Review of Courtyard 3*

Aside from the rooms not being real clean, the hotel property is well maintained. This is the last good thing I can say about the hotel. We stayed here over father day weekend. On Friday evening my sons pet ball python escaped its enclosure. The hotel is not a pet friendly hotel. I did look for the pet policy before staying but couldn't find it until after referring to the Marriott corporate website for instructions on finding the properties pet policy. The hotel staff found the snake in the hallway and easily captured it. They placed the snake in a box and then placed the box in a plastic bag and set it outside. The next morning when we discovered the missing pet we asked if any pets had been reported found. Almost 2 hours later the assistant manager approached me to tell me what they'd done. At that time she explained the snake had escaped the box and sealed bag they'd placed him in and left outside for over 8 hours. The manager could not show me the box or bag the snake had been in. Giving her the benefit of the doubt I asked where the animal had been placed overnight. She told me the area was a landscaped area in the rear of the hotel. I spent the next two hours looking for the snake. I learned the next day the animal had never been at the back of the hotel but had been placed near the dumpsters at the front of the hotel. My entire family spent over an hour that evening looking for an animal that had never been there. We looked in the hope he actually wasn't dead from sitting in a plastic bag over night. On Sunday morning as we checked out we spoke with a member of the management about our experience. The manager admitted he knew it was someone's pet and that they'd never put any other animal in a plastic bag but this was a snake. He proceeded to tell me they were concerned with frightening other guests. I asked why it had to be placed in a plastic bag and kept outside rather than an office away from guests. He repeated some guests were upset and the hotel had to pay for their rooms when they saw the animal. There was never an answer for putting a pet in a plastic bag. In the end, after telling me the hotel covered another guests room because they had been scared when seeing the snake I was offered a $20 discount. At that point I asked for my receipt so I could leave. The management at that hotel killed my sons pet and then insulted us every step of the way when discussing it. The fact that it was a snake is irrelevant. The animal was identified as a pet, easily caught and posed no danger. It was a guests property. It was a living creature placed in a plastic bag to suffocate. Even if it had escaped, it was a domesticated animal, it's still going to die. This hotel's management are among the most disgusting people I've ever had the misfortune to deal with. To add insult to injury we stayed there because we are moving, military move, from Ft. Benning to our next station. My son had just said goodbye to his friends only to have to be told his pet snake had been killed by the hotel. Then he listened as they repeated their excuses by stating it was a snake. The hotel manager should lose her job for requiring the long suffering death of a guests pet.