Has anyone else noticed a vast decline in the quality of Marriott Corporate Customer Care lately or am I just getting bad agents/supervisors? Perhaps a victim of the economy? The funny thing is, the gentleman who made a complete a$s of himself tonight on the customer care line was a gentleman I'd found to be outstanding in the past.

I'm currently checked into the New York Marriott East Side. Upon check-in around 4:00'ish, the agent failed to offer my Platinum arrival amenity (I have noticed problems with the amenity much more frequently lately as well, my complaint "about brie" not included in this ) so I mentioned this to the manager, Danny, a quite friendly fellow, around 9:00'ish. His initial response came back that I had been given the points due to that being what was placed on my Marriott Rewards profile as the preference, though this could not possibly be so, as I never choose points unless I just get in too late to have it delivered, and I am only in one night. He furthered that the agent probably saw this and did not even offer the amenity as it was just assumed this is what I wanted. I explained to him that I never choose points, and he offered to research into it while I ran to Trader Joe's in Union Square to pick up a bottle of wine and came back.

When I came back he stated that it was indeed not on my Marriott Rewards profile, but on my Hotel Profile as I had chosen that the previous time I'd stayed there (I have never stayed at this property before, so that's odd). He also stated that he had followed up with the gentleman who checked me in, Fred, and that he had stated that I had indeed chosen the points. I also spoke with Fred, who insisted that he remembered checking me in and that I had chosen the points. I know they see a lot of customers check-in/out a day so mentioned that maybe he had me confused with someone else and he stood by that he remembered exactly checking me in and that I had chosen the points ( nice try to save your a$s dude).

Not being appreciative of being called a liar, I called and spoke with a gentleman at the Marriott Customer Care center (I believe his name was Ed as I've spoken to him in the past). As I did not have my MR info on me in the lobby, he offered to look up my information via the guest roster. Apparently there are two people checked in here tonight with the same name (me being one of them, from which I learned at checkin when I was told I had two rooms reserved for tonight) and instead of looking at both accounts, Ed came back and gave a sarcastic "Well this is a PLATINUM arrival amenity and you're only Gold" . After he looked up the correct information, I explained the situation to him, and furthermore that the agent was insisting that I were lying about it, and requested that he fax a copy of my points statement to the property to show that indeed, I do not select points as my amenity (at this point, it's become personal because of Fred's statements).

Instead of complying with my request, he countered that since the property offered the amenity, that there was no need for that and I was not eligible for any compensation or guarantee. I reiterated that the property HAD NOT offered any amenity, choosing points for me, and only after bringing it to their attention did they offer to have one sent up (a bit late given I was planning on having a night out, but am rather frustrated now so probably just heading to bed). He then stated that the property could deliver the amenity at any time during your stay and not just after check-in and it would count as being offered/delivered. Again explaining that I understand that, but that it was not offered at check-in and the agent presumably realized he missed it and went back and put points in, Ed then stated that the T&C state that it can be offered anytime during the day of arrival and they don't have to offer it at check-in so if I had requested the guarantee after 12:00AM then I would have qualified for the guarantee , but that since I had mentioned it on the same day as arrival the hotel can offer it now instead.

I asked to speak with a supervisor, Joan, who basically stated the same thing, that even if they only realize such after it's brought to their attention, that while one is still a guest at the hotel, they can offer the amenity and you do not qualify for the guarantee. This seems absurd to me, since the terms also state that compensation must be requested while still a guest at the hotel before checkout, so essentially that means that a hotel NEVER has to pay out for a missed arrival amenity unless they flat out refuse to give you one. She did offer to forward the information to the hotel GM in the morning and let him look over it and contact me regarding this.

This coming just a few days after Marriott Customer Care agents and supervisors telling me first that if you request an amenity anytime outside of 24 hours of check-in then you don't qualify for the guarantee then telling me that even if you request it in a time within 24 hours of check-in, if you later change your requested time and it's not delivered then you don't qualify for the guarantee. It seems that the lesson to be learned here is that one is never technically qualified for the arrival amenity guarantee.

Anyways, I used to be able to count on Marriott for having quality properties (with a few exceptions) and exceptional customer service, but it seems this is no longer the case. Has anyone else had really poor experiences lately with Marriott?