Originally Posted by
craigthemif
You can care about breakfast or you can not care. But a top tier Hyatt, Hilton, SPG, etc. member knows that they will get breakfast chain-wide, with very few exceptions (Waldorf-Astoria comes to mind)
With MR, I have to visit the website, figure out which brand is going to offer me breakfast. Then I have to check whether the hotel has a lounge or not. Then I have to make sure that the hotel hasn't classified itself as a resort. And then I have to hope that "continental" is slightly better than stale bread and water.
Instead of needing a law degree to decipher the fine print, I'll just stay elsewhere most of the time... MR has a limited window to avoid losing SPG elites over things like this, so I hope they are spending their time wisely.
There are a lot of differences (although I understand your point).
One of the reasons I left Hilton after being one of their original elites (both as Gold & Diamond) was because they dicked around w/ brekkie & especially access to lounge for Golds (for a while but not lately dicked around w/ top tier).
At Marriott FS brands w/ exec lounge - and a
major advantage over SPG - both Gold/Plats get either access to the lounge or free brekkie. Unlike SPG Plats Marriott Plats don't have to choose it as a Plat option & unlike SPG Golds Marriott Golds get free brekkie too. That's because Marriott has more stringent elite qualifications (currently) than SPG. Marriott has over 900 properties where you get free access to lounge or brekkie - quite frankly, a LOT more than SPG.
The Marriott FS brands are JW Marriott, Renaissance, Autograph Collection, Marriott & Delta hotels (and in Asia CYs). You get free brekkie daily or access to the exec lounge access.
With Marriott you also get free brekkie at SHS, RI, FI, TPS (regardless of status) - SPG doesn't have those brands - and again doesn't offer free brekkie to many.
If you're switching to Hilton, etc, that's certainly your option (and I've always been on record if you're not happy w/ a chain - ANY chain - walk w/ your $$), but make sure what you're switching to is better.
Cheers.