I'm quoting this from [MENTION=20501]C17PSGR[/MENTION] from a related thread but responding here where it actually seems most appropriate.
Originally Posted by
C17PSGR
The Marriott program had a number of benefits that were better than SPG for Plats or above. For example, guarantees at Marriott for rooms or being walked were significantly better. Points rates were better as well. Marriott FD people can also see when someone is a Plat Premier or Ambassador whereas no one on the SPG board is aware of any way a FD agent at an SPG can tell the difference between a Plat and a P100. The SPG program also had benefits that were better than Marriott for Plats or above. For example, breakfast at resorts and LC/StR.
This largely is ridiculous. But you did get it right that SPG Plat benefits always have been better than those for Marriott Plats.
First, guarantees for Platinums for rooms or being walked were not better at all between Marriott and SPG--they were quite comparable. Your assessment is made without any evidence because there is no evidence to support such a preposterous premise.
Second, points rates were better is a red herring. Marriott elites earned more points than their SPG counterparts for hotels that cost more points than their SPG counterparts. If you were an SPG75 and earned 4 points/$1, your assessment is wildly inaccurate. There's a reason that SPG points always have been considered wildly more valuable than Marriott points and that's the concomitant reason why Marriott conceded the point by making 1 SPG point worth 3 Marriott points.
Third, Marriott people talk about the FD people knowing you're Plat. SPG FD always knew one is Plat too. SPG systems don't differentiate between Plat50 and Plat75, so there's no reason for any systems to differentiate those based on the manner in which SPG operates. SPG didn't differentiate at FD point of contact for Plat100 Ambassador guests but did so in a more personalized way at the better hotel brands--discussing them as VIPS at the daily management meetings in most cases. Just because it's done differently, you are making a non-sequitur assessment that somehow one is better than another. Sorry, but I have always been recognized and treated better than a typical Platinum despite the FD agent not saying I was a Plat100--I was treated like gold by everyone in the hotel because I was always recognized as a VIP. Recognition might occur through different mechanisms, but recognition happens just the same. And since SPG had far more upscale and luxury level hotel brands, that recognition actually translated into far better service. Marriott barely has any upscale or luxury options to the same extent as SPG, so your apples to oranges comparison is unworthy.
But ... having spent 50 nights at LC/Westin/W properties since I was matched over to SPG Plat, its obvious there is no better recognition on the SPG side -- and it can't be that I'm just a Plat since no one on the SPG side knows that a FD agent can tell the difference. I realize there are SPG loyalists who love their program and I understand why, but I don't believe they have enough stays at Marriott properties to tell. For example, I've had 20 nights so far this year in SPG properties (W/Westin/LC) and have had two nights in suite upgrades -- or 10 percent. None since January. In comparison, I've had 11 stays in the past month alone at Marriott properties and have had six suite upgrades -- and none of them were something that would be described as "standard suites." Perhaps not coincidentally, all six of those have greeted me as a Plat Premier whereas most of the other five greeted me as a Plat. Of those five that didn't upgrade me to a suite, two were obviously near full occupancy, one never upgrades me even when they have it available. And at all 11, I've had breakfast plus at least $10 to spend at the bar.
What are you talking about? You are a Marriott Plat who has been matched thus far only to SPG Plat. You are recognized at EVERY SPG HOTEL as a Plat when you check in by any FD agent. Your recognition may not always get you suite upgrades because there now are far more SPG Plats due to the Marriott Plats being matched, obviously. After all, there are far more Marriott Plats than there are SPG Plats.
Your proportional but anecdotal example of suite upgrades completely ignores the locations of your hotels. If your Marriott stays are in less urban, less upscale markets with less competition for upgrades, as is more common for Marriott properties (there being so many more of them), then it doesn't conclude anything that you might get fewer upgrades at the more urban and more popular SPG properties. You're drawing conclusions based only on the details you want to matter while ignoring other parameters that also factor in. Terrible analysis if ever I saw one.
I would venture to say that the 2 suites at SPG hotels likely were nicer than the 6 suites at the Marriott hotels. After all, SPG hotels on average are nicer than Marriott hotels because SPG has far more upscale/luxury hotels proportionally than Marriott. There is no question there.
You want to be greeted as Plat Premier...even though there is NO published difference between Marriott Platinum and Marriott Platinum Premier now. So your need for the specific recognition is totally irrelevant. The distinction doesn't exist within SPG until you reach Ambassador...but that distinction isn't something realized by a FD agent. You just don't understand or care to understand the difference.
And in the past month, I've called my Ambassador once and she took care of adding a name to a reservation quickly. Otherwise, I've not seen any evidence that my Ambassador has been in touch with the properties or that the properties have noticed the M0 designator.
Your Ambassador now through Marriott is NOT necessarily the same as any Ambassador through SPG. Yet another fallacy. The Marriott experiment with Ambassadors was obviously to try and match what SPG offers in preparation for when the new loyalty program offers Ambassadors, too. But Marriott operates differently than SPG operates, so your Ambassador operates within different confines and expectations than any of the SPG Ambassadors. The SPG Ambassador operation is far more experiencee--and probably operates with a consideration to one's overall spend, which is why people who spent more have had better Ambassador experiences than those who spent less. Marriott hasn't incorporated that distinction yet at all for its current Ambassador experiment, so everyone might as well be a low spending elite for them!
You seem to think so little of the Ambassador program that SPG provides and that the new loyalty program will try to offer--based on your limited experience with the brand new Marriott attempt to mimic the SPG Ambassador program. Yet the SPG program clearly was taking into consideration how much one spent, even though that was never publicly disclosed. Now that's more obvious after Marriott has added the $20K spent requirement to qualify for the Ambassador status/perk for the new loyalty program. So your analysis misses the mark on almost every level.