San Jose Marriott

We recently stayed at the Marriott San Jose for a three-day conference, and while the hotel itself is modern and the staff was courteous, our overall experience was unfortunately disrupted by a serious incident that raised major safety and communication concerns. On Saturday afternoon, an electrical fire occurred. We were unsure of the exact cause or location, but we were promptly evacuated from the building. During this evacuation, we were informed by staff that guests on the 20th floor and above were not being notified of the emergency and that we should call anyone we knew staying on those floors. This was incredibly alarming. If it had been a more serious fire, people on those upper floors could have been in real danger. The fact that the fire alarm system apparently did not reach every floor is a significant safety issue that absolutely needs to be addressed. While the staff was polite and tried their best to assist, there seemed to be a lack of coordination and training for handling such emergencies. After the evacuation, re-entry to the hotel was chaotic. Only one elevator was operational, leading to long waits and congestion. Some guests, including myself, were locked out of their rooms due to the keycard system being down. My medication was inside my room, and the process to get assistance was slow and stressful. Navigating this while trying to pack in the dark (due to no power) added to the difficulty. The hotel did offer a complimentary drink at the bar as a goodwill gesture, but guests were asked to present their meal vouchers, which many of us couldn’t access in the chaos of trying to leave. It was a frustrating and disorganized situation. To make matters worse, there were multiple large events happening at the same time — our 300-person conference, a wedding, and a quinceañera — all impacted by the fire and power outage. Our event had to be cut short, and many of us had to scramble to find alternative accommodations, which was incredibly difficult at the last minute. Seeing fire marshals walking through the hotel for hours afterward didn’t instill confidence that the building was fully safe, even once we were allowed back in. It felt like the focus was more on clearing the sidewalks than ensuring guests were secure. While emergencies can happen unexpectedly, emergency preparedness is something a large hotel like Marriott must take seriously. There needs to be more comprehensive training for staff, backup systems that are adequate for a building of this size, and most critically, an alarm system that reaches every guest on every floor. I truly hope the hotel takes this feedback seriously and implements the necessary changes. While I appreciate the individual efforts of staff during a very difficult situation, the systemic issues with safety protocols and communication are far too significant to ignore.

Typical Marriott. Comfortable modern rooms. Friendly and helpful staff. Great location for the convention center. Nice M Lounge. Good food in the lounge and the coffee shop. The only drawback was they canceled my reservation made 4 months in advance so they could sell the room for $1300 a night. I had to call in a favor to get it fixed. So, just remember that you may or may not actually have a reservation here.

The staff was very nice and friendly. However there was an electrical fire while we were there. Biggest inconvenience while on vacation and super stressful. There were 6 elevators and only one worked while they tried to fix the issue. I was on the 12th floor and it smelled like burnt rubber. Since the lights went out the kitchen didn’t work. The biggest concern was the people in the upper levels 20 and higher didn’t even hear the alarm. That would be the biggest tragedy if that isn’t fixed. Overall wasn’t impressed with this Marriott in San Jose.