C17PSGR

Mind sharing your ambassador's location?

mrboom

After averaging over 240 stays per year or the last 3 years, I have not stayed at Marriott since being assigned an Ambassador. I'm offended that Marriott thought this would be a benefit to customers that have demonstrated they know how to manage their travel extremely well.

Maybe Marriott should offer it to non status customers. They may find it helpful I do not.

UA-NYC

I know how to manage my travel extremely well...but the Ambassador service still has been a nice complement to it the past 6 years for me.

Best benefit at the moment is actually having a dedicated person to help you wade through all this BS Marriott is throwing out now (either by intention or by ignorance or by mistake).

mrboom

I could see that being a benefit if the Ambassador was responsive and timely. Mine was not. I could also understand that if the Ambassador could offer solutions to issues I encounter. Mine was unable.

davidsc111

? are you 5 years old? The Ambassador isn't supposed to hold your hand and tell you how great you are... they are supposed to give you a single point of contact instead of the normal CS carousel. Sure maybe they've done a poor job, my ambassador hasn't replied to my most recent email to her in over a week, but if my issue was time critical I would use other methods. Faux outrage over the small things is silly. You don't want an ambassador? don't reach out to them... hilarious.

mrboom

I also don't want them meddling in my reservations. I never asked to have my hand held or any other such ridiculousness. I simply asked them to resolve an issue that no one else at Marriott could resolve because my account was assigned and entrusted to my Ambassador by Marriott.

Every week, after receiving no resolve or reply from my Ambassador, I called and emailed Marriott trying to find some one else to resolve my issue. Again, no one else could since it was assigned to an Ambassador that was incapable of producing results.

Every time I called, Marriott would ask if I had tried to resolve the issue with my Ambassador. I replied yes and that they have produced no results. That is why I called you.

Marriott gives the Ambassador program too much authority over our accounts. So much, that it prevents standard Marriott customer service from being able to assist with non standard issues.

CLEguy

It is marketed as a single point of contact to resolve issues, but I can assure you that the Ambassador team is not equipped to do anything except make, change, and cancel reservations; reach out to properties in advance to put you in touch with those teams; and apply SNAs. They cannot help with your account, they cannot make your Choice Benefit, and they cannot follow up on system/point issues on your behalf. Frankly, the Lurker team here is much better equipped to handle issues than the Ambassadors, in my experience.

mvitale

I'm sorry, but that's simply not correct. I've reached out to my Ambassador at least twice, and she's been able to resolve missing stay/points/nights issues for me.

-mvitale

CLEguy

My Ambassador experience (when I had one) was closer to the "useless" end of the spectrum, so maybe that's it.

hockeyinsider

I called into the ambassador desk this morning.

Of course, it didn't recognize my phone. So I had to go through the process of providing my number and confirming my ID to the on-duty ambassador who answered.

After four unanswered emails and two unreturned phone calls I have had it with the ambassador assigned to me. I asked for a new ambassador to be assigned. The on-duty ambassador said she would file my request and I would be contacted by a supervisor within 48 hours. Ugh.

MePlatPremier

sinfonia

Same same. Ambassador does not return calls and when I ask for something as simple as posting points from a stay a month prior which did not post, get a "we're working on it" reply with no results for over a week. Is it really that hard? I sent the folios over myself. When I emailed to inquire on the status, learned the Ambassador was gone for that whole week. So I just called in to ask another Ambassador to help. When that Ambassador asked why my Ambassador was not doing it, I told them that my Ambassador was out and was supposed to be working on it but to be honest, it seemed as if my Ambassador had little knowledge how to accomplish a lot of things as my Ambassador was literally just directing me to the "contact us" part of the Marriott website to send over issues with accounts, etc. instead of handling these things herself. I was offered to be reassigned to a new Ambassador and took it. I received a welcome email from my new Ambassador within the week. I have not yet reached out to him, but was impressed how easy it was to get a new Ambassador. Let's see if things get any better.

There was one really terrific Ambassador - Samuel - who all the Ambassadors seem to know - but he left Marriott just after the merger!

ADD: It turns out that Marriott had Ambassador Coordinators which provide support for the Ambassador program, but those positions were eliminated in the merger. . . which, I think, is the cause of the result we are all seeing. I have no idea why Marriott would do this.

RogerD408

Ambassador service is a very personal experience and everyone will have different expectations, unfortunately on both sides. I'm sure there are many "ambassadors" that are only thinking of the title and possible pay raise but don't want to be considered useful just like there are members that just want to turn everything over to someone else and enjoy the trip. MR is getting to be more of a copycat so simple comparisons keep them in play (I still think back to that cash & points fiasco). I consider this environment to be full of "tree huggers" and no one wants to step out in the light and be creative, has everything finally be invented?

RogerD408

Don't be fooled by area codes these days. At best that might indicate the office they are being assigned to but many of these positions are work-at-home assignments and they have a VoIP phone with their assigned number and can be anywhere in the world. I have six different area codes I use and none of them are where I am located!

jed012788

My Ambassador experience has been nothing but positive, but perhaps that stems from my limited expectations. It's a service I don't need or utilize for the vast majority of my needs with Marriott. But the two or three times a year when I do want to take advantage of having an Ambassador, the results have been excellent.

A current example: My wife and I are spending the upcoming long weekend at Wentworth by the Sea up in New Hampshire. When trying to book a reservation with points, only rooms with two beds were available. After five minutes on the phone with my Ambassador, we had a confirmed suite with view of the water and a fireplace. That alone justified the utility of the Ambassador for the entire year.