I am a PE member and have been a MR member since 2005. I love staying at Marriott hotels and have been a loyal member for a decade. However, as an active duty military member with a family and two dogs, it is getting unaffordable for me to stay at Marriott hotels due to the exorbitant pet fees charged at each hotel. This past summer, the military moved my family from the Washington, D.C. area to Omaha, NE. For this military move, we stayed at Marriott hotels in Springfield, VA; Morgantown, WV; Chicago, IL; Des Moines, IA, and Omaha, NE. Each of these hotels charged a $100-$150, non-refundable pet fee (even at one hotel where we only stayed less than 8 hours)! This would have added an additional $550 expense to our military move, which is not reimbursable by the government. This additional charge is completely an "out of pocket" expense. Even as a PE member, some of the hotels were unwilling to waive the fee, saying it was a direct transfer of the charge they pay to have the carpets "professionally" cleaned once we check out. I take exception to this since I have firsthand experience that the carpets are NOT professionally cleaned after each pet stay. So this pet fee appears to be a way for hotels to "pad" their bottom lines at the expense of us pet owners. Luckily, two of the hotels we stayed at during our military move, were willing to waive the fee after I offered a protest. Only recently, these pet fees were refundable, now they are non-refundable. Marriott needs to understand the added financial burden these pet fees places on pet owners AND the burden it places on military families who are relocating to a new assignment. We cannot continue to pay these fees during military moves. If they continue, unfortunately, it will force us to look at other alternatives. These fees should be waived at least for military members traveling on orders and for MR (PE) members.
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