Input for Marriott Execs @ FT Awards?
 

I'm assuming I'll run into some of the Marriott execs at upcoming FT Awards. How long I have to chat w/ them is up in the air. Could be just a couple minutes; could be longer.

Anything you want me to ask them about and/or provide input on? Again, note that I don't know for sure I'll meet them or how long so even if you write down an extensive list no guarantees we'd get through it ;)

Also, please note that I will not engage in any bashing, haranguing, etc, but will accord them the respect they deserve as professionals. In the past, some FTers thought because the execs were there (not Marriott, but would be equally valid w/ them) it was ok to ambush them & just do a negative core dump. I am not like that.

I am also aware that this is an industry event & that FTers have been invited, but the primary purpose & emphasis is on the industry folk & we are just guests.

Having said all that - fire away on what you'd like me to bring up - and btw, that includes good things (such as EEOs) as well as negatives (resort & weekend exclusions on brekkie). It's not just negative stuff, but things we like & would like them to continue etc. You get the idea: the great, the good, the bad, the ugly.

Cheers.

I'd say one of the most important things that MR offers to me that is not offered elsewhere is the lifetime status program. I find that when I'm travelling extensively for business, I do little recreational travel and when my business travel slows or stops, I start travelling more for fun. However, I don't get enough stays to maintain gold or plat status when this happens.

Thanks dave.

Folks, here's your chance to get some input heard via me mentioning it to the Marriott execs. You all aren't shy about voicing input on this forum, but I'm not going to comb through a gazillion threads to find your thoughts.

So ante up or I'll just say hello to them & toddle off to the drinkies instead ;)

Cheers.

Sharon,
Thanks for the offer.

One thing that I tend to like about Marriott is their consistency within their product lines i.e. I generally know what to expect when I walk into a room at a Marriott or a Residence Inn.

Having said that, one thing that I dislike is the apparent lack of consistency when it comes to treatment for elite MR members upgrades. In the past few weeks I have seen a number of threads / comments about how best to get an upgrade or, better yet, an upgrade to a suite. My reading of the T&C's is that an upgrade is supposed to be on a space available basis. Why would they want to allocate an upgrade 4 weeks in advance? It appears that elites have to play "who dares wins" by contacting the hotel directly (GM on down) or Platinum line long in advance. I would think that both the hotel and service center would be better served if they didn't have to prioritize these requests. Some airlines have established clear rules for clearing upgrades e.g. gold at 24 hours, platinum at 72 hours. This may be a better approach for Marriott to implement in order to establish consistency in this area. This may result in some existing elites being unhappy, mainly those that are making their requests weeks in advance, but the consistency would certainly help people like me that want a known set of guidelines.

Thanks again,
canred

Sharon,

Thanks for offer to do this.

I am Platinum Premier with Marriott and have been at least Platinum for the last five years.

The real strength of Marriott for me is the abundance of properties where I travel. I also find reward availability to plentiful for when and where I want to go. I really appreciate the new dedicated phone number and email address for Platinum Premiers to have all of their Marriott needs addressed. I know that this is a trial thing but I hope that it stays. I have been able to get answers to my questions via email almost immediately.

There are a few things that I would change. I wish that Courtyards would offer free breakfast for Platinum Members. Whenever I have a choice between Courtyards and Hilton Garden Inn, I choose the later as I get free breakfast as a Diamond Member. My biggest gripe is that none of the resorts give lounge access or breakfast for Gold and Platinum Members. I travel a lot for work and when I am on vacation with my family at resorts, it would be nice to have these benefits extended.

Overall I am pretty happy with and quite loyal to Marriott. I hope Marriott looks at some of these issues, addresses them, and makes a concerted effort to fix them.

Thanks again.

Sharon
Thanks for offer...

I would like to ask about the consistent disparity in perks for US and non-US members. eg internet (now fixed), EEO (like hens teeth in UK) etc. Marriott prides itself on consistent and high quality product - can the perks not be part of this consistent approach.

