Starwood, WOW!

I just came over from the other side (Marriott) and I can't belive how much nicer *Wood treats thier guests.

I checked into the MSP Airport Marriott on Tuesday, received the same drab, unenthusiastic greeting I've been receiving for years as a Plat. I'm given an uninspiring room on the second floor. My profile indicates a "High Floor", that's one of the choices Marriott gives you for preferred room location, or my request for a corner room (in the comment section). Needless to say this wasn't on the concierge floor. I asked the lady about a room on the concierge floor and she informed me "Those people pay extra for those rooms." I won't bore you with more details (there are many).

Last week I was in El Paso and I received a room on the first floor and almost no acknowledgement of Plat status. Marriott never seems to look at your room preferences or requests at all so by the time I get to my room (in MSP) I decide I have had it with Marriott and I call *Wood. I nicely informed the lady of my situation and she gave me the number to the Plat line. I contacted them, gave them my user name and password to Marriott.com and within 30 minutes had an email welcoming me to *Wood and comping me Plat status.

I made a reservation at the Sheraton Bloomington and checked out of the Marriott the next morning. My stay at the Sheraton was great. Everyone was infinitely more friendly than at the Marriott and I'm never going back. I never realized how good SPGs have it! Wish I made the move sooner, now I have to figure out what to do with 300,000 Marriott points.

Dumb question: can you convert them to miles? On, say, SQ?


Seriously, welcome to Starwood. I used to be a hotel "drifter", staying with whatever property that was $10 cheaper or half a klick closer to my destination.

No more.

After getting excellent treatment at many starwoods around the world, I am here to stay, and I hope that your experience will be the same. ^

300k Marriott Reward points? Hang on to them until you need them. There's lots of nice rewards in that range and lower.

I have points there, with Hyatt GP and lots of Starwood Points. They all come in handy, and will provide you with a choice when taking that nice overseas vacation or trip to Hawaii or the Caribean, or wherever you want to go in the world.

-David

Hold on to your 300,000 Marriott points for locations where SPG has no (or bad) choices. Otherwise, welcome to SPG and enjoy some of the best hotels in the world. Be sure to get the SPG Amex as well -- which is probably the best CC out there. (Also be sure to start complaining about all the targeted promos, a fav SPG pasttime.)

See you at the Danieli!

Excellent uses of 200--270K MR points:

http://marriott.com/rewards/usepoints/moresrchres.mi

Then click on Travel Packages.

DENPremEx -- Don't know if you're a member of BA's Exec Club, but two R/T tix in FC on BA to London from North America "cost" 300K miles and run over $30K. Not a bad return for all those Marriott points!

This would indeed be an excellent use of 300,000 marriott points - Unfortunately 1 marriott point is not worth 1 BA mile.

I used my Excess MR points when I was in Prague. There is no SPG hotel in the Czech Rep and the Marriott is a nice new hotel.

Thanks for the advice. Marriott continues to give me more points (over 20,000 in the last week), they are trying to win back my business after several (too many to list) screw ups. I'll probably blow them on a Ritz (Kapalua maybe).

I too came to Starwood from Marriott. I had an issue with an upgrade, where they billed me rack rate for a suite they complementary upgraded me to for a week. Cost me $2000 out of my own pocket, they refused to refund it. I immediately called Marriott, they refused to solve the problem, now I am halfway through a three year marriott boycott.

I have a tradeshow in the caribbean in a couple weeks. The show is at a marriott. I have to get there one day early and leave one day late, and I kind of have to stay at the marriott for the show. However, I am checking into the Hilton next door the day before, and moving to marriott the next day, and at the conclusion of the show moving right back to the hilton.

Thinking about it, I really don't want to go back to marriott at all... I have had my share of problems at starwood, but they have not managed to burn me as bad as marriott did.

I just don't think they understand their behavior affects the profits of other hotels in their brand. They lost a GREAT customer and a LOT of revenue.

<raises hand> Another ex-Marriott loyalist here, who's now a Starwood fan. I never would've known if Starwood had not given me complimentary gold status for a year, which led me to try it out, and I've been loyal to Starwood ever since.

I am also a *wood fan, but I have had my share of good (excellent) Marriott experiences (mostly outside the US - places like Sao Paolo, Rio, Mex City, San Jose (Costa Rica), London Kensington, Heathrow, Paris La Defense, etc).

So, save those points for an award stay!

PS: I stayed at the Marriott in Maui using points and was not at all impressed.
The Ritz ought to be better... but beware, they will stick you in their worst room (even the Ritz has good and bad rooms )

I agree that no chain is perfect but I get the impression *Wood tries harder. Unfortunately I had to check in to a Marriott in Williamsburg, VA yesterday and things have been a disaster ever since check in. I won't bore you with all the details but the thing that put me over the edge was pulling the sheets back and noticing the bottom sheet didn't cover the mattress, 3" - 4" were totally exposed on one side (wasn't a fitted sheet obviously). Front desk said they temporarily hired housekeepers from the Holiday Inn on a contract basis. I called Marriott and told them I cancelled all my other stays and moved to *Wood because of the great experience I had. I have been here for about 30 hours and I've received 3 different phone calls making sure everything is fine and reminding me all I have to do is dial "0" if I have any questions or problems. Because of my conversation with Marriott I think these calls were prompted by them (I told them how impressed i was *Wood called me to make sure everything was fine and reminding me they were there for me if I needed anything). Too little too late, *Wood has won my loyalty.