Last year I wrote about a Marriott Autograph Collection property in Mexico requiring an Ambassador member to sign an NDA before providing them an available room upgrade. The implication was that the hotel honors elite benefits so rarely they didn’t want anyone to know they made an exception and actually honored their obligations.
Marriott Autograph Collection properties in Mexico seem to take the autograph part seriously, and love NDAs. The Royalton Splash Riviera Cancun reportedly required non-disclosure agreements by guests before “allowing medical assistance or letting them leave” the property over Christmas, after becoming ill over the holidays.
According to Yorkton resident Jesslyn Schigol, her husband fell ill twice during their stay, including Christmas morning when he couldn’t stop vomiting. Schigol says resort staff demanded she sign an NDA—preventing public discussion of their experience or pursuit of any claims—in order to send a doctor to see her husband. She refused, took photos of the NDA, and reports that the staff withheld medical help until she agreed to sign, which she did not.
Meanwhile, Saskatoon-based traveller Allison Field says her husband and four-year-old son also got sick, then relapsed days later. Worried about her son’s condition, she planned to check out early and take him to the hospital. Field says resort employees repeatedly tried to get her to sign an NDA before helping her move her luggage or book a taxi. She ultimately left for the hospital without signing.
Both families noticed poor food-handling practices at the resort and say they have since spoken to other guests who got sick around the same time and felt similarly pressured by staff.
Credit: Royalton Splash Riviera Cancun
According to Blue Diamond Resorts, which owns the Cancun property:
We are currently conducting an internal investigation into the reports, and while we cannot comment further at this time, please know we are committed to addressing this matter with the utmost care and attention.
Credit: Royalton Splash Riviera Cancun
Maybe the most striking this about the story is this: “Questions sent to Marriott were referred to Blue Diamond Resorts.” Customers think that when they book a Marriott brand through Marriott, that they’re dealing with Marriott and have Marriott as an advocate. That’s largely not true.
- In my experience, Marriott defers nearly all matters to hotel owners.
- Customer service finds reasons to back hotels, and say they’re right, even when they clearly aren’t.
Hotels are Marriott’s customers, and guests are the product that Marriott sells to properties.
Credit: Royalton Splash Riviera Cancun
And Marriotts in Mexico are especially frustrating. There’s Marriott’s Mexico foreign currency scam and in the past the redemption service charge scam and an outright refusal – to Marriott corporate – to honor the upgrade benefit. Not to mention asking guests to prepay their bookings via PayPal outside of Marriott channels. Marriott’s properties there seem to just run amok.
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