Originally Posted by
wutlol
Yes - my point was more that booking directly through the hotel gives some additional protection in that Hyatt/Marriott/etc. are more likely to want to protect the integrity of the overall chain and therefore consider compensation that an OTA might not.
You'd be surprised. Marriott treats their elites with even more disdain than UA does. They let their franchises run wild; I don't think they even know what "brand standards" mean anymore.