jr1202sr

In Florida and PR pretty much every hotel on a beach have closed their CL over the past few years. Some of them are NOT resorts in any capacity. Resort Hotels do not have to offer a Lounge/breakfast. You get really no benefits as upgrades at resorts are tough. Free wifi is available for signing up for a rewards account. So at a resort your benefits are about zero. Sort of like staying at CY.

If you travel a majority of your stays in Florida/Caribbean you aren't getting much for your loyalty. I can get the points on my reserve card that I would get from Marriott and use them on a choice of airlines or hotels.

jr1202sr

Family of 4 to eat for breakfast is well over 100 dollars. Don't forget the automatic 18 percent gratuity and 15% tax on top of it for your buffet. Bottle water are about 3-4 each and soda over 2 dollars. Very easily a lounge can save a family well over 100-150 dollars a night. If you are there for 5-7 nights it can really add up. Just because there is a beach and an Ocean doesn't make a hotel a resort. So it isn't 25-50 dollars savings. Also, if you are at resort with not much nearby you are stuck paying for it.

Also not sure where you are staying, but rarely are these hotels over 200 dollars. Maybe to you 500-1000 on a trip it is no big deal. To others that is more spending money for other things besides overpriced water and breakfast.

jr1202sr

I was told they are adding a restaurant then they will be converting too. This is not a one off. Almost every property has done this in Florida and Puerto Rico over the past few years. Both lounges in SJ closed to elites over the past few years. Now the Casa Monica is a labeled a resort and it is in downtown St. Augustine not even on a beach. You get access to beach club at least 15 minutes away by car which you already had before the switch. So basically they added resort to their name and don't have to offer breakfast. Pathetic. If you know that hotel it is a historical building and nothing like a resort. The hotel pool is smaller than most pools in Florida in people's back yard.


So if you can get points elsewhere, rarely get upgraded, no breakfast or lounge, no free wifi (part of resort fee) what is the point to stay loyal?

joshua362

Delray Beach Marriott is across the street from the ocean and had a great CL in 2008. Its more of a convention hotel. Wonder if it's still open.

SkiAdcock

If your stays are only in FL/Caribbean resorts then yes it is more complicated for you. Others have visited FL/Caribbean & stayed at properties that met their needs such as hhoope01 describes. He & his family have enjoyed their stays in FL, Aruba, St. Kitts, Hawaii.

Cheers.

JHake10

I always look for hotels with lounges when traveling for leisure (and check the FT lounge sticky). I just like having soft drinks available to me all day. It's a convience thing and I don't want to pay hotel mini bar prices.

AUSINSIGHT

Outsider perspective here. Hilton diamond (already qualified for next year) and wife is on track for Hyatt globalist in Sept. We have marriott / spg gold via American Express platinum and she's actually stayed a few times when it's a conference HQ hotels.

I've contemplated getting a status challenge for Marriott (SPG isn't a big enough footprint for me hence I'm hilton). I could easily get platinum. The crossover benefits are nice (United and Delta status). Transferring out points via SPG to airline partners is awesome as would the Marriott vacation packages be.

Why haven't I? Simple.Breakfast. It's not even an option at Courtyard hotels. So many other hotels have an exclusion. So yeah for those on this thread questioning it, for ME it's a deal breaker.

Points Scrounger

On the other hand, Doubletrees and Hiltons usually have a steep breakfast co-pay.

AUSINSIGHT

There's never a copay for the lounge. The vast majority of non lounge properties I stay at (Doubletree or Hilton) offer made to order omelets included. I certainly can think of a handful of exceptions and the "steep" surcharge has typically been $10 (like San Francisco Union Station).

Srisarin

I've never stayed at a CY outside of EU/Asia but when I have in EU/Asia as a P the CY has provided breakfast either in Exec Lounge or restaurant.

There's a sticky in this forum listing those CYs outside of US that this would be applicable.

Horace

Let's see... There are 11 properties in and around Orlando under the five Marriott brands that offer the Rewards Gold/Platinum Elite lounge/breakfast benefit.

