I have had THREE bad experiences with Marriott in the past three months! A Renaissance, a Residence Inn and an Autograph! I have been a loyal Marriott Rewards member for years and other than the occasional issue here or there...... no real problems.

Problem #1 July 2013
I had a long layover (like 8 hours) at Heathrow. Rather than hang out at Heathrow overnight, I booked at the Renaissance Heathrow and prepaid. I did not get my "night" credit. It took me no less than 10 emails and phone calls and several departments and different (WRONG!!) answers to finally get the night credited. (AND nothing remotely done for the inconvenience.) One rep even told me prepaid nights don't get night credits?!?!? Another told me foreign stays do not post for 4-6 weeks?!? (I explained that my night credit at other hotels for the same Europe trip had already posted.)

Problem #2 September 2013
I booked a 2 bedroom suite (Residence Inn) for my daughter's birthday in Winchester, VA as part of a special outing. It was me and 4 kids ages 11 and under. That morning they called my home phone number (only) (even though I have an email address on file and a cell number) and left a rather unconcerned message that they were moving me to two King Suites next to each other (not connecting) because of some damage to ONE room at the hotel (flooding). (The message also cheerfully informed me that I would not be charged EXTRA?!?!?) For other reasons, I had called my voice mail at home and received this message. (COME ON!!! How many people booking a hotel are HOME the day of the reservation?!?!?) I called back and got a SUPREME runaround from several incompetent people. They refused to make ANY reasonable accommodation. I cancelled the reservation (online) and FORTUNATELY was able to book somewhere else-- a number of miles away-- but salvaged my daughter's birthday outing. (YES!! I told them it was her birthday!) Well, to add insult to injury, the hotel UNILATERALLY rebooked me and I was going to be charged for the room that could not accommodate my group for the night. It took several phone calls and significant effort (WHILE I WAS AT MY DAUGHTER'S BIRTHDAY OUTING) to rectify.

October 2013

I booked a reservation at the Blue Moon in Miami (part of Autograph) in April for November. I tried to modify my reservation online a couple of days ago to arrive a day later and could not-- I had to call. I called and the agent recited everything back correctly. When I got back to my computer, I see the email confirmation had me arriving a day later AND checking out a day later. When I called to fix it-- they told me the room rate for the last night of my stay had increased from 170/night to 360/night-- so that would be the new rate. WHAT?!?! I explained that it was THEIR fault. The agent told me she contacted the hotel who refused to honor the (old) rate because it was the Autograph reservation line that made the mistake-- not the hotel. It took (again) multiple emails to fix the problem AND over two days?!?!?

I can only imagine how their non-status members are being treated?!?!

I am seriously considering starting to build status in another loyalty program and would love suggestions.