A data point on recognition of Ambassador status. I was speaking to a front desk agent at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott about an early check in. I asked her out of curiosity if she was able to see my status on her screen. "Oh yes- Mrs. X, I can see that you are Marriott Platinum and that you have over 2 million points in your account!" I prodded her further and asked if she could see I was Premiere Elite with Ambassador. "I can see you are Platinum Premiere Elite but not Ambassador." Without a notation, like the Westin Carlsbad made, it doesn't appear to be visible yet. By the way, she really didn't seem to distinguish between Platinum and PPE.

In my wife's experience there is very little difference on the Marriott side between Platinum and Platinum Premier.

Many many time my wife has been told that Front Desk Associates were being trained that Platinum Premier is essentially Platinum and as such there is very little difference.

I stayed at Westin and Sheraton in past two weeks. Both hotel asked why didn't I get my personal assistant to call them for requests. I guess they meant the Ambassadors (titles...titles). Hotel manager came out said hi and I asked about how the merger was going. At the Westin, staff was still getting used to the many levels of Platinum. The number of levels went expanded somewhat. At both hotels I asked if their training material ever talked about Five Star status that doesn't have a metal attached. Both says they have not heard of such status (they are SPG legacy properties and former SPG members like myself didn't know these things netiher). They did show me screen on various codes for status. VIP 5 is showing. I wonder if there is VIP4 or VIP 3 or VIP 1... The Sheraton is adjusting and just refereed me as Platinum VIP (they have all my stay records over the decade). Both hotels say they personalize service request if they get a call from these Ambassadors. Both managers says it's rare to see a VIP level guest and if you have an Ambassador, you're already on the top of the list.

Westin was an all suite hotel and I got one of the better suites in a high floor. Sheraton gave me a suite with an Ocean view which I requested a downgrade back to a room for personal reasons. So if you thought Marriott's Five Star gets you a red carpet treatment with penthouse upgrades while paying discounted corporate rates.... those dreams can be shattered now.

After both hotels reaffirm the value of an ambassador, I called the SPG Plat line to do some booking modifications. After that, I asked if they can give me the Ambassador phone line and who the heck is my Ambassador? Like did I get assigned a Cantonese speaking one from Hong Kong or a Mandarin speaking one from China (I don't speak that language) or a Japanese speaking one from Japan? So the Plat concierge tracked the guy down and I was connected to him. He spoke English and based in North America. He says he has helped Director level (ie Marriott Five Star) members as well as Platinum Premier level members. There isn't much gap between Marriott's Five Star and Platinum Premier with Ambassador. Normally, Corporate Directors get Marriott Five Star and it's pretty discretely offered and subject to review. My app says status valid to 2020. He's not seeing anything particular on my profile and if status was granted for political reasons, he's normally doesn't dig into politics. I am happy just having an ambassador and I left it at that. I was on his reach out list and he was going alphabetically from A to Z and.... well... many Chinese family names starts with "X", Y, and Z. I was on his list to eventually get in contact but now I am in contact and have an ambassador and I got the Ambassador group 1-800 phone.

Moral of the story: Those who qualify but not yet got an Ambassador, you can call out to the Platinum Concierge and get you linked to one. If you got Ambassador status accidentally, you can be pro-active and enjoy the ambassador services while you have it.

I heard from my new ambassador a few days ago as well. She seemed great, but unfortunately she's from the Marriott side and my stays are probably 90%+ SPG. I asked her about a few issues I had with SNAs and points posting, and was told that she'd need to check with the SPG side of things because their systems still aren't integrated. Hopefully this gets better in the future, but initially it likely won't be that helpful for me until she can look into and manage SPG matters on her own.

I honestly think the problems you mention are less to do with her being from the Marriott side and almost all to do with everyone being stymied by the IT issues from the Aug 18 merge.

Everyone knows I love my Ambassador. And she still has had all sorts of delays getting things done post-Aug 18 that previously took her no time at all. It isn't that an Ambassador is from the SPG or Marriott side that is causing problems or delays; it's that all Ambassadors are suffering from the inability of their systems to do what they're supposed to do because of the continuing IT mess.

I encourage you to rely on your Ambassador but to have patience and understanding--much of what isn't working isn't something they can resolve. When we stop blaming the Ambassadors for the problems caused by the system IT, they really do appreciate it, too. :)

There is certainly some inconsistency and it seems difficult to understand why some FDA's can't understand the difference between an X4 and a P6 ... (X4 is PPE). That being said, in both my stays at that property they have preassigned great suites under the pre 8/18 program. I can't remember whether they said anything about being a Plat vs a Plat Premier but the suite preassignment suggests they recognized the difference. I didn't ask my ambassador to assist on either stay.

And ... you can ask her is she sees an M0 at the end of the line discussing statuses and preferences. That's the indicator for ambassador but its very rare for anyone to know what that is.

Got an email about the ambassador program a week ago saying that I would hear from my ambassador within the next week. Glad I've been comfortably waiting at a Hilton since I haven't heard anything from anyone yet even after achieving ambassador about a month ago :)

What, exactly, is the role of the Ambassador?

This is my first year with one and I received an email from my assigned Ambassador this afternoon. Her email was welcoming but I am not certain that I really understand from it what to turn to her for vs. calling the platinum line. Are Ambassadors just handling details about upcoming reservations (this is what I thought) or for general account assistance?

I am currently on a stay and I needed some urgent assistance from the platinum line regarding rewards from this stay, but could not reach a person after an hour, so I called the line for the Ambassadors, even though I did not have one assigned. The gentleman who answered was generous and gracious, offering to become my Interim Ambassador until I was assigned one. He assisted me with the rewards issue that I had and offered additional assistance. My account is a mess right now with some reservations not showing, some reservations that I canceled not refunding points, etc. and I asked his assistance with those reservations and points and he took care of them. Is this an inappropriate use of an Ambassador?

Most of us -- except for one or perhaps two posters -- are also curious what that means :)

As for the opt out language, some of us have received that and others haven't. Is your account with a European address?

Mine appears to be an American address.

Just as a data point...I was finally contacted by my Ambassador today. Over a month since the integration (I qualified for Ambassador status upon the merger, having over 150 nights' credit, and somewhere over $24k Marriott-only spend at the time; I'm now over 181 combined nights and $31k combined spend.) Based on area code, my Ambassador appears to live in Wichita, KS (which is in my home time zone, since I live in Chicagoland.) My introduction email did contain opt-out language.

i'll give her a call tomorrow and see how this works.

-mvitale

Did you call your ambassador or did they call you?