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Originally Posted by applejax
(Post 30803593)
@C17PSGR Yes we were well under the $20,000 closer to $15,000. My stays are typically corporate rate stays, a lot of Asian hotels and additionally I almost never spend anything additional at the property other then room rate and parking on occasion. But now you all have gotten me so curious about the Ambassador service that you've motivated me to reach out to my Hyatt rep and see what they can do for an upcoming stay for a special occasion.
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I'm actually a bit sad that I will lose Ambassador status next year. It's my first year of Ambassador status and mine has been great so far. Reservations and perks aside, after a bug stopped me from registering for my Targeted Promo, she was able to help me get that organised and also merge my accounts before my next stay.
As someone who detests bureaucracy with a passion, she is a real godsend. I am now considering splashing 8,000 USD on some pointless dinner / ridiculously overpriced spa treatments at a Marriott just to cross the 20k mark. |
Originally Posted by HollyGlen
(Post 30804167)
I'm actually a bit sad that I will lose Ambassador status next year. It's my first year of Ambassador status and mine has been great so far. Reservations and perks aside, after a bug stopped me from registering for my Targeted Promo, she was able to help me get that organised and also merge my accounts before my next stay.
As someone who detests bureaucracy with a passion, she is a real godsend. I am now considering splashing 8,000 USD on some pointless dinner / ridiculously overpriced spa treatments at a Marriott just to cross the 20k mark. I would happily help you navigate Marriotts bureaucracy for $8,000 per year ;-) |
Originally Posted by HollyGlen
(Post 30804167)
I'm actually a bit sad that I will lose Ambassador status next year. It's my first year of Ambassador status and mine has been great so far. Reservations and perks aside, after a bug stopped me from registering for my Targeted Promo, she was able to help me get that organised and also merge my accounts before my next stay.
As someone who detests bureaucracy with a passion, she is a real godsend. I am now considering splashing 8,000 USD on some pointless dinner / ridiculously overpriced spa treatments at a Marriott just to cross the 20k mark. |
Originally Posted by EuropeanPete
(Post 30804297)
I wonder how difficult it would be to create a list of all the Marriott (ok, SPG) Michelin starred restaurants which earn points... |
Restaurant Marques de Riscal sits at the top of my list. I know the restaurant at the Grande Bretagne is hoping for a star in next year’s guide. I don’t think Bali has a Michelin Guide, but Kayaputri at the St Regis is a classic Michelin level restaurant too... |
Legacy Starwood *might* have been worth the $8K (if there were a $20K threshold in effect then)
You really want to give that to Marriott though? |
There's a renowned traditional Austrian restaurant in the historic LC property in Salzburg. There's also a very good restaurant (with a good wine list) in the Westin Verasa Napa. Westin St Francis in SF has a good restaurant in its lobby, although it's always been closed when I've stayed there, so no personal experience. W Minneapolis has a very good (and expensive) steak house (with a pretty good wine list). BANK in the downtown Westin is also good. RC Hong Kong has good restaurants, Italian and Chinese. One could have a lot of fun with Michelin quality restaurants in Starriotts, but make sure that the spend counts as some of these restaurants are probably just tenants that operate independently of the hotel and, at least under the legacy Starwood rules, wouldn't earn points. There are also a few jurisdictions where points cannot be earned on wine and other alcohol, so this might not count for the Ambassador spend requirement either. |
My experience with the Ambassador program is that it is worthless and continues to be. My Ambassador has helped me zero times. For everything it was faster to do myself on the app or calling the hotel directly.
The only thing now is I guess the new program requires I contact my Ambassador to arrange Your24? Seems like a step backwards. I don't see any reason to try to keep the status by purposely spending $20k. Seems most of the hotels act the same with my friend who is Platinum only... I don't see any special treatment with double the nights. |
I'm trying to put things into perspective. As you may be able to tell from my post history, I am less than satisfied with this service.
One of the reasons it took days to get a response last year, according to my ambassador, was that I was using an spg address instead of a marriott address. With my understanding of email servers, I fail to see how that would be a problem, but that's besides the point. I emailed my ambassador 3 days ago, with a couple of questions around a trip to India. After 26 hours, I get a response, stating she had been OOO. One question is answered with a suggestion, the other question is not answered. I respond within minutes. Now, 48 hours after my response, I haven't heard a thing. Maybe I am being too impatient, or is 48 hours of no follow-up normal? I am a low key traveler, and I don't ask for much. It seems like when I do contact the service, it fails. Most of my questions last year were answered by other people, after long delays. Full disclosure: I complained about ambassadors before. My previous one told me to contact the hotels directly, if I had an issue with billing or something else, instead of helping me. So the lurkers hooked me up with a supervisor who agreed with me, and found me a "much better ambassador". Either I am too picky or too demanding, or the service is failing me. Fwiw, I've already booked a bunch of stays at independent boutique hotels, because I see zero value in this program, as of now. And I am not even going to get started on the fact that nobody seems to care about the fact that I think I am missing points from last summer, when my status wasn't showing up. |
This morning, the Ambassador line rings and rings for me with no answer.
Tried three times, after my ambassador failed to respond for days about a reservation issue... regarding a stay that is now just hours away. And my ambassador is pretty great. Corporate office doesn't even see the hotel (a Design Hotel in Malta) in the system anymore. The systemic tech failures undermine this program to well below acceptable levels of service. |
My theory - they are putting up increasing disincentives to strive for Ambassador ($20K, degradation of Your24, poor communication, fewer special touches, etc.) I don't think Marriott is happy they inherited it from Starwood (frankly, it's not in their DNA), and would love to see it go away.
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I just think personalised customer service services is not Marriott strong point. And I really think Ambassador service tier really lack of benefit to match the tiers high requirements. |
It wasn't personalized nor IMO even very professional or competent, but for years Marriott made a big fuss about the special PP reservations line, which was just about the only "benefit" of PP beyond the annual gift. |
Design hotels
More and more design hotels are leaving Marriott rewards. Two of my favourites since last August. QUOTE=darnold;30809267]This morning, the Ambassador line rings and rings for me with no answer. Tried three times, after my ambassador failed to respond for days about a reservation issue... regarding a stay that is now just hours away. And my ambassador is pretty great. Corporate office doesn't even see the hotel (a Design Hotel in Malta) in the system anymore. The systemic tech failures undermine this program to well below acceptable levels of service.[/QUOTE] |
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