Originally Posted by
leonardc9
IThe Ambassador was completely unhelpful and told me that hotels are hurting for revenue and not all hotels are providing benefits. She gave me examples of hotels who refuse to provide the suite upgrade at time of check-in for ambassadors unless they attached a SNA. I asked her explicitly whether Marriott is actually enforcing brand standards for elite benefits or not and she said it's unfortunate but they are generally not.
Apparently Marriott no longer sees the connection between providing promised benefits and attracting more business from its existing base of loyalty program members (which it has in the past touted as a primary driver of bookings and a significant competitive advantage). This seems a miscalculation, at both the individual property level and the corporate level, and the damage done to the brand will likely persist for many years.