I'm a firm believer that a handwritten thank you note should be sufficient. It would be very easy for a degenerate perv to develop an attachment to their ambassador. Next thing you know, the ambassador service agent is getting lingerie sent to them or their ambassador customer showing up at their house.

the ambassador service was very different & personalized when it first started on an invitation only basis....my ambassador was looking after only a handful number of members....she was based in the same city where i was & the members were even invited for a reception to meet their ambassadors....she was involved with pretty much every aspect of my stay & was in constant touch with the properties before & during my stays....

i remember a number of stays that stood out as exceptional because of her involvement....every time my wife & i would have a great stay, she would insist we get something for my ambassador....i always stuck to thank you emails & flowers on a couple of occasions....

today, i would not do that at all....the level of ambassador service has changed & is very different today than what i believe spg set it out to be initially....i have not had exceptional ambassador service ever since my first ambassador changed & there has been no instance that has warranted a handwritten note, flowers or anything else....

I really dont see any issue with this ... its like members show their gratitude after being taken care by the ambassador for the year .... and possible farewell if the member not requalified as ambassador member the following year.

Personally I will definitely send annual gift for my ambassador.

Well, I was awarded an Ambassador in September last year -- as I was traveling quite a bit. The hotel I stayed at regularly gave me upgrades so she didn't really need to be involved. Fast forward, and I went on a trip on Spring Break with my family. She really kicked it out of the park. I had some unexpected schedule changes, and she shifted reservations multiple times, contacted local hotels, etc. Clearly spent alot of time. I arrived with my family late at night to find a delicious fruit plate when we finally arrived, welcoming us to the hotel from her. Great touch. And very helpful.

Yesterday I have problem with payment and I call to my ambassador phone number and becouse she never pickup her phone (and never call back if I request) I switch to general line and ask if he can book for me this offer which I see on my PC screen. As answer I have info that he don't see this kind of offer on his system ?! After hung up I call again to standard line and told that I want book this what I see on my system, first words 'Sorry, I don't see this offer but after 30s he told that he find this what I want. He book this offer for me and when he want pay starts this same problems as on my PC system system not accepting payment. He put me on hold for 3min and after this time back to me and told problem was resolved - payment was done. He told me that new software 'Power .... ' make a lot of problems and he do my bookings on old MARSHA software. This show how 'good' training have Ambassadors now.

I have a sense from my reading here that the Ambassador is only as good as the person assigned to the account which does make sense (at least to me). My wife's Ambassador is extremely nice and I think from my wife's descriptions of her interactions with her wants to provide good service, but for one reason or another is challenged to do so.

Upgrades are another matter all together, the wife has been an Platinum or a Platinum Premier (now an Ambassador Elite) for many years now and we have become used to staying in whatever room we have reserved, Marriott was just never generous with the suite upgrades, in fact I can count on one had the amount of times we have been upgraded (due to her status) to a suite at a Marriott family hotel. Over on the DELTA forum they have a saying Want First, Buy First and that is how my wife and I see suites at Marriott family hotels, want a suite, pay for a suite and honestly we are generally happy with any room as long as it is quiet and away from the elevator.

The best upgrade of our lives (circa 2004) only occurred after the hotel had mistakenly assigned us a room that was already given to another guest and did not catch their mistake until we had entered the room, found the other guests naked and having "fun" in the bed. We went back down stairs asked to speak with the General Manager, explained what we had just encountered, he apologized profusely and upgraded us to the Presidential Suite which took up almost the entire top floor of the hotel with amazing view of the mountains in the distance, but that had nothing to do with her Elite status. We found out from the bellman who helped with our bags that Hu Jintao had stayed in the suite a week prior to our stay and I will say that I could easily see a head of state staying there, it was that nice.

Had that exact experience at a Marriott hotel staying without status before the merger… at the Cosmo in Vegas. I ended up with a rather ridiculous suite upgrade as an apology.

There are people on this forum who would disagree with that statement, but it's been my experience as well.

We can get points for voting for Trump and making America great again!? :D