Many Thanks

I personally do not have much to complain about. These are the things I would think could be improved:

1) I agree with the upgrade comment about having a more formal process. It is easier for airlines because they only have Y and F/C, but the hotels might have 4-8 different room types. Not sure how to work it, but it would be nice. It seems the squeaky wheel gets the upgrade in advance.

2) Some type of instrument to get a suite upgrade maybe twice a year or at least to top level non-suite type (oceanfront, etc). I want the upgrades when I go on vacation, not when going to Podunk, USA on business. Obviously subject to availability.

3) For the megabonus, have ability and option to choose which one you want - such as 20 nights/40,000 pts vs 15 nights/25,000 pts. We know there are several different options that go out each quarter and I travel enough to make platinum, but some quarters are heavy and some are light.

Thanks for reaching out. Hopefully you get enough time for an elevator speech.

I love the lifetime status carrot dangled for long time road warriors.
I like the updated bedding (not really recent but hey I like it).
More flat screens with plug in adapters would be nice.

Bring back the cookies and newspapers at Courtyards. Nickel and dime stuff is annoying.

As the industry changes, so to do the hotel chains themselves. As noted in the http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...ourtyards.html thread. CYs have changed and it might be a nice "sell point" to start giving MR points for incidentals at CYs (and even some or all the other non-FS brands as well.)

Sharon:

I'd ask for a stay qualification option for elite levels. SPG, Hilton and Hyatt have both stay and night measures by which you qualify for gold, platinum, diamond, etc. I think the view that 1 stay @ Fairfield = 1 stay @ Marriott is where they current system is.

David

Hi Sharon,

Thanks for volunteering to be our spokesperson.

For me personally, there are two improvements I'd like to see:

- Lifetime status: Rather than having to meet both the criteria of total points and total nights, I'd like to see some formula that recognizes people who spend more per night vs people with a lot of cheap nights. For example, I have 1.5M lifetime points, but have only hit 410 lifetime nights. Introducing some kind of formula that would "average" nights and points would make it more interesting for someone like me.

- Point value of MVCI weeks. With the changes in the past years, getting 100K points when you trade in your week, which then costs 275K for someone to use seems out of whack. Maybe an adjustment would be warrented.

Thanks and cheers,

GenevaFlyer

Thanks - keep the input coming. Remember - good, bad & ugly. Now I wish I had paid more attention to the recent Rate Marriott Program thread that Inside Flyer did.

I will check this thread & compile input until October 31st, then I'll be offline for the most part due to StarMegado & will see the Marriott execs on Nov 4th.

Cheers.

Sharon, I've been top-tier since 1994, earned lifetime platinum last year, and have been platinum premier the last three years. I think it's obvious that Marriott has earned my loyalty.

That being said, it has really become clear to me lately that Marriott needs to simplify the program by closing lots of loopholes and exceptions. Two examples that jump to mind are the breakfast benefit on weekends and the difference between "hotels" and "resorts". It would both make customers happy and make it easier for Marriott to implement the program if benefits were clear, consistent, and generous.

I'm broadly happy with Marriott and think that many of the program's aspects are very positive - I stay at Marriotts and Hiltons and have diamond/plat status at them... Hilton's one huge advantage over Marriott is the Diamond privlidge being able to be used for spending points. Vice versa of course Marriott's Platinum override is far better for use when a hotel is full as a result of it being more reasonably priced, so quid pro quo and its always good to be loyal to two programs. I do however fully agree with DJ_Iceman and this is another area where Marriott is far weaker than Hilton.

So, whether you'd want to raise it or not I leave to you, but mine is a trivial point;

In the recession Marriott's properties worldwide started to skimp on certain aspects of housekeeping to reduce costs - primarily the provision of new toiletaries each day, and the removal of mouthwash.

The result is that if I check into a Hilton I get Shampoo, Conditioner and Body Wash (and new ones each day) plus mouthwash in exec rooms. At Marriott you don't get conditioner unless in an exec room and they are frequently not replaced during a whole week.

