Towneplace Suites by Marriott Horsham

I’ve been here five days for work and have another ten days booked, with a chance I’ll extend for more weeks depending on the job. Towneplace Suites Horsham is apparently under new management. The room is clean and quiet, the appliances are adequate and clean, and I can cook meals. The furniture is clean and in good working order, with no stains or tears. The internet has been reliable and good for streaming. Breakfast is hot but basic: scrambled eggs, sausage, a Jimmy Dean version of an egg McMuffin, oatmeal, yogurt, and cold cereal. The gym is tiny, with one stair master and one treadmill. The pool is permanently closed, and yes, it’s November in Pennsylvania. The rooms are dated and there are no USB charging ports. Still, this room is a very good value. If they maintain this price and quality, Marriott has a good budget hotel.

The layout was nice, and the bathroom had hardwood floors. The hallways were clean, and it’s fine for an overnight stay. But it needs updates. The TV’s volume control was on the set, the toilet seat wouldn’t stay fixed, there were curtains but no shades, the kitchen stove was small, and the bedroom lights weren’t bright. You can hear people on the stairs and walking above you. They also don’t extend hours on Sundays.

We’ve made an annual family trip to this Pennsylvania hotel for the past decade without any complaints, but this year was a huge disappointment. We booked a double bedroom two months ahead, then were told at check-in there were no rooms available. After a long argument, they reluctantly gave us the smallest two-bedroom suite they had. The floors were cracked, ripped, and stained, the toilet wouldn’t flush, and both the shower and sink drained poorly. We reported the problems on our first night. Staff said maintenance would come the next day, which meant we’d be without a shower, plumbing, or restroom for the whole day. They offered the downstairs restroom, which isn’t handicap-friendly, even though my mother uses a wheelchair. There were four people on our reservation, but staff only gave us three towels and said that was policy. Each reservation should include four towels and a washcloth. After four days, housekeeping still hadn’t come. We ran out of clean towels, cloths, and hand towels, and had to go downstairs to ask for toilet paper. When we asked when housekeeping would arrive, we were told rooms are cleaned every other day. One bedroom was also missing a TV remote. The stay was one frustrating incident after another, including a long argument just to get a fourth guest an extra towel for a shower. Our basic requests were met with too much resistance, and the way they treated us and managed the hotel was deeply concerning. The website and other listings still advertised a pool even though it was permanently closed. We won’t come back unless there’s a change in management.

I stayed here on and off for a couple of months because of a plumbing problem at home. The staff were nice, but there were repeated billing issues and the explanations never made sense. I was over-authorized many times. One day the GM overcharged me by $230 and acted confused until another employee pointed out, “you over authorized him.” This happened several times. They never returned the incidental holds and said those amounts went into my nightly rate. The worst part happened when I checked out. I was fully paid up, but the hotel tried three times to charge me $950 around 3am and again at 4am. My card was locked, so none went through. At the front desk, I asked for my receipts by email, and Sanjay tried four times to charge me $114 right in front of me. I got two failed-payment alerts on my phone. Then Sanjay asked me to unlock my card. He said the last night hadn’t been paid, even though he personally charged me for the stay. I showed him the transaction in my bank account, but he kept saying I owed money. I finally got frustrated and told him my balance was $0 and I wasn’t paying anything more. I left, and when I checked the bill, it did show a $0 balance. I’d suspected something for much of the stay, but that incident made me feel the desk staff were stealing from customers. Other reviews describe similar experiences with the same people. This used to be a great place, but the desk staff are beyond shady. I spent over $8,000 here, about $2,000 more than the bills in the Marriott app showed. I’d been quoted $6,000 and paid two grand above that. As a platinum bonvoy member, I know Marriott billing. It seems obvious what they’re doing, and I guess they think people won’t notice. EDIT: They held the $120 charge I mentioned for 15 days. When I called, Sanjay answered and again gave a confusing explanation that didn’t make sense. I asked him to send my bill, but he only sent a receipt for the two market items I bought. I called back, and he acted like he didn’t remember me. After I firmly reminded him, he said the bill would arrive within 30 minutes and claimed he thought I meant the market-items receipt, though I’d explicitly asked for the bill for my stay. They treat you like you’re stupid until they realize they can’t fool you, then act like they can’t understand what you’re saying. This looks like an obvious scam to me, and it drives me crazy that they haven’t been caught yet.