Three are resorts, so there's no Elite breakfast benefit:

• JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes - Resort
• Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld� - Resort
• Orlando World Center Marriott - Resort

Of the remaining eight properties that aren't resorts, five have lounges, and three provide breakfast for the Elite member and one guest in the restaurant:

• Grand Bohemian Hotel Orlando, Autograph Collection - Breakfast: YES / Lounge: Concierge Lounge
• Marriott Orlando Downtown (opens Nov 2017) - Breakfast: YES / Lounge: M Club Lounge
• Renaissance Orlando Airport Hotel - Breakfast: YES / Lounge: Concierge Lounge
• Orlando Airport Marriott Lakeside - Breakfast: YES / Lounge: Concierge Lounge
• Castle Hotel, Autograph Collection - Breakfast: YES (restaurant) / Lounge: NO
• Delta Hotels Orlando Lake Buena Vista - Breakfast: YES (restaurant) / Lounge: NO
• Orlando Marriott Lake Mary - Breakfast: YES / Lounge: Concierge Lounge
• Bohemian Hotel Celebration, Autograph Collection - Breakfast: YES (restaurant) / Lounge: NO

The hotels with lounges are too far from Walt Disney World to be convenient for Disney vacations.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with the OP. I just wanted to present the details.

writerguyfl

Horace's list got me thinking: Is this a Marriott problem or a Florida problem?

I certainly understand where jr1202sr is coming from. Whether it makes sense to drop Marriott could depend on the alternatives. If other major chains offer breakfast and lounges in nearby properties, this could be a Marriott problem. If there are no alternatives, perhaps it's just a fact that hotels in these Florida markets have figured out they can stay full without providing these benefits to elite-level members of frequent guest programs.

The data that Horace compiled may also suggest that hotels nearest the most trafficked tourist destinations (theme parks and beaches) are the only ones with this issue. Since complaining, even if legitimate, isn't going to make hotels change how they operate, you'll need to research alternatives in the markets you travel.

jr1202sr

You proved my point. You can throw out the 2 airport hotels as they are far from DT and the Parks and aren't suitable for business or leisure other than a night stay for a flight. The commute to anywhere in Orlando during rush hour would be 1 hour plus. You listed 1 hotel that isn't even open yet. Lake Mary Marriott is even further from everything then the airport locations and it is way down I-4. It is Not even in Orlando and as close to Daytona as Disney.


So the only option with a Lounge is the Grand Bohemian Hotel Orlando, Autograph Collection.

The Renaissance and Orlando World Center Marriott used to not be resorts (because they aren't really), but they changed that a few years ago.

Look at the Jacksonville Area and you will see the same as I outlined in Miami and Orlando.

The Old Marriott off 95 (needs a major renovation like the Marriott North Ft. Lauderdale) has a small minimal lounge. The Sawgrass Marriott is a resort. A true resort FWIW. The World Golf Renaissance is a resort (in name only) and now the Casa Monica has become a resort with a pool the size of the one in my backyard. Of course no lounge at the last two. This is being repeated all over Florida and Puerto Rico.

1/4 properties have lounges in Jacksonville/St. Augustine and 3 don't offer breakfast in lieu. In reality only 1/3 are real resorts.

At the World Golf Village Renaissance St. Augustine "Resort" here are the luxurious offerings at the resort where you can eat:

Villagio Italian Grille

Italian Villagio Italian Grille, our hotel's signature Italian restaurant, brings a taste of the Old Country here to St. Augustine, with traditional pasta, flatbreads, seafood, steak, and more. Be sure to stop by for our buffet breakfast!

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner Dress code: Casual


The Bar At Villagio

American Stop in for a cocktail, a craft beer, or a glass of wine at our elegant restaurant bar, which also offers a small menu.

Open for dinner Dress code: Casual

The Resort Shop Sandwiches

Pick up a memento from your St. Augustine visit at the Resort Shop. Our combination hotel gift shop/restaurant offers light breakfast and lunch options, as well as resort attire and more.


So one Italian Place open and the bar open at dinner with a "small" menu. Nice resort huh? Marriott is playing games with the word resort more and more.

It started with the renaissance and Orlando World Center Marriott adding slides to their pools and then adding resort to their name. In San Juan, they just closed them all together. I am curious what percentage of the hotels they list as a "resort" really are one and how many have it in the name to get around providing benefits to loyal customers.

ikwia

For the record, I (and many other regulars) have stayed hundreds of nights for work at the 2 airport hotels, often full-week stays. There are some tech employers that are 5 minutes from the hotels and you can reach lots of businesses near UCF, Research Park, and Waterford in 20-25 minutes.

C17PSGR

The resort exceptions, amenity fees, and resort fees are definitely annoying. I'm not really sure I understand the rationale behind all this except that maybe they think this makes the rate look better in the initial search. Seems like I was even charged an amenity fee in Spokane ....

Personally, I'm hoping they'll bring over the SPG rules on some things and dump the resort exceptions. Then again, SPG properties are less likely to have decent lounges.

But, as to Florida, the JW Marquis and W are both decent properties in Miami. The JW has a lounge and the W has a breakfast voucher. The Grand Bohemian is a good property in Orlando with breakfast and a great bar. I think there are some decent places in Tampa as well.

What is the story on the Stanton?