I'd be curious if they think that they will ever return the service to normal, or is it something that most guests don't care about - its only because I typically spend 4 nights in a single hotel/week that I notice, but it is a little annoying that I have to bring my own conditioner. Many budget chains must be eating into Marriott's core customers, hence why we now have free internet on the way, but this is another minor point that disappoints when paying an average of perhaps £100|$150/night for a full service room 150nights a year :)

PS: And keep the lifetime status as requiring points and nights to be eligible - it feels like the right mix to me for "real" loyalty and that it can't be "bought".

Sharon,

Thanks for doing this. A few things from me:

1. As a PP it would be nice to get consistent service even a P things are pretty inconsistent where I go:
a. Awards-There should be more award space as you go up the elite chain.
b. It is very hard to get awards that cross the 50 week in advance. So I I want a 10 night stay on points which often needs to be booked 50 weeks in advance it is very hard to get this all logistically worked out. I would be nice to change the 50 weeks or have a wait list process like airlines have.
c. Arrival experience needs to become more consistent.


I agree with dave-b. The life time Plat is great. I am well over 1000 nights and will likely hit 2,000 before retirement. It would be nice to have something over 1K.

Thanks

Henry

While I do agree with both of these examples, what I would like to know is what are the reasons for limiting breakfast on weekends and separating out Resorts with a different set of rules?

I've noticed SPG does the same thing with resort properties. Elite benefits there are "reduced" for them as well. So there must be some dynamic in place causing both programs to treat the resort properties differently. It might be nice to know what that dynamic is.

That would be an interesting delineation to understand. I always figured it was simply based on marketing segmentation/brand differentiation, but perhaps it is deeper than that.

My assumption has always been that resort properties are in high enough demand that they don't need to roll out the proverbial red carpet to keep us coming back to them. Also, suburban business hotels probably earn a LOT of their money from road warriors, hence they need to attract us and keep us loyal. I suspect that there are fewer elites (and rewards members overall) at resorts, as even the casual once-a-year-vacationer will book them.

I remember back when I first joined HH you only got 500 points for staying at a resort, no matter how expensive or how long you stayed. That cost me a lot of points! But I still went to the resorts because they were nice properties located in the places I wanted to go. I'm not sure Marriott thinks they will earn more money by getting elites to stay more often at their resorts than it will cost them in terms of benefits paid out.

Where I think that argument breaks down is in the intangibles. Marriott could take the high road and offer elites in its program MORE than the competition, and more than they have to from a purely economic sense, and the goodwill they earn would pay off in spades. Likewise, I think it's pretty clear on this thread and others that the somewhat artificial separation between Marriott "Hotels" and "Resorts" is a dissatisfier to some of their most important, loyal guests...

I've always tended to think about the same thing, but if there aren't that many elites staying, then the "incremental costs" of providing the same benefits at Resorts should be fairly inconsequential.

So maybe there are more issues than "meets the eye".

Elites plus a whole family (partner+kids) makes lounge access much more expensive than in a business hotel where you are travelling alone perhaps? Also because most of the Marriott resorts charge a significant supplement for lounge access and in many cases it almost becomes all inclusive as a result of the large variety of drinks and snacks available?

Would be great to end the speculation with a comment from a Marriott exec of course!

Bump. I'm taking input through end of day this Saturday Oct 30th. I leave the 31st for Starmegado2 & will have limited email access at that point until I see the execs at the Do.

Cheers.

Hi Sharon -

Thank you for offering to share our wishes with the folks at Marriott. I have two wishes:

1. I wish that when I arrive late in the evening at a full service Marriott or Renaissance Hotel that I was given the option of an amenity, rather than the desk clerk saying "well, room service closed two hours ago so you'll have to take points."

2. I wish that there was an easy way to make a good cup of tea in the room. The little coffee makers make tea that tastes like coffee.

And, if it matters, I love the stores that little convenience stores that are in the Courtyards and some of the other hotels. To me, that makes up for lounges or room service being closed at earlier and earlier hours.

Thank you again and good luck with this project!

John

I am a Platinum member and on the whole have been quite happy with the Marriott product. There are two things that I would like relayed to the executives at Marriott.
1. Free breakfast at Courtyards, for Platinum members.
2. Reconsider the severence of ties with the American Airlines Aadvantage program.

Thanks for offering to be our voice.

