To be fair, that's not fair either. As a huge SPG booster, I have to say I do enjoy that I now have hotels in many of the small towns/lower tier cities I travel to for work. But as far as the properties I want to stay at in major cities and when I go on vacation, there's generally no question I'm still going with legacy SPG hotels.

To be on topic, I agree with the sentiment that we (SPGers) were used to a higher level of service than we now receive or expect.

For me, the stark difference was this summer when two hotels (Legacy Marriott) I was due to stay at suddenly left the program - one with 3 weeks before my stay, one with 2 weeks before my stay. I got a form email letting me know they were leaving, that the hotels would not honor my points reservation, and I was on my own to find alternate arrangements. (There's a whole thread on my saga in the Legacy Marriott forum.)

The few times this happened with SPG they always found a way to take care of me, I was contacted personally and given a personal contact to keep in touch with, and SPG got me a room even if it meant SPG paid for a room at a non-SPG hotel when the original hotel wouldn't honor my res.