Originally Posted by
arlflyer
Table-pounding rants aside (which is a stretch, because these threads are nothing but table-pounding rants), where exactly do all of these Very Important Lifetime Whatevers propose to take their very significant amounts of business to, anyhow? I hear Red Roof Inn is opening up a lot of downtown locations. Corporate travel will have no issue expending airbnbs, trust me. Ooh, Hilton is offering bunk beds, since it is pretty much running full occupancy across the board. They can fit you right in.
Sure, pound the table harder. We all want more for less. But only a major disruptive force, likely in the form of a recession or major new entrant, can really alter this trajectory.
You are joking aren't you?
Those of us who travel a lot have multiple choices, who is stupid enough to have status in a single chain, especially the one rapidly providing the worst benefits in the market below even Hilton. Starwood used to be my first or second choice, now it tend to be IHG and Hilton neck and neck with Marriott as a distant third.
I am not saying the alternatives or perfect but increasingly they are becoming preferable to all but the very best Marriott properties. My experience has a LT SPG Plat and formerly happy as an "old" Marriott Plat has deteriorated markedly in the last 6 months to render Plat pretty much worthless for all but a free breakfast. Rather than being incentivised to push for Titanium I think it highly unlikely that I will even get SNA's this year (for the first time since they were introduced to SPG). I certainly do not need to beg for upgrades at my regular Hiltons, IC's or Kimptons.