Originally Posted by
sink
Ok, my first marriott stays in BKK. As a new gold member (being a United 1K), I decided to try out the Marriotts in Bangkok. Given that I'm a SPG Plat, it is hard to adjust as a lowly Marriott gold. The first night was spent at Renaissance, and was upgraded to a room on the club lounge floor. I really hate the "glass" wall separeting the bathroom and the bedroom. The toilet was not even covered. At the bare minimum, a blind should be available. I don't think I would like to see my spouse using the toilet. Anyhow, as far as lounge goes, it is decent. The location is not all that great, it is still a hike just to get out onto Suk. Second night was spent at JW Marriott, again, hate the location; it is quite far to the BTS, and when it seems quite dangerous to walk around late at night, since the street is not well lit. Then, the Marriott on Suk 57, a bit out of the way, but is closer to the BTS compared to JW. However, the showers only can get up to "warm" water not hot. Water pressure is fine. Lounge offering is limited, but club access guests can have breakfast downstairs. Breakfast offering is pale in comparision to those of SPG (LM, Plaza Athenee, and Sheraton Grande). Not sold on the Marriott program nor the hotels in BKK (sorry Marriott folks). And I will continue to be loyal to SPG.
I use both Marriott and SPG roughly equally often and don't feel any particular allegiance to one program over the other. In my supposedly unbiased opinion, the JW and Ren are, overall, on par with the Plaza Athenee, Westin, SGS, Le Meridian, ROS (I don't know about W and St. Regis). The Ren lounge is, I think, the best of them all (by a slight margin). Where the SPG properties do have the advantage is that most give breakfast in the restaurant (except ROS), whereas JW and Ren generally do not. Also, it's easier to get a suite at the SPG hotels, especially with Suite Night upgrades (after 50 nights). I would have added that it's easier to get SPG status than Marriott status, except that UA 1k status now gets you MR Gold with no effort whatsover (what a deal!). MR's advantage is that they generally have better promos and gift card discounts.
Not to beat up on Sink, but I agree with others here that most of Sink's complaints were probably misunderstandings (the curtain at Ren, safety at JW), bad luck (lukewarm shower at Suk57), consequences of unequal status levels (gold in MR vs. plat in SPG), personal preference, or own-program bias.