Originally Posted by
C17PSGR
SPG properties cannot see anything beyond Platinum status unless they are contacted by an Ambassador.
Red herring alert! Marriott properties cannot see any status unless the front desk agent looks at and understands the code in the computer at check-in.
As long as the Ambassador OR the Ambassador guest alerts the SPG hotel (or even Marriott/Ritz-Carlton hotel in some recent cases for me), the hotel knows we are Ambassador VIP status. You make it sound like it requires a herculean task to get recognition. It doesn't.
I've also on occasion informed the hotel in advance of my Ambassador status. That seemed to do the trick, too. Heck, that seemed to work quite well even with the Ritz Carlton Boston and Ritz Carlton Kyoto recently--despite them not officially yet recognizing the status.
In the Marriott world, Platinum Premier has been an official level but the threshold was unpublished and the benefits were unpublished. It certainly, at a minimum, required several years at well over 100 actual nights and I suspect the dollar threshold was higher than the new standard. Some Platinum Premiers in the MR program were also given ambassadors.
First, in the Marriott world, Marriott Platinum Premier benefits, unpublished as they were, still didn't come close to the published benefits for a regular SPG Platinum. The comparison isn't even close. Marriott Platinum Premier didn't even get suite upgrades or guaranteed breakfast benefits like a regular SPG Platinum did at far more hotel types (including resorts). Marriott Platinum Premier didn't even get late checkout guarantees like a regular SPG Platinum.
Second, Platinum Premiers were also given "concierges" that weren't called ambassadors until Marriott acquired Starwood and then decided to copy the obviously better SPG Platinum Ambassador service. Your concierge, now referred to as an ambassador, STILL isn't equivalent to the SPG Ambassador. This has been established innumerable times by the Marriott threads on the subject. Your concierge/ambassador accomplishes almost nothing extra when compared to a regular SPG Platinum agent. SPG Ambassadors do far more and enable far more recognition throughout hotel stays.
While I'll leave the discussion of legacy Platinum Premier to other threads, treatment has generally been very good and IMHO exceeds the experiences in this thread but can very depending on the property.
This is obviously false and a gross exaggeration of truth. You and all other Marriott Plat Premiers have yet to ascribe any enhanced experiences at any Marriott hotels that come close to the enhanced and elevated experiences by many SPG Ambassador level guests. It isn't even close. Heck, you still won't talk about the specific identities of a single hotel where you allegedly had "exceeded experiences" as you claim. That's because it's hard to swallow that an enhanced experience at a Fairfield or Marriott is anything remotely as impressive as the innumerable enhanced and elevated experiences described for Ambassador guests at St Regis, Luxury Collection, and W hotels, let alone at Le Meridien, Westin, or Sheraton hotels.
In the Marriott world, most of us who are Plat Premiers are used to getting very good upgrades when traveling internationally. There's even a program for auto suite upgrades in Asia that I hope continues. But ... for those of us who are actually staying 100+ nights in hotels (I have around 85 actual nights year to date), upgrades are always valuable. This week, I'm two for two on MR suite upgrades into routine business properties but last week I was zero for three in routine business properties (one JW, one Westin, one W).
Please do tell us the two properties at which you've enjoyed those MR suite upgrades this week. If you can't share the hotel identities or the suites involved, it's probably not as impressive as claimed.
Getting suite upgrades might impress you, but regular SPG Platinums have been enjoying suite upgrades for almost a decade now as a guaranteed published benefit. Marriott Rewards and your Platinum Premier status don't even come close. It isn't even close to comparing with SPG Ambassador status!
But ... since this is a thread about ambassador experiences (and particularly since SPG properties don't know someone has an ambassador unless the ambassador contacts the property), it seems to me it ought to focus on ambassador experiences, rather than great hotel stays generally. I've had a lot of great hotel stays this year although I'd don't like to stay at St.R or RC properties -- great stays at Marriotts and JW Marriotts in Europe, Hong Kong, Chile, etc. (suites, extra gifts, notes from GM, 7 AM checkins) but those didn't having anything to do with an ambassador and I didn't contact my ambassador in connection with those stays,
Well if it doesn't happen for you, you surmise it can't happen for anyone else. You're wrong.
You continue to try to reduce SPG Ambassador service because of the "need" for an Ambassador to contact the property. As if the intra-SPG hotel email is that tough to accomplish. You've never even considered the obvious probability that the reason SPG Ambassador guests can get such great recognition (throughout their entire hotel stays) is because there is that direct contact/reminder with the hotel management, as opposed to the Marriott reminder via a computer code at check-in with a front desk agent. Hmmm, a reminder email sent to hotel management versus a computer code for a front desk agent. Which might be better? Hmmm...
For example, while I am a Marriott Plat Premier and have had an ambassador for a couple of years, I'm interested in what requests people have made to their ambassador without bashing each programs.
No. You don't have an Ambassador. You have a Marriott concierge--now called an ambassador to give you the illusion that you now have anything close to what SPG Ambassador guests have had for years. The dearth of enhanced experiences in Marriott threads is all the evidence everyone needs to know this obvious fact. But you keep pretending. Please stop! It's an obvious false equivalency.
