Originally Posted by
bigguyinpasadena
Keeton and Joshua362,
You can see the move away from MI by the decrease in postings on the FT MR forum.
Even those loyalist who used to shout down the folks who questioned Marriott's actions(such as myself)are now looking at/staying with other chains.
I have my second night this year with a MI property,picked soley only for finacial reasons,that is a huge drop off from the business I gave them last year,and HUGE dropoff from the years before that.
Now some(the few loyalist/apologist still here)will pipe up with-"Good, don't let the door hit you on the way out"or other such glib statements-but how many others have to start spending elsewhere before Marriott gets the message and starts actively persuing our loyalty once again?
This reminds me of a personal situation where another industry is hell bent on shooting itself in the foot. About 2 years ago, I had an opportunity to invest in a business and decided not to touch "stock investments" (a big mistake in retrospect). Due to STELLAR credit, there were no shortage of credit card companies throwing low and no percent offers at me, which I took full advantage of being a CPA.
Now, I've never been late on a payment in 30 years and still haven't. I enjoy the low rates, deduct the interest and the business is starting to generate more cash than I ever expected. Yet my FICO credit score (a useless measure if I ever saw one) has plunged for using the credit extended and morons like AMEX, Citibank and others have closed and reduced lines to unusable levels - and I can't get any others to open any others for special point/mile/other earning opportunities. And I charge and pay off fully some $25,000 monthly - what's the 3% merchant fee from that?
So what's my reaction? Boycott anything to do with Amex and Citibank - whom which I have a very long relationship with, stop taking AMEX in my business and just have a sour taste towards all of them in general.
I see the Marriott similarity here - ignore the long, profitable relationship with a "good" customer with a PROVEN POSITIVE TRACK RECORD in favor of a raw number or potential "savings" some computer or bean counter spit out.
Ignore the facts, story and erosion of goodwill behind the numbers because a computer can't possible be wrong. Sadly, I've tried but I can't convince or reach anyone with decision making authority the error of their ways.
A computer can't program/anticipate human emotion and reaction !!