Originally Posted by
don731
We don't mind abiding by reasonable rules, but rules that call for a loyal guest to be treated differently because of how they came to walk through your lobby door seem to be poorly thought through.
If the
only time I saw you as a customer was when I was selling impaired inventory, at a price where I wasn't actually making much or any money, and it was very obvious that you were primarily motivated by price and not by brand, I might not particularly care about your loyalty, on the grounds that if I have to sell a $50 hotel room to someone who requires me to provide $20 of additional elite benefits because they are "loyal", but won't stay if that price goes to $55 because they'll walk down the street to someone else selling at $50, I'd actually rather sell that hotel room for $50 to someone who doesn't require the $20 of elite benefits. I might even discourage unprofitable behavior by my elites (like using third party booking sites).
That's the logic that hotel chains use these days with the advent of Internet booking engines and opaque inventory sites that take significant slices off the top of their return. That and
occupancy rates are at near record highs. I understand it's different from the past. My advice would be stick with Marriott if you like using Chase, and if you can't, book with the understanding that you should primarily be loyal to your wallet, just like chains are.