Fairfield Inn & Suites By Marriott Cincinnati North Sharonville

“Unable to Complete My Stay Due to Feeling Unsafe”

Having stayed at this property before (including less than two weeks prior to this attempted stay), and even giving it an excellent review in 2021, I thought at the very least that I would feel safe when I attempted to stay at this property in December of 2023. Unfortunately I was wrong. I arri… more

Having stayed at this property before (including less than two weeks prior to this attempted stay), and even giving it an excellent review in 2021, I thought at the very least that I would feel safe when I attempted to stay at this property in December of 2023. Unfortunately I was wrong. I arrived at this property late, with whom I assume was the night auditor checking me in. This is when I began to feel unsafe at this property, with me ultimately needing to stay at another Marriott property that night. The person who was checking me in was wearing a necklace displaying a flag that was in the shape of the State of Israel, but that flag not being the Israeli flag. As the son of Jewish refugees from the USSR, who has family in Israel, seeing that necklace, which showed the entire territory of a sovereign nation covered in a foreign flag, immediately set off a panic attack. I quietly left the lobby, went to my car, and ultimately was too scared for my safety to even go to my assigned room. Regardless of what this necklace meant to the person wearing it, to me it looked like they supported genocide against me and my family. My best guess as to what caused the panic attack that left me unable to even go to the room I was assigned, was because I feared for my safety, given that I have a Jewish last name, and the person that would have been in charge of my safety that night was wearing antisemitic jewelry. Thankfully, with the help of Marriott reservations, I was able to re-book at a neighboring property, despite having already checked in to this hotel. I am grateful to the agent that helped me, after listening to my emotional explanation as to why I did not feel safe at this property. I don't remember if I cried, but I was very upset, felt unsafe, and did not know what to do given that I had already checked in to this property. Kudos to the wonderful woman who helped calm me down and found me another hotel at a similar rate. To the credit of this property, I was able to visit the following afternoon before hitting the road to my destination, and speak with the front desk manager (or supervisor). I explained the situation, and asked for a refund, as it could easily be confirmed that I never entered the room. The person I spoke with showed empathy, and in the end the hotel did give me a refund. Averaging out the good stay at this same property in Novermber 2023 with this bad experience when attempting to stay there again less than two weeks later is how this hotel still gets an average review from me. The empathy from management the next day also made me feel more comfortable about the possibility of staying at this property again in the future. This was the only bad experience from what would have been about four stays in a little over two years, as my other stays were each at least very good. As much as I hate to leave a less than great review based on a single interaction with a single employee, I think it is my duty to let future guests know what happened, in the hope that this will never happen again to any future guest. If this person is still employed by the hotel, I hope that management has gone on to train him to better respect the safety and well being of all guests, regardless of religion, nationality, ethnicity, race, or belief system. I also want the management of this property to know that I appreciate them having empathy for me, and for giving me a refund for a stay I was unable to complete.

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