Yes, 100% agree - astute observations. The feel of staying at FS Marriotts is changing - and not in a positive way. The fear of "overachieving" and the deterioration of the Spirit to Serve is real (not of course everywhere, just saying that I've seen several signs of this over the past few months).

I'm wondering if it has come to the point that it is worth it for some of us to actually push to have a meeting with a VP about this issue (i.e., corporate directives for uniformity and to not overperform). I've done this before with another issue with another company - got a meeting with the Executive who was responsible for what I thought was a senseless policy. I was successful I think in getting a policy changed (the company was indeed out of touch with how many of their customers felt about the issue. The VP was very attentive and we had a good discussion. The policy was changed shortly thereafter.)

I wish they would thoroughly focus group this stuff before they start promulgating these types of policies. This just seems so out of character for Marriott to do this sort of stuff. I can't believe that the decisionmakers would deliberately institute policies that serve to do long-term harm to their bottom line by causing customers to question their loyalty and start looking for other places to take their business. I do think it is possible to find ways to save money in the short term and not tick off your more loyal customers at the same time, thereby costing your company more in the long run. - Sorry for the redundancy, but sometimes it helps to make a point as to how strongly you feel about something.