Why I don't stay at marriott properties much anymore
 

I hope you can convey this message:

I enjoy staying at Marriott properties. I think staff are great and the product is good. In fact I miss not staying at Marriotts so much.

I travel a lot on business. I get a kick from solving client problems and the better I get the more I am called out to site. But this means more time away from family so a real incentive is to collect loyalty points so that I can take my family on more vacations.

But the reason I stopped staying at Marriott was that almost every time I ended up having to submit 'missing stay requests'. When I am away I have a load of work piling up in the office. I don't have the time to keep pursuing every last point. Invariably I would not be credited for any offers.

By contrast ever since I started staying at IHG properties (Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn) I have never had this problem. All my stays are credited without any problems.

After a few years I tried Marriott again last month. I stayed at a Courtyard in Bangkok, Marriott in Pattaya and Courtyard Bangkok again. And guess what? Only two of the three stays were credited. Courtyard credits came through automatically for the first stay but not the second.

In the past I have also been credited incorrectly. One point for every pound instead of every dollar.

It's as shame but this is why I now stay at IHG rather than Marriott whenever I have a choice.

I would like to relay issues experienced by Marriott elites not based in America : when we stay in Marriot we pay between 100 and 300 Euros/night. Also we don't have Marriott credit cards on our markets. Therefore it would be fair to have a formula which takes into account this difference of market situation for Lifetime Elite status eligibility.

Courtyards should offer free breakfast to Platinum Members, especially since Hilton Garden Inns offer free breakfast to their Diamond Members. I do not stay in Courtyards because they do not offer free breakfast; it seems like an insult.:td:

I would like to see domestic FS and Renaissance lounges open on weekends plus lounge access at resorts for Platinum and higher, or even for Gold and higher.

Also agreed on complimentary breakfasts for qualified elites across all brands when there is no lounge access.

1) I would like to see the EEO's offered all during the year. These breaks of a few weeks are frustrating. I love this benefit but I don't see why they start & stop availability 3 times each year.

2) I love the breakfast Mon-Fri but it would sure be nice to see this offered 7 mornings a week at FS & Ren properties. There is so much inconsistency right now, some hotels give coupons, some keep the lounge open & some don't offer anything on the weekend. As others have mentioned it would be nice to have breakfast for elites (gold & plat) at resorts.

3) I tend to avoid Courtyards because they don't offer a free breakfast for elites. I'm not a big breakfast person but it sure is nice to grab a bagel & juice and be on your way.

Thanks Sharon. It will be interesting to hear your report when you return.

Hi Sharon, appreciate your offer. Two small things:

1) EEO/B1G1 reservations. Most european agents are completely clueless about those offers. Right know i am again in line since 20min to get the promotion applied to one of my upcoming reservations. Would be great if that process could be made a little bit more painless for the agents and us.

2) I love roll-over nights and would be very, very happy to see those happening in 2011/2012 too.

Bumping. Taking notes through end of day tomorrow. Once I start SMD2 I doubt I'll have time to check much, although I'll try. Cheers.

Some limited amount of Suite upgrades (for our family vacations) for P's & PP's if available, and maybe the possibility of creating a PP Lifetime Status for X number of consecutive years at this level and something like 6 million points and 2000 nights or more.

For me, what I would like to see and wonder what Marriott thinks about:
1. Some real benefits at "Resort" properties, it doesn't have to the same as at other properties (if Marriott has there reasons for keeping the distinction) but I want to be "special" there too. 2 for 1 breakfast coupons instead of free breakfast perhaps?

2. Restoration of the partnership with American Airlines.

3. More use of free night promotions - but the limit to Category 4 properties is much too restrictive (in fact, it has been the superiority of other chains' promotions in this area that has caused me to divert more nights to competitors this year).

4. At least limited service access to lounges on the weekend.

5. Restoration of some flexibility in ability of properties to offer regional fare. (e.g., Residence Inns should be allowed to offer local specialties for Managers receptions, some areas of the country have locally popular coffees that they should be allowed to offer in the lobby instead of the national Marriott brand standard).

Overall, please let the execs know that I really, REALLY like the consistency of the brands. I was Platinum at SPG and Diamond at HH and I have no reason to leave at all.