In the 300 posts, it looks like those requests includes the OP's request for an early check-in, to bring a large dog, to let the hotels on an upcoming trip to Japan know they are celebrating an anniversary, and to request assistance with dining points and that all those things worked well. Another poster asked his ambassador to reach out to the property and let them know he was celebrating an event. In my case, I contacted my ambassador to get assistance with a reservation which was immediately resolved and based on another posters experience, I contacted my Marriott ambassador and asked for assistance with a very late arrival at an SPG property in Europe and she was able to assist.
Are there any other specific requests those with ambassadors have made that we can share with each other?
Let's do a quick run down for just MY Ambassador enhancements:
(1) early check in (7:15 am at Prince Gallery Tokyo in May 2018, 11 am at St Regis San Francisco in July 2018, 1:30 pm at Westin San Jose, too many to count over the years)
(2)]bring a large dog beyond weight limits (110 lb dog for St Regis San Francisco despite 35 lb limit, for the SLS Beverly Hills despite 40 lb limit, for the US Grant San Diego despite 40 lb limit, Westin San Jose despite 40 lb limit, etc)
(3) massive suite upgrades at luxury hotels that don't even exist in the Marriott portfolio (Metropolitan Suite at St Regis San Francisco for all but 1 of my innumerable stays, Imperial Suite at Hotel Imperial Vienna, Royal Overwater Villa at St Regis Bora Bora, Dalmatia Suite at Gritti Palace Venice, Atelier Suite at Excelsior Gallia Milan, Kioi Suite at Prince Gallery Tokyo, Presidential Suite at Suiran Kyoto, St Regis Suite at St Regis Atlanta, Wow Suite at W Boston, Astor Suite at St Regis New York, Luxury Villa with Pool at St Regis Punta Mita, St Regis Suite at St Regis Houston, Wow Suite at W Westwood/W Beverly Hills, Lifestyle Suite at SLS Beverly Hills, Makkasar Suite at Prince de Galles Paris, Nines Suite at the Nines Portland, Charles River Suite at Liberty Boston, Astor Suite at St Regis Washington, Luxury Suite at St Regis Bahia Beach Puerto Rico, and Panorama Suite at Park Tower Knightsbridge London.
For the record, those are all stays I've had since May 2016. That's a lot of specialty suites and suites well above the regular Platinum upgrade/SNA pool. That's a lot of massive suite upgrades for hotel where I've only stayed a single time or two.
Sorry, but there isn't a single Marriott Plat Premier with concierge/ambassador that even comes close to a fraction of that suite upgrade record...because there aren't any hotels nearly as good for the entire Marriott portfolio and because your Marriott "concierge/ambassador" isn't the same as that for SPG Ambassador as of yet.
There's a reason you never hear about Plat Premiers getting suite upgrades at Ritz-Carlton and Edition hotels...in case anyone noticed.
(4) massive suite upgrades at hotels more comparable to those in the Marriott portfolio (Presidential Suite at Le Meridien Cambridge, Corner Suite at Le Meridien Cambridge almost every other time I'm there, One Bedroom Suite at Le Meridien Arlington, Executive Suite at Le Meridien Arlington every other time i"m there, One Bedroom Suite at Le Meridien Philadelphia almost every time I'm there, Palm Suite at Westin San Jose, One Bedroom Suite at Westin Richmond, One Bedroom Suite at Westin Charlotte, Executive Suite at Sheraton Hartford South, One Bedroom Suite at Sheraton Boston, etc.).
For the record, those are all stays I've had since March 2016. That's a lot of specialty suites and suites well above the regular Platinum upgrade/SNA pool.
(5) Refunds or credit that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to get, including $2000 applied as a food/beverage credit rather than lost at StR Bora Bora after airline canceled flight and we missed a pre-paid night. Also includes nights credited for problems, including W Boston, LIberty Boston, Sheraton Philadelphia, St Regis Dubai, StR Atlanta, etc.
(6) Recognized by name at hotels I've never before visited (Prince Gallery Tokyo, Suiran Kyoto, StR Osaka, StR Dubai, StR New York, StR Bora Bora, Gritti Palace Venice, Excelsior Gallia Milan, StR Rome, StR Atlanta, etc, etc).
(7) Given priority for hotel restaurant/seating at hotels I've never before visited (StR New York, StR SF, Gritti Palace Venice, The Palace SF, US Grant San Diego, etcl)
(8) Given priority for hotel bar seating and service at hotels I've never before visited (StR Osaka, Prince Gallery Tokyo, Gritti Palace Venice, StR New York, W Seattle, W Boston, Chatwal NYC, etc etc)
(9) Given VIP treatment all around by valets, bellman, front desk, restaurants etc (too many to list)
(10) Reduced room rates after asking (Westin San Jose)
(11) Given later check out than normal (including St Regis SF, StR New York, Chatwal NYC, W Westwood, StR Bora Bora, US Grant San Diego, StR Rome, etc)
(12) Given priority for housekeeping on a few occasions (StR Atlanta got crew to clean room before normal start, etc)
(13) Given some very nice welcome gifts, nicer than the average Plat welcome gift (robes, very nice wines, very nice cheese trays, very nice tea service, etc...at even the most luxe hotels)
Ambassador service in the SPG universe--especially being that the SPG universe includes so many luxury properties that just don't exist in the Marriott portfolio--allows a guest to enjoy luxury level service a lot more often, at an elevated level, at far more properties. Not just with requests to and from the hotels but while staying at the hotels. There's nothing comparable in the current Marriott universe. That's why Marriott is copying the SPG universe and the SPG Ambassador service.