Review of Norfolk Waterside Marriott 3*

5/17/18 UPDATE: The hotel management has reached out and offered us a free night and their most sincere apologies. That's a step in the right direction, though, we'll wait to see if actions match words before adjusting this review. 4/25/18 — original review: Wow. I could not have been more upset about our experience here. I know we all say this but I honest to goodness am not a typical reviewer. But the experience was this bad that I feel I have to do something about it. We stayed here for the 2018 Norfolk Submarine Ball, an event that's been occurring here for years. I booked our room months in advance. We live just over the water and wanted to have a place to get ready and then a place to crash at the end of the night. I think we were at the hotel for all of 16 hours. So they told us check in time is 4pm. I show up at 3:45 and get in the 20 person long line to check in. Make my way up there and the DO NOT HAVE ROOMS AVAILABLE. Again, this is a VERY formal event that has been happening at this location for years and was planned MONTHS in advance. Not some random weird occurrence that happened out of the blue. Someone on the management staff MAJORLY dropped the ball here. The event starts at 6pm and here I am standing in the lobby, unshowered, in my jeans and t-shirt at 4pm being told I can't get to a room. I'm not a high maintenance person but both my husband and I needed to shower and get ready. We don't get into our room until 5:30! We didn't get a discount, no sorry from anyone other than the desk attendant, nothing. They offered breakfast but we needed to get out of there early to get home. Not helpful. The food was great (unlike 2 years ago when our chicken was undercooked and they didn't have enough food for our table) and the wait staff was very accommodating otherwise this would be a 1 star review. This whole situation is just not acceptable. Many of these couples wait for this event every year and it's the only time that they can get a night off to enjoy them selves. Tickers are $100 dollars each, you spend at least that on clothing, plus drinks and $100 for a hotel room you can't even get into — it's really disappointing that we spend this much money and they couldn't get us in our rooms on time. On top of the fact that these are active duty military folks who get one, maybe two nights like this all year. I am going to suggest that the Navy base find another venue for the event next year — the Hilton is a block away.