Saw this on Marriott Insiders. Pretty much sums it up. The lyrics in post 2 done to Les Miserables is brilliant!

http://www.rewards-insiders.marriott.com/thread/14088

Cheers.

The two I really am not happy about:
1) the gift cheques we could get for 135,000 points! I used them on several vacations and am really PO'd they got rid of them
2) the BOGO deals were a great incentive to take a quick unplanned weekend getaway - Marriott was still making money off us considering we wouldn't have gone and stayed at all without that enticement! And they KNOW that a guest in a room is going to spend on food and drink!

Thanks for the link.

Just a "small" correction in that Marriott didn't really get rid of the award. It is still available. Its just that you now have to use 255,000 points for that same $1000 (almost double the previous cost).

Yes, they did change it a bit in that it is now a gift card rather than Marriott cheques, but if someone is so inclined, they can still get an award for $1000 worth of spending at Marriott hotels.

And so it dies with a whimper....

+1 this is turning into quite the literary thread!

Does anyone else believe that the incremental revenue we provided to Marriott over the years due to our loyalty (and additional weekend stays because of BOGO's) was much greater than the cost of these benefits. With no incentives, appreciation, or superior products, why should anyone choose Marriotts over other hotels? They may be making money today because when all hotels are enjoying high occupancy, but I believe they will suffer due to these short-sighted decisions.

With the hassles of travel, decline of airline service, and the downgrade in Hotel loyalty programs, videoconferencing is becoming much more attractive as an alternative to travel.

Agree.

Cheers.

We can rant all we want (myself included) but until the customer dissatisfaction actually shows up on their bottom line, it's not likely to get any better.

Marriott is a business (like everyone else) and unless they actually see their numbers take a significant hit (attributed directly to Elites leaving for other chains and not a broader economic slowdown), there isn't going to be any net positive change. They may throw a bone here and take something away from another place.

I have accepted this and I now throw quite a few stays to other chains to take advantage of their promos since I am now Lifetime Plat with close to 2M depreciating points in the bank. Just status matched to Club Carlson Gold and stayed a 3 2-nighters for an additional 30K CC points.

When you have too high of an expectation for something you usually get let down. Being only a mid tier at Marriott i don't expect much during my stays but most of the time i have been surprised with the upgrades and level of service i have received which keeps me happy as i'm not a frequent traveler. My friend who works at a Marriott property always complains about guests who are usually platinums rant and think the hotels will do whatever they want and expect the world to be given to them like demanding an upgrade when the hotel is full.

If you want to see positive changes in the loyalty program, you need to vote with your feet. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...endations.html

The grass is greener on the other side of the fence.

Hyatt is now my primary hotel chain and I am extremely happy with them. Their footprint is too small so you need to have backup programs.
I would recommend IHG as a good backup; if you get their credit card, you get Platinum (top tier) status and a free night at ANY of their hotels. I used my free night for the London Intercontinental Westminster; the annual fee is only $39.

Hyatt is a joke now a days

GP is a shell of what it was five years ago

everything that chain does is geared toward its Credit Card.. everything

Decline of benefits and devaluation of points... that's more than enough to ruin things for me.

I have 60 nights this year with Marriott this year (55 from last year's rollover). Is it even worth to struggle for the other 15 nights to get another useless year of platinum status? Might as well try to get something going with SPG.

I have walked to SPG and stayed 25 out of my last 30 nights there because of the "resort" issue. I travel to Florida and Carribean the most.

What is interesting to me is that Marriott can see the spend changes and yet seemingly could care less as they have not reach out at all?

Who is running the show? If one of my best clients stopped doing business I would know and want to know why.

You could say the same about Marriott 5 years ago vs today.

Compared to today's Marriott, today's Hyatt is great.

Since I haven't been able to find the hotel with the hot tub time machine, I have to make comparisons based on today's treatment of elites, not what the programs used to be.

Five years ago, the Gap was huge, Hyatt won hands down although their property selection was a lot less back then and even today the number of choices for GP vs MR properties is not even close.. but for the programs themselves, yes, Hyatt was a slam dunk winner

today, I find that gap to be closed to almost no difference. Now if you have the GP CC then its different but if you do not have it and/or are an Int'l GP member, GP is not much different than MR. At that point, I will go to the chain that gives me more property options to choose from.