Originally Posted by HereAndThere

I think a major problem is that Marriott doesn't seem to offer any coherent corporate concept of what a lounge is to be. Or if they do, they haven't spelled it out for guests. Consequently guests make their own interpretations of what the purpose of the lounge is. The guests' views seems to range from seeing the lounge as an extension of their living room or bedroom to something more akin to a public place like a hotel restaurant.

Thus you occasionally have groups of people who move furniture around and cozy up for too loud conversations while kids are playing and running around as if they are at home. And you occasionally end up with people in gym clothes and bathrobes sitting around just like at home or you have people putting their bare feet on the furniture.

My vote is with those who think that clothes and decorum should be more in line with clothes and behavior that are generally acceptable in a restaurant.

Marriott could deal with this by including a sheet of paper in their guest room books and in the lounge that, for example, sets a dress code that is appropriate to a public place such as a restaurant. (Even that description doesn't place too many limits on what one wears given how people dress. But at least it might set a tone that discourage the bathrobes, PJs, and bare feet.)

The lounge attendants need to take some responsibility for curbing behavior and setting dress limits, but to do so they need a guideline to fall back on.

My guess is that poor corporate leadership is the problem that leads to the great variability in food, service, decorum, staffing, hours, etc., that I've experienced over the years in lounges.