At the St Regis Osaka right now on a point stay, I did not apply and SNA, but we still ended up in the Royal Suite on the 27th floor. For the reason of being ambassador.

The experience at the JW Nara was a bit more shaky, but that was literally at the first day of operations and they were fully booked. Things did not go as smoothly as they had hoped for opening day, though I believe they will get it under control. The team seems very capable.

I booked the presidential suite at a hotel for my family this Thanksgiving (it is one of the rare Marriott properties where it was available for booking online). I'd like a connecting second bedroom, but it wasn't clear if this hotel's suite offered them, so I wrote to the generic ambassador e-mail to ask (and, if they did have one, to see if they could inquire as to whether the hotel would be willing to comp it as an "upgrade"). To their credit, I got a reply the next day telling me the suite had no connecting bedrooms but that I could book a standard room and ask for a note to be added requesting it to be close to my currently-booked suite. They told me the price for such a room--so far, so good.

Where I became disappointed was when I checked the hotel's rates again and found that the rate the ambassador quoted was the full, non-discounted rate, not even the Bonvoy member rate (which is only a few dollars less, but obviously I qualify for it). With one more click, I found that they offer "family discount rates" where if you pay full price for a room you can get a second room for half price.

I keep fooling myself into thinking ambassador customer service is going to be excellent. It would have taken them hardly any time at all to find that same rate and proactively offer it to me. But instead they did the true bare minimum by just quoting me the base rate. Of course it wasn't hard for me to do a couple of clicks and book the second room myself using that family rate, but it seems like the whole benefit of something like ambassador service is supposed to be saving me that time and effort. It appears Bonvoy doesn't agree, or if they do, they are failing to deliver.

I believe email to the hotel might net you better result.
Most of the times ambassadors don't even know what current local promotions are running.

I pretty much book all my stays online, Only contact ambassador when I tried book those rooms not listed online.
And even then I prepare to pay normal rate.

I still believe Bonvoy overestimate their ambassador program. (Although I admit they have partner in crime, as Accor ALL did the same with their Diamond tier)

The tier definitely need more guaranteed benefit as the monetary requirements for the tier is quite steep and it does not commensurate with the requirements.
Either they train their ambassador better and give them more power to make member's stay better, or give guaranteed benefit that not available to the titaniums like Ritz Carlton's club and those luxury collections lounge access .

This.

Based on this thread and others I see absolutely no reason to put anything more than the Plat requirement through Marriott each year, and then use the other 75-100 nights I do to have status elsewhere - probably Hyatt.

I have seen no discernible increase in benefits as a Titanium over Platinum, and it seems Ambassador offers nothing much either. So if they're not stepping out to encourage me to spend more with them, I'm not going to.

Anyone else getting messages from the Ambassador team since travel stopped? I’ve heard more from them since March then in the prior year. “Just checking in” content letting me know they are there when I’m ready to travel again.

I’ve been following this thread for a few months since I am new to Marriott, and am about to hit ambassador after I have purposefully pushed for it.

Reason being is that personally I have managed to negotiate suites, or the highest non suite at a few four pints (unpaid) for about 75% of my stays thus far (90% of the time I book entry level rooms). I see value in the lounge and the upgrades which I’ve gained mostly as plat.

My reason for pushing for Amb has been to try and increase the 75%. When I see ambassadors share their experience of not getting upgraded it breaks my heart. Has anyone that is now Amb seen a noticeable different in upgrades?

I stay in almost all of their offering from four points to RC and have achieved suite upgrades as Plat.

Speaking for myself here, the issue is not a difference in upgrades between Platinum and Ambassador, it's more like Ambassador isn't much beyond Platinum - or rather, Titanium - with a points bonus. I've had the good fortune of being upgraded to suites almost 100 percent of my time as a Platinum member and above under legacy SPG/MR and now Bonvoy, but there isn't much on the Ambassador front to make it worth achieving beyond Titanium since you get benefits like lounge access at the Platinum level, and qualification for suite upgrades at Ritz-Carlton properties, the added points bonus and UA Silver at Titanium. I've never had Your24, an Ambassador-only benefit, go through under Marriott so I never use it, and just book reservations with an early arrival/late departure with an extra night on whatever end since it's unreliable and a pain to deal with.

The inconsistency in actual Ambassador quality, the heart of the tier, between members - we have people here who never hear from theirs, others whose Ambassadors are immensely dedicated/thoughtful and make stays incredible and everything in between - is also a wild card. Marriott simply hasn't done a good enough job to carve out a standout or aspirational top-level tier, and all this time and energy [COVID notwithstanding; I'm talking about the Ambassador survey and the letters they send out seeking tier feedback] later, there doesn't seem to be any indication that they're interested in doing so. I am open to being proven wrong in the future, but for the time being I [and others, I'm sure] won't be going out of my way anymore to qualify for it once the levels reset after 02/22.

khabah

Agree with Khabah, the quality of individual Ambassador seems to be vary greatly.
I was lucky to have good ambassador.

Also the way hotel treat their elites are not consistent as well.

100% agree. Sometimes hotels simply don’t care about elites. I avoid those hotels and spend my nights and dollars at hotels that provide good customer service as an AE.

Having read through more or less every page yes I agree and as I say it’s disappointing to not expect anything but a higher upgrade chance - that in itself is an issue.

When I hear of hand written cards from the GM, wines and cheeses in the room, Your24 etc, unfortunately these are things that I haven’t factored into my personal climb for Amb which again says a lot as a newer and aspiring member that they may fail to retain.

I am probably 30 days or so off of my spend before I get Amb, and I hope I get a good one. Though I won’t hold out.

I would say if you could reach Ambassador naturally, then go for it.
However, if you not yet ambassador and can't reach that level naturally, then I believe its not worth the extra effort.
As you wouldn't know how good is your assigned ambassador will be.

If you currently an ambassador and you have good ambassador then it worth the extra effort.

About wine and cheese. That will be based on the location as well.
European hotels seems to give these more often.
Asian one especially in the countries that alcohol are expensive usually wont give you any.

Also the handwritten note from GM, while some people think this is just a waste of time, I think this small gesture could make the guest feel that the management care about their elites.

You won't get "one", at least not right now. Since the pandemic started, they have moved to a "pooled ambassador" system. So if I reach out to my (former?) Ambassador, a random person from the pool replies. I have no idea if my ambassador was furloughed, laid off, or just doesn't happen to be the one replying to my request. No idea when (if?) they will transition back to the "normal" method.

Must be a US thing, I always communicate directly with my usual ambassador, and get the replies from her.

I’ve had both in the EU. Had a couple of emails from my Ambassador but also from the wider team.

this has also been my experience. I email my "old" personal ambassador and get "random" ambassador to respond.