Originally Posted by Nazdoom

Titanium here. Maybe it's just me but welcome amenities have really dried up in my experience post-COVID compared to before. By numbers, I mostly stay Marriott, JW Marriott, Le Meridien, and Sheraton in Asia (#1 by far), Europe (#2), and across the other continents fairly equally (yes, all but Antarctica). Pre-COVID there'd be a letter/card and f&b amenity waiting for me around 80% of the time. Now it's closer to 25% at best. It would be a sure thing in a Courtyard in Asia, now it's rare in a regular Marriott in Asia.

Out of my last 30 nights across the Le Meridien Saigon, Marriott Bangkok Surawongse, Sheraton Kunming, Marriott Bangkok Surawongse, Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur, and Sheraton Towers Singapore, I received a fruit basket at the Sheraton Kunming and a single boxed piece of chocolate at the Marriott Bangkok Surawongse on one of my two stays there (ironically the two night stay, in which I booked a basic room and was upgraded at check-in, rather than during the six night stay during which I paid for a premium suite).

Maybe I'm on the naughty list, maybe it's due to inflationary cost pressures, maybe it's due to the ever-growing number of elites, the perils of peak travel season / understaffing, or all of the above. I've also heard some hotels say they only give welcome amenities to elites during their first stay at the property, which seems like a strange way to build loyalty, but alas. Maybe I've just been returning to the same hotels too much. Am I alone in this?