knownothing

I think you could have hit them with the $$ guarantee

goodeats21

I read somewhere that Marriott had suspended all elite benefits/ guarantees through July 5.

jjLDNY

Hahaha. You know what I disagree mostly with the $$ guarantee. There are 2 pretty much competing Marriott Properties in Mayfair, London - Grosvenor House and Sheraton Park Lane. Since starting to use Marriott I tried them both out and Sheraton gave me a nice complimentary suite upgrade during regular life. Grosvenor House tried to charge me an additional Ł150 or so per night for a horrible suite. I made a fuss, and they offered me one of the best ones for an additional Ł100 a night, and this was literally March 13-26 or so during the CV situation and the hotel was empty.

I don't mind securing with $$ in certain scenarios, but I'll just happily use another hotel if the status doesn't carry much weight at the hotel. I'd rather spend the $$ at a hotel which at least respects the program.

Kacee

Nope. Not being enforced.

kaizen7

I have 1 stay scheduled for tomorrow. And interestingly, few days ago I receive email from Bonvoy Ambassador team asking if the stay is a special stay or not.
Usually my personal ambassador will ask this if there are stays that I made and forgot to update her about the reservation.

The one sent the email is not my usual ambassador and she sent the email from general ambassador service email instead of personalised one.

I guess even with general ambassador service some ambassadors still provide pre covid like service.

jjLDNY

So what will your answer be? Surely "Yes, this is my partner and I's anniversary and I wanted to get away from the kids"?

DELee

Yech WRT either the towel and the coffee maker left on the floor outside the door on the hallway carpet/floor.

David

goodeats21

Coffee maker and ice bucket were in paper handle bags. No issue.
The first delivery of towels were just laid on the carpet, which is "Yech".

Delivery of towels today was in a plastic bag.

DELee

Ah, much better. Still, not sure what the "delivery" person was thinking of putting towels on a hallway floor...

David

kaizen7

Should have answer that!
But its a Moxy stay so I wont expect much

jjLDNY

Oof. Is it just a 1 night stay? I wouldn't ever choose a Moxy any more unless it was vs a capsule in Tokyo. Maybe I'm addicted to the upgrade gamble.

kaizen7

That was the only Marriott hotel here that was open.
As a Moxy the hotel is pretty good in recognising my status as I did get upgraded to their largest "suite".

I wont hesitate to book there again.

jjLDNY

Fair enough. As far as I am aware the ones in NYC don't have anything that would qualify as an adult sized room yet alone a 'suite'. I was once put into an accessible room in the East Village Moxy when I booked 2 rooms for me and a colleague; the regular room was standard moxy, the accessible was a twin and 3.5x the size..

CPH-Flyer

I am starting to travel in domestic Japan again in July. Two days after making 3 bookings for July I got an email from my ambassador, not the generic email account but my actual ambassador, asking if there was anything I needed arranged, and my flight/train times so she could arrange the arrival with the hotels.

First stay last week, Nanki Shirahama, she arranged an early check-in as my flight schedule was changed and I'd be there at 9am. I got their largest suite on the cheapest possible booking. There was a nice handwritten card from the hotel manager and ambassador welcoming me back to Marriott, on the first stay after the Corona crisis kicked in. (hotel was great, though the lounge area was closed the first two nights there was a snack and drink pick up available at the restaurant)

Second stay this week, Okinawa,, not too much to arrange, but the staff certainly was ready to meet me at the airport bus, and a large suite was ready for me. No greeting card this time though. Lounge open here, though evening cocktails are in the bar with a set plate of food, and unlimited select drink options

Looking forward to see if stay three and the later added stay four will be as good an experience. I certainly can't complain about the ambassador service these days.

arlflyer

This is a promising, although of course singular, set of data points...it certainly would be amazing if the chains, and MR in particular, approached re-opening with a bit of humility, and a position of "We took you for granted, we're sorry, we're going to show that we value our customers".

My stance has been that the proof will be in the pudding - when places re-open, will they work to re-gain our business and loyalty, or will they go right back to seeing us as a guaranteed, unwavering revenue stream? I'm not holding my breath, but it sure would be great to see some really nice gestures here and there as those of us who were heavy business travelers eventually ease back into things when the time comes...