Marriott Hotels and Resorts Global Reservations

When you call the customer service line for Marriott Hotels and Resorts, you're greeted by an automated messaging system that immediately offers a Spanish language option (press 2) and a French language option (press 3). This is excellent for increasing caller accessibility.

Unfortunately, after this, the automated messaging system is entirely voice-activated. This is a pet peeve of mine because, in my experience, these systems do not work well. Even if you're in a quiet room and speaking very clearly as a native English speaker, these voice-activated systems often misunderstand you, ask you to repeat yourself, or don't register you having spoken at all. If I struggle under the best conditions, I can't imagine how much more frustrating it would be for someone with unavoidable background noise (children, pets, etc.), someone with a speech impediment, and/or a non-native English speaker. You know?

After the initial greeting and alternative language options, if you don't say anything, the message system suggests saying "cancel reservation" or "rewards balance." If these are two of the most commonly requested customer service topics (I assume), why not make the assistance experience easier for callers by just having keypad options so callers don't have to struggle with the voice activation feature?

If you still don't say anything, or if the system doesn't register what you say, you're informed the call will be automatically terminated. You're given one last chance to engage with the voice activation system, and then the call is ended.

Honestly, you're probably better off using the website. If you need to speak to a representative, good luck with the voice activation system; I hope you have an easier time with it than I did. Perhaps if you keep asking for a representative, the system will eventually route you to an actual human being for assistance.