Marriott: don't they care?

[casaguy]

For more than a year and a half now myself and millions of people have had to look at this: (the sign, not the ugly mechanical box)

My houseguests are always shocked that the Marriott brand would be treated so horribly. What possible excuse can this Marriott at Yonge and Bloor in Toronto have for allowing this brand to look like a slum hotel? Why would it take more than a year and a half to fix such a prominent and important sign? (It hasn't lit up for months). What kind of management team is running this place?

 

[Torontovibe]

I didn't even notice that but it's pretty unbelievable that a company that large would let that happen.

 

[khris]

Send Marriott an email!

I watched the MacKenzie Investments building at Queen and University have a similar fate. Not with their sign though. With the lighting. One by one the bulbs just kept burning out, never to be replaced. I haven't been over there since I moved out of Boutique back in May, so it may have been fixed now.

 

[taal]

Send Marriott an email!

I watched the MacKenzie Investments building at Queen and University have a similar fate. Not with their sign though. With the lighting. One by one the bulbs just kept burning out, never to be replaced. I haven't been over there since I moved out of Boutique back in May, so it may have been fixed now.

Oh where'd you move to, out of curiosity ?

 

[DSC]

For more than a year and a half now myself and millions of people have had to look at this: (the sign, not the ugly mechanical box)
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Hotels seem prone to problems like this - the sign on the Sheraton at Queen and York (at the top facing west) has looked ghastly (though not as bad as this) for several years.

 

[khris]

Oh where'd you move to, out of curiosity ?

Church and Queen area.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

For more than a year and a half now myself and millions of people have had to look at this: (the sign, not the ugly mechanical box)

My houseguests are always shocked that the Marriott brand would be treated so horribly. What possible excuse can this Marriott at Yonge and Bloor in Toronto have for allowing this brand to look like a slum hotel? Why would it take more than a year and a half to fix such a prominent and important sign? (It hasn't lit up for months). What kind of management team is running this place?

I happily lived there in the 80's & 90's. Those north, south and east facing signs have been neglected since Bramalea Ltd. dumped the building from it's portfolio in the late 80's/early 90's (?) although they continued to operate The Concourse mall below for another decade or so, also running it into the ground. This was originally the Plaza II Hotel when it opened in 1975 and the Plaza II apartments in the tower above. The "Plaza II" rooftop signs finally went dark from lack of maintenance by around the late 80's and were finally lit up again when Marriott took over around 1993-4. I've also noticed those signs falling into disrepair over the past couple of years again. Although there's certainly a cost attached to maintaining them, it can't be that difficult and it's certainly not acceptable for a high profile, 4-star downtown hotel.

 

[gabe]

I have stayed there, The hotel is located on the bottom floors of the building on the roof the bay, most rooms are pretty small and a lot of the rooms over look a dark desolate concrete courtyard. Marriott would be better off getting rid of this hotel and build a proper full scale luxury hotel in the Bloor - Yorkville area.

 

[TOareaFan]

I have stayed there, The hotel is located on the bottom floors of the building on the roof the bay, most rooms are pretty small and a lot of the rooms over look a dark desolate concrete courtyard. Marriott would be better off getting rid of this hotel and build a proper full scale luxury hotel in the Bloor - Yorkville area.

But Marriott is not the luxury brand in that family of hotels.....more of a business class brand. They have their luxury brand exhibited in Toronto on Wellington just west of Simcoe.

 

[gabe]

Marriott actually has 4 top tier luxury hotels, Ritz Carlton, EDITION Hotels, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Autograph Collection,

 

[TOareaFan]

Marriott actually has 4 top tier luxury hotels, Ritz Carlton, EDITION Hotels, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Autograph Collection,

Yes they do.....but unless they find someone who wants them to manage a luxury brand with one of their labels they are not likely to bring any of those others to Toronto in the near future.......since we have had a real surge in luxury brand hotel building, there is likely to be a significant pause before anyone else says "you know, Toronto is underserved in the luxury segment"....so that would mean Marriott (if they wanted to bring any of those other brands to Toronto) would be counting on a brand/management change at one of the existing luxury hotels...given how new so many of those management/branding agreements are, I do not see that happening in the near future.

In the meantime, they have a hotel that is branded with their business class brand and I do not see them abandoning that either. The sign issue may (may!) be an indication that the current management contract does not have long to run and they may be waiting it out to see if the brand is staying but I can't see that Marriott will be "getting rid of this hotel and build a proper full scale luxury hotel in the Bloor - Yorkville area"

 

[grey]

There are some bad Marriots in New York City...