That said, here are some points that would assist at making this even better:

(1) I cannot possibly agree more with the poster above who mentioned having food available for Platinums as the amenity at FS MI and Renaissance no matter what time the check in is. There have been many times I have checked in past midnight and would LOVE to have the snacks/drinks as the amenity but not able to do so. It shouldn't be too hard; just a fridge with the items. Please, please, please.

(2) I love the concept of guaranteed bedding but, to me, it would be nice, if there was an option of "don't care but want best room". Basically, as a single business traveler, I would rather have a better room vs my bedding preference. However, I am forced to choose a bed type and lose out on some of the better room upgrades due to what I chose as my guaranteed bedding (and I definitely understand why they need to do that because of the Platinum guarantee). It would be nice to opt out and just get the best possible room at times.

(3) As mentioned above, please throw us poor Platinums a bone on the weekends with breakfasts or lounges. All year, we tell our family how great it is to stay at Marriotts. And then we go on vacation to a resort, or over a long weekend, and it falls flat. I know it is petty, but it would be nice to even get coupons for the weekend breakfasts or ANYTHING AT ALL at a resort. Again, JMHO.

Thanks for listening!

Ok, last chance to provide input - well input I'll write down. I'll be putting a word doc tomorrow (Sat) night of talking points. I leave Sunday for SMD2. I'll check email probably Wed, but client stuff might trump this thread.

Cheers.

Just a quick note. Marriott sent 3 folk to FT Awards. Ed French wasn't able to attend, but I was told he told the reps to pass along his regards to me - which means he either remembers me from before at Freddies or read this thread :D.

We were having a nice chat & one of them said she actually had printed out this thread in case I wanted to discuss items, but a small crisis (not Marriott-related) cropped up that drew me away so didn't have time to get into more than a couple of things. And - due to that, wasn't able to get their biz cards. Going to try & track down who they were, and I told them at the time I had some additional info from a prior thread.

Cheers.

Any update on this?

One of the Marriott Concierge reps here might be able to help you track down a contact from the Frequent Traveler Awards event if you still are working on that.

MarriottConcierge just sent me a PM re: the overall topic, but it was a bit confusing. Thought I'd check the thread before responding to him/her.

Cheers.

And any update a month later :) - I am curious

The update is that due to work & other stuff, I've not gotten back to MarriottConcierge re: the confusion I have re: their PM & then get them the info I think they're asking for for them to get back to us. I've got it on my list to do in the next few days.

One of the folk at the FT Awards did have a printout of this thread w/ her, but alas I got called away re: something else so didn't really have any time to chat.

I did mention the frustration some of us have w/ having to fax in folios/stays not posting properly, and she agreed it needed to be sorted. Was going to go on to other things, but that's when I got called aside.

Cheers.

Requesting input again...
 

I'll be attending the FT Awards on April 28th, so thought I'd bump this thread & ask for input as I heard some of the Marriott folk will be in attendance.

I promise this time I will report back w/ an update! And since I know they were following this thread before last year's FT Awards, thought it would be good to get input again.

So to repeat the original post:

I'm assuming I'll run into some of the Marriott execs at upcoming FT Awards. How long I have to chat w/ them is up in the air. Could be just a couple minutes; could be longer.

Anything you want me to ask them about and/or provide input on? Again, note that I don't know for sure I'll meet them or how long so even if you write down an extensive list no guarantees we'd get through it

Also, please note that I will not engage in any bashing, haranguing, etc, but will accord them the respect they deserve as professionals. In the past, some FTers thought because the execs were there (not Marriott, but would be equally valid w/ them) it was ok to ambush them & just do a negative core dump. I am not like that.

I am also aware that this is an industry event & that FTers have been invited, but the primary purpose & emphasis is on the industry folk & we are just guests.

Having said all that - fire away on what you'd like me to bring up - and btw, that includes good things (such as EEOs) as well as negatives (resort & weekend exclusions on brekkie). It's not just negative stuff, but things we like & would like them to continue etc. You get the idea: the great, the good, the bad, the ugly.

Cheers.