As opposed to how Marriott could have done it, "Breakfast at all properties in every brand with no asterisk. It's our guarantee."

I too am disappointed that the new Platinum breakfast benefits are complicated and not consistent, even for brands that are similar.

What this really shows is that existing franchise agreements for each brand have prevailed. With very few exceptions, Marriott does not own hotels. It's business-as-usual for most hotels, whether they're Marriott legacy or Starwood legacy.

There's an improvement at Courtyard, AC Hotels, MOXY, and Protea -- although it can argued that Courtyard's new welcome gift is not an improvement when it's just one guest staying just one night.

Resorts will no longer be excluded at five Marriott legacy full-service brands.

Where Platinum breakfast is being added, it will be handled as a welcome gift option in the SPG tradition, not as a lounge/breakfast benefit in the Marriott tradition.

Some brands will continue to provide breakfast to all guests -- Fairfield, SpringHill, Residence, TownPlace, Element -- so breakfast as a Platinum welcome gift option would make no sense.

Some brands will continue not to provide a Platinum breakfast -- Ritz-Carlton, Edition, Gaylord, Marriott Vacation Club, Marriott Executive Apartments, and Design Hotels.

That makes for complicated charts.

Yes I would prefer to have "breakfast for two for Platinum / PP, everywhere" (like Hyatt). Looks like it was not possible, at least now.

This is the big program improvement. Let's just hope they don't pull a Hilton/WA on us, by giving a pitiful $15 F&B credit and claiming that satisfies the breakfast benefit.

+1 :D

To be fair, I don't consider the Marriott Vacation Club and Marriott Executive Apartment brands to be hotels. As for Design, the relationship with legacy SPG and now Marriott is pretty limited. I would classify Design as in more of an "alliance" with Marriott as, I believe, it's an extremely limited marketing agreement and not a brand owned by Marriott.

As one blogger said, "The two charts caused a lot of confusion since they are missing key pieces of data and have a few mistakes in them."

https://samchui.com/2018/06/09/marri.../#.WzOxrhJKgnU

Marriott could end all of this by actually defining breakfast so that no property can claim a $10 or $15 credit when you can't buy a breakfast for that price constitutes fulfillment of the breakfast benefit. This would also stop the properties that claim toast, coffee and fruit preserves is a continental breakfast.

More certainty would certainly be welcome. To be fair though, I've found Marriotts in general are much better than Hiltons in honoring the spirit of the benefit.

Hyatt of course provides a very specific definition of what's included. And there are still properties that cheat on it.

As I understand it, a one night stay for one person is a downgrade at AC?

Now: 400 points and a $10 per stay voucher

August: 400 points or​​​​​ a voucher

No they couldn't have done that, not without somehow re-branding the Fairfield in Anaheim that doesn't have a breakfast of any sort, free or otherwise, for anyone! And yet it's still branded a Fairfield :confused:. So as long as there are random exceptions like that, they can't possibly give a guarantee like you suggested.

Meanwhile, do all hotels that give free breakfast to all even give it on Christmas morning? I was in a hotel in another brand that has breakfast in the restaurant, free to elites, and they had the restaurant closed on Christmas morning (with no advance notice). I've never stayed in a hotel in the US before on Christmas morning, so I don't have any further experience in this regard. (I was staying in a hotel because of a temporary situation at my relatives' house where they were out of room for sleeping. Luckily they were not out of room for breakfast on Christmas morning. :) )

Anyway, my point is, there may be multiple reasons why it's impossible for a chain to guarantee a breakfast (without incurring costs of paying up when the breakfast isn't offered).

You probably need a JW, not JD, to understand the new rules.

AC Hotels
 

One of the things I liked about Marriott several years ago was that the Platinum Welcome Amenity did not require "trading off" other elite benefits. It was just a cool little amenity - for me, a bowl of mixed nuts and a half-bottle of red wine. Although it was usually really cheap wine, I still appreciated it. Occasionally a property would shock me by providing a full bottle of a local wine that was fit for human consumption.

Then I dropped to Gold and kind of forgot about. But on August 1, I'll be LTPP, so I briefly got excited about the amenity again - only to realize that it appears that it's now a trade-off for other benefits in most cases. Is that right? Specifically, I'd have to trade breakfast for the welcome amenity - if the welcome amenity is even an option at all.

Whole thing is confusing...

Platinum at AC Hotels and Courtyard (U.S & Canada):

— Today's program: 400 bonus points AND a Food or Beverage Amenity. At AC Hotels, the F & B Amenity tends to be a single &10 F & B credit per stay. At Couryard, the F & B Amenity tends to be a single item from the market pantry, with restrictions. These are in addition to points.

— New program (beginning August 2018): 500 bonus points OR $10 F&B credit for member + 1 guest, daily. Notice the word "OR" instead of "AND".

For one guest staying one night, today's program can be better.

For two guests in a room, and for any stays of more than one night, the new program is likely to be better.

It remains to be seen if the "$10 F&B credit for member + 1 guest" is sufficient for breakfast (something like a breakfast sandwich, coffee, and juice), especially at AC Hotels and Courtyard properties in expensive markets, such as San Francisco and New York. I would hope there will always be breakfast options that can be fully covered with the Platinum benefit.