Originally Posted by
bdschobel
It's an interesting theory, but a large percentage of guests at any hotel on a typical night (not New Year's Eve, for instance) are frequent travelers. I can't imagine a hotel brand affirmatively discouraging frequent travelers from staying there, but that's what Courtyard seems to be doing. It works for me!
Bruce
I think Elites are just a small part of Marriott's hotels guests. Yes some of the FTer spend tons of $$$ per year in hotels but they are not the only ones.
Again, Courtyard is international - and from what I can see from FT, CY outside the US and Canada are nicer. I saw Marriott's own blog saying that CY is their fastest growing brand internationally. The concept works, and I like the CY's I stayed at too.
Of course I don't like the fact that you don't points for spending any $$$ other than the room at CYs. I do hope that Marriott can change that, btw has anyone mention this to Marriott Concierge?