Let's talk apples to apples. I am staying at the San Francisco Marriott on June 27 - rate is $125 for that Saturday night. Rate for Sheraton - Fisherman's Wharf for that evening is $199. The difference in rates could purchase one heck of a breakfast (not to mention a bottle of water and a newspaper). Sheraton Gateway is an airport property. Don't bother coming back at me comparing the San Francisco Airport property amenities with those at the Gateway. I'm simply responding to the first report and indicating that while Marriott may have made cutbacks, relative bargains are there to be had. I just don't buy the "hunch" offered by many here that Marriott is at low occupancy because they have raised the hackles of Platinum and Gold members. It seems just as plausible that a $125 rate in downtown San Francisco would draw more people in that a $199 rate even if it included lounge access and a bottle of mouthwash.

Can't anyone just accept that Marriott may simply - in its own considered way - be trying to make the best of a bad situation? In another posting the attack is being directed towards the breakfast buffet. Speculation is that fruit may be cut out.

I doubt that will ever happen. Still, some fruits may be taken off the menu. My favorite Marriott - up north - took watermelon off its buffet line about a year or so again. Can't blame corporate for that one. As watermelon is one of my favorites, I was not pleased but did consider that the expense to bring in watermelons on top of the other fruits was simply not cost efficient - just "cutting back" on the amount of watermelon served was not going to achieve the efficiencies that the property was trying to achieve.