Originally Posted by
hhoope01
I'd guess if these exclusions were causing widespread movement away from Marriott Rewards in general or these hotels in specific, then we'd see the hotel start offering the free breakfast benefit. The fact that most haven't changed would leave me to conclude that it must not have much of a hit against Marriott's program or the hotel.
There's no way to measure that. It will hurt the brand more than any particular hotel. That's the problem with allowing high demand properties to "opt-out" of program benefits - the property doesn't care, but it devalues the program overall, and savvy travelers take that into consideration when selecting a program.
Originally Posted by
pinniped
I wish Marriott would call their bluff if this is the case. Hilton doesn't hand out random exemptions like this. I know way less about Hyatt, but I haven't heard their members here on FT talk about it. SPG, pre-merger, had hotels that opted out of promos quite often...but not out of elite benefits at the property.
Agreed.
Hyatt doesn't exempt anyone from the breakfast benefit, although a very small number of properties (e.g., Hyatt Union Square) do game it. But that's only in the context of the Hyatt program - they provide a $25 per person credit, which in the Marriott or SPG program would be considered very generous.