My experience with Ambassador have not been as good as BHrubin's. Our disagreements on the program is how we met online actually.

I truly believe his experience of over the top service and upgrades is because he is a big spender and individual properties went above and beyond after he was flagged as a big spender more than Ambassador status. I think it is also because he is SPG Pro. My ambassadors were all generally useless and the program has massive issues. I won't rehash them here as that is written in threads on the SPG side.

I think a good ambassador can flag your high spending ways to individual properties.

As a data point, I did not qualify for ambassador this year intentionally though easily could have. I switched dozens of nights over to Marriott to give them a try as I saw no benefit of being Ambassador level. Thus far my upgrades this year have remained amazing I think due to my spending as I wrote today in the Starwood thread (perhaps it is time to merge FT's Marriott and Starwood spots as I find myself bouncing back and forth), ie 99 nights and big spending is more important than 100 nights gained mostly on points.

I have found that as I have spent more on an annual basis and in aggregate that my upgrades and service get better. I am thinking there is a flag somewhere in there that was tripped that recognizes my bigger spending than before.

I also will reach out to individual GMs/ properties in advance of a stay and find that works well.

One thing that Marriott has done consistently better than Starwood is standardization. I hope that they will standardize Ambassador status. By removing 3 night per room credit as well as putting in a $20,000 USD spend then the number of Ambassador level guests will drop. Hopefully they will standardize BHrubin's experience. . I might then qualify for it for the benefits if I am made whole over LTP.

IN general, I think Marriott has treated SPG members quite well. Overall most are quite happy w the merger so far. The only thing many on this board are upset with is the LTP status... as SPGs we are automatically given lower status than Marriott LTPs and have no chance of achieving that status. It seems to me that is the only real issue SPGers have, aside also from devaluation of Amex cards.

Also, BTW, Marriott won. Starwood I think from experience had much better service at the luxury properties than Marriott. But customer demands and great service might have cost Starwood too much which is why they could not continue as a separate entity.

After all, McDonald's is far more profitable overall than a Michelin restaurant.