get Compensated for the Issue?
Ash offered some additional clarity in the comment section. According to her, Marriott credited her 5,000 points.
She told one commenter that she felt bad calling to lodge a further complaint with the chain.
“I feel bad calling and asking for more points after they already credited the 5k,” she said.
But one commenter urged her to push the issue further. “Girl 5k. was that just given by the hotel?” they said.
It’s unclear if Ash has taken any additional steps to report the issue. Ash has not said whether Marriott has contacted her further.
Subplot News reached out to Ash via TikTok direct message and Marriott via email for comment.
