Originally Posted by
bigguyinpasadena
I am a former loyal customer of Marriott's I am no longer a loyal customer because of a few reasons-the Mormon Support of the Yes on 8 campaign and the financial support provided to the LDS's by the Marriott family via tithing being one of many. I also felt that Marriott Rewards had gone from the best hotel loyalty program out there to the worst of the majors- but that is OT
When I posted this on the Marriott Forum I was accused of having an "agenda"
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/17350850-post24.html
But now I have a to make another decision, frankly one I really don't want to make but because of the merger I now have to decide whether to axe my relations with Marriott/SPG again.
What changed is for sure the merger. The Marriott people (who I met some a long time ago) are good people and I believed them about their commitment to GLBT community. But for sure the merger changes everything as the progressive bend that SPG/Starwood has could go away.
And the more I think about it, the BOM in the rooms really does bother me. It should be removed if Marriott is NOT looking to upset me (and others who feel the same way) I would love to see the Bible be removed as well.
But I'll argue about the sameness between Starwood and Marriott. Starwood has a person on staff who is a music director, his job is to select music and DJ's for the various brands (mostly W, LeM, Westin) - Marriott has nothing like that. LeM partnered with Le Labo to create a custom scent, a detail I really doubt Marriott would touch. W Hotels have done so much for the design community and that has ripple effects all over creative areas. Starwood spent money like that knowing it was good for the community but also good for their brand image, really doubt Marriot will continue with this sort of thing. Now all of the above paragraph is OT for this post-but these are issues I and others are concerned about.
I think you are identifying specific brand differences between certain SPG brands and Marriott though. I've had a lot of phenomenal Renaissance and Courtyard stays at more stylish and interesting properties than Westins and Ws. (Recent stay at the W Chicago Lake Shore was horrendous, the Courtyard in Portland OR is phenomenal.) Perhaps Starwood has more luxury properties. I think both chains have great properties and cruddy ones, though, and the average Sheraton isn't particularly different than the average Marriott. Both also have way too many brands to be able to do meaningful comparisons at the higher family level. But also realize Marriott has a much broader footprint which makes the combined program more useful in many ways, particularly for those of us who stay outside of the large tourist meccas. (Having an in-house music director seems like the ultimate useless perk. Ritz Carlton has a signature scent similar to LM.)