Originally Posted by
pinniped
One of the things I liked about Marriott several years ago was that the Platinum Welcome Amenity did not require "trading off" other elite benefits. It was just a cool little amenity - for me, a bowl of mixed nuts and a half-bottle of red wine. Although it was usually really cheap wine, I still appreciated it. Occasionally a property would shock me by providing a full bottle of a local wine that was fit for human consumption.
Then I dropped to Gold and kind of forgot about. But on August 1, I'll be LTPP, so I briefly got excited about the amenity again - only to realize that it appears that it's now a trade-off for other benefits in most cases. Is that right? Specifically, I'd have to trade breakfast for the welcome amenity - if the welcome amenity is even an option at all.
Whole thing is confusing...
The charts aren’t the easiest to understand, at Marriott legacy properties (apart from resorts which never received breakfast officially) we get the same as now breakfast or lounge access and the welcome gift choice.
Starwood legacy properties breakfast is in lieu of the welcome points or gift, as has always been the case.
I imagine why it’s like this and not the easiest to understand is Marriott can launch the new program without having to go back to the hotel owners and renegotiate new contracts.
So far I think Marriott are doing an great job with the merger, they could have used it as a reason to go with SPG model across all brands and offered breakfast as a welcome amenity which is what I thought was going to happen until the charts were recently published.