Originally Posted by
khabah
This isn't intended to be an attack on mikebor or their situation in any way, but to me and I'm sure countless others in my position, Marriott's complete and utter lack of any form of consistency at the top end is what makes Ambassador Elite too much of a wild card and ultimately, what makes it so disappointing. If a service is to be offered, it should be offered to all. If it should be discontinued, it should be discontinued to everyone. The fact that exceptions are ostensibly given to particular clients "because they requested it" may be the case even if it doesn't sit right with me: I too was traveling during the early days of the pandemic and spent two months at a W from last March to May and had a string of stays throughout the rest of the year, yet was shown the Ambassadorial door when the personalized service was discontinued so clearly my situation didn't ring a bell within Marriott to offer me an exception.
I'd doubt an exception is granted just because it was requested. The odds are better that it was a business decision based on what they thought about costs and benefits to the company, although one never knows. It's always possible someone just gets lucky or talks to a manager on a good day.
And of course they don't offer the same service to everyone. They offer better service to elites and better elite service to higher level elites. I believe what you meant is they should stick to publicly announced benefits. I'd be surprised if they didn't try harder for someone who spends $50k/year than someone who spends $20k/year. Look at American Airlines. It has an internal rating system by which it ranks top tier elites by some non-public metrics, reportedly including profitability. Those who are higher rated get better treatment. Other businesses do the same, either formally or informally.
Which isn't to say that it's not possible for Marriott to behave irrationally or inconsistently, with a wide variety of CSR competence and other lack of policy enforcement.