Originally Posted by
EuropeanPete
I seem to remember my welcome amenity at the W Hollywood last year in one of the suites was a plastic 500ml bottle of water and some kind of chocolate bar, so I don't think
bhrubin necessarily missed that much
Unlike some other Ambassadors I never really had the frequent bottles of champagne and the like (Hyatt and Hilton have always been better at this for me), but having a nice surprise of some sort at most 5* hotels was one of the nice non-financial benefits of the SPG programme.
Haha, good to know.
Welcome amenities are one of those things that are nice, but not essential for me. I know others think they are more important. I've told my Ambassador I place much more priority on getting a suite upgrade than getting a welcome amenity. Of course, the best hotels execute better, and those usually get me both.
I always remind everyone that even when Ambassadors request welcome amenities (sometimes even special welcome amenities) it is up to the hotels to execute those. Some hotels execute better than others. IME, the hotels that have the best overall service tend to execute best whatever my Ambassador requests based on my priorities (and whatever requests I may have made, as well).
It's always entertaining for me to see hotels--that slip up on so many other details--trying to blame my Ambassador for the lack of some other request being fulfilled. It's pretty obvious to me that the hotels are the guilty part in almost every case.