Marriott Rewards (including Ritz-Carlton) - Why didn't Marriott Rewards fare well in the inaugural Flyertalk Awards?

http://www.rewards-insiders.marriott.com/thread/10230

Really need to ask? MR is not delivering on their promises to address issues brought up on FT and has pretty much abandoned FT as a means to communicate with their high-end customers opting for Marriott Insider where they control the medium. If you want to woo the user base of a particular website, you need to participate and listen to the users of that website. Sounds pretty simple to me.

As an example, when MR "enhanced" their website about two years ago, we were promised some dropped features would return. I haven't seen them yet.

As an example, when MR dropped the EEOs, we were promised something new soon... Over a year later and still nothing. Not Marriott Concierge's fault, but still MR's.

As an example, I rarely note MR responses to issues posted here. The closest we get on a regular basis is from former (?) MR staff addressing the posts but still not breaking is prior employment contract.

The list goes on...

I think it's for a few reasons.

One, the categories they picked for Marriott weren't really Marriott's strengths. Not sure how they got the categories.

And the rest is as Roger says. Plus, FTers are a bit more savvy.

Marriott did quite well in the Freddies, but they were pushing that in emails, on their website, etc.

And I think the overall frequent traveler population is not as cognizent of their programs pros/cons & just vote for the one they stay/fly the most

Cheers.

Starwood has probably the most active, empowered, and helpful lurkers of any travel provider on Flyertalk. Therefore, if it's a Flyertalk-specific award, it would not surprise me if they were big winners.

I see the little "winner" icon next to Starwood and HHonors. Don't really know why HHonors won...it seems like a lot of their members are unhappy these days. To be honest, of the big programs, it seems like only Hyatt's and Starwood's top elites are generally a happy bunch this year.

I'm gonna be a contrarian here. Can't say that I see any need for a FT hotel award ( or any award category ). We're simply further distilling the cascade of (differing) FT opinions & creating yet another category of winners and losers. Not suggesting at all that FT is not useful. But it's the FT threads, their, content, and their context which are what tell the real story.

But please bear in mind that I'm someone who has grown tired of certain aspects of the web where we categorize, rate, and rank things to the point where it really doesn't tell us very much. So I guess that I'm simply under-enthused to learn that FT had awards.

I don't worry about ranking Marriott as much as I like to know what's going on and how what I read here does or does not match my own experience and expectations of Marriott. This is a very vibrant forum which gives us a good look and feel for the variety of opinions/experiences. So if I gotta rank anything, I give this forum a big ^


Barry

It is just one more way to show my displeasure with their domestic lounge closures on the weekend

I hammer Marriott in every way possible to try to get my point across

Really need to ask? MR is not delivering on their promises to address issues brought up on FT and has pretty much abandoned FT as a means to communicate with their high-end customers opting for Marriott Insider where they control the medium. If you want to woo the user base of a particular website, you need to participate and listen to the users of that website. Sounds pretty simple to me.

As an example, when MR "enhanced" their website about two years ago, we were promised some dropped features would return. I haven't seen them yet.

As an example, when MR dropped the EEOs, we were promised something new soon... Over a year later and still nothing. Not Marriott Concierge's fault, but still MR's.

As an example, I rarely note MR responses to issues posted here. The closest we get on a regular basis is from former (?) MR staff addressing the posts but still not breaking is prior employment contract.

The list goes on...

Ditto, especially the lack of follow through on EEOs.

Ditto, especially the lack of follow through on EEOs.

+1 I hope they will bring them back soon, or I'm walking

It is just one more way to show my displeasure with their domestic lounge closures on the weekend

I hammer Marriott in every way possible to try to get my point across

+1 Amen to that!