Hotel Snacks Cause Illness - Hotel, Hồ Chí Minh

3C Đường Tôn Đức Thắng, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

GOT FOOD POISONED AT THE HOTEL!
Disclosure: A loyal Platinum Elite member with Marriott for 11 years. I have been a regular with Le Méridien Saigon since ~2017. I'm not here to scam! Reservation 10/10/2024 - 10/11/2024

Background/timeline:
I booked 1 night on this return to Saigon to be close to my friend's hotel to see him flying out then I continue with my travels.
~11am: lunch in Vũng Tàu
~1230pm: transit Vũng Tàu - Sài Gòn
~4pm: checked into Le Méridien hotel
~445pm: my partner and I starving = we split 6 snack pieces (savory and sweet) welcome platter
~6pm: we had soup and snacks before 730pm dinner reservation. My stomach started feeling uncomfortable, but I didn’t think much
~8pm: finally sat and had our first bite at Hai Di Lao, my stomach started churning, became bloated, and having cold sweat. I thought it was from being overly hungry and tired from car transit.
~930pm: short walk & arrived at the Hilton for drinks as planned. I felt really uncomfortable & went #2, thought it'd solve the issue. We then placed an order for a round of drinks, seconds after I ran into the restroom for a long vomiting session. I had 2 agonizing vomiting sessions, didn't even touch my drink, and my friend had to book Grab taxi to take me back to my room. Meanwhile my partner ran to pick up food poisoned meds at PharmaCity
~1030pm: a 3rd vomit session took place once I got in my room. I had thrown up everything and curled up like a snail seeking comfort, on the couch. Then my partner and friend started picking apart the food consumption and timing for the day, and the only food items that I ATE ALL ALONE were the 2 savory (1 shrimp and 1 chicken) and 1 sweet mini snack.

Exchanges with hotel management:
Next morning I notified the hotel via the app of this food poison incident, then went to speak with the Lounge manager in person later to tell her the entire timeline and our primary suspects, the savory snacks. She honestly and calmly told me that the snacks (a smoke salmon, a shrimp, a chicken croquette, and 3 sweets -see pictures of 1 on this stay & 1 close up from 9/5/24 that I didn't eat) were made ~11am, then delivered to my room at some point where it sat on the coffee table not preserved/refrigerated at room temperature until ~445pm (in my case ~5 hours or whenever the guest(s) gets in and consume the snacks, for other cases). I was shocked and asked her “You don’t see any issue with the food controls?” , she simply replied “that has been our processes and no negative feedback yet”. I further questioned their food & beverages’ procedures for controls & handling (I’m not an expert on this matter), and her genuine responses of their operations at a “supposedly 5 stars hotel” lead me to feel extremely unsafe and I don’t ever want to eat foods at this hotel establishment again. I urged that they stopped sending savory snacks as welcome gifts, so others won’t have to suffer like I did, her response “We’ll look into it, but we haven’t had negative feedback”. Even though manager didn’t seem like she’d adopt food preservation as part of their general food & beverage safety requirements, I have to admit that she was genuine and receptive (not to the point of admitting wrong doing) of the incident. So, I asked that the hotel comp my room for an additional night since I’m in no condition to continue on and had to canceled & delayed travel plans, and Bonvoy points added to my account for this incident. She nodded with agreement, then said “let me see what I can do and will get back to you”. We walked away thinking that was straightforward and comfortable for a confrontation…
About 30 minutes after my 4pm late checkout time, manager called to tell me that upper management cannot accommodate either of my requests and they had sent “samples of the snacks out for testing” (what a load of BS they’re trying to feed to customers, this place is starting to sound like a giant drug laboratory or something). Sigh, I told her my Grab taxi is waiting to take me to late lunch for I couldn’t eat all day due to feeling beyond crappy, I cannot deal with this right now with an immediate checkout notice…? She then said, how about I move checkout time to 9pm, I then hung up with much frustration. After lunch, we stopped by to speak with manager and she brought out the Room Division Manager (Tara Tram Nguyen) since she couldn't answer any questions regarding food sampling, controls, handling, preservation, storage, etc. Well Tara wasn't any more knowledgeable and had a terrible attitude (one of the worst I’ve dealt with in Asia and Europe, and she wasn’t a smart talker either); insinuated that she needed lab issued test results for them and me (no results received, to date) before admitting fault to prevent scams. Us Vietnamese all know any paperwork/test results can be bought in Vietnam. The entire day, neither managers question nor dispute the events and timeline; since we’re on travel there are pictures and/or receipts of every single thing we did and ate, smart on their part.
The whole thing rubs me completely wrong; the timeline was clear, and they silently agreed, then later flip the table with the sample testing BS and baited to extend me until 9pm in a room that they won't be able to sell to another guest that night. I simply don’t understand what these ding dong managers are doing, it’d make sense if they’re timely and got me out by 4pm for sales/profit; I simply state I’m sick as a dog and had to cancel my travels, and all I need is for them to comp the room for another night with the addition of Bonvoy point to my account (I didn’t ask for them to admit fault nor public accept liability). Today is 8 days after the incident and my stomach is still weak, I don't think anyone's health should be a joke or a game by the employees to deny liability, I simply don’t want this for myself nor anyone else. The least the hotel could’ve done is show they care for their guests and more so to keep a sick Elite member at their hotel to recover; I’ve had more generous offers within & outside of Marriott for far smaller incidents. For a high-end hotel brand representing a multinational corporation like Marriott to have such substandard food & beverage protocols, managers with severely poor management skills, inferior customer relations, lack of understanding of customer retention & corporate loyalty program, and simply dumb decision making by managers are jokes to be laugh at. The fact that the management staff blatantly chooses not to sell this room than to comp me for a night in this event is just the most F-up situation (no s*** given) and the highest level of business betrayal I've ever encountered. We were vocal to Tara about the fact that I will never step foot into this Le Méridien ever again given the BS she spat in our faces, and if the culture at other Marriott locations become questionable, I'll take my business to other hotel chains. Again, my many years of loyalty to Marriott didn't serve me in this event, but I’ll remain hopeful. I wish experience can help prevent others from getting food poison from those welcome treats one wat or another, good luck everyone and safe travels.  | Symptoms: Nausea, Vomiting, Stomach Pain, Cramps, Chills, Headache