TommyC80

kaizen7

LovetoTravel83

Is there a landline of some sort to contact the Ambassador team?

I'm having difficulty having my email respond to. Have a Your24 request sent yesterday and no response whatsoever till now. The stay is in 2 days

bhrubin

(866) 924-9885 in USA.

Or email [email protected] and ask for an Ambassador/supervisor to call you back ASAP.

Flying for Fun

Contrary to what some want to believe in offering their conjecture, as a Titanium, I was pre-upgraded to the "highest category suite" at a Courtyard on an award stay and a 9:00 am check-in. 25K points in lieu of a $329 base room rate before taxes was a good value.

The "treat" with a hand written note in the room and a personal email from the Manager before check out was a nice touch, coupled with the incredible check-in experience from a young man in "Training" who proactively offered bottled water which he quickly fetched, just exemplifies a property who understands good customer service. Not one that shuns all but the "Super Elites" as some like to call themselves.

So, no, getting bottled water at a Courtyard isn't an "I am Embassador Elite, YMMV" thing!

James

UA-NYC

Ambassador experience I believe is more representative for most (and Marriott in a nutshell), vs. being pre-upgraded 3 months out to a Presidential Suite:
- Basic cash rate at the JWM in Orlando in Oct (boss wants to stay there), booked by my TA, not via any opaque 3rd party channel though or anything
- See an Elite special rate for $20 less that has a daily resort credit + 5K bonus points - but unable to switch to it online or on the app (get the "this rate is not available" red box error, even though it stays visible)
- Mail my Ambassador Wed PM to ask them to switch it - no response all day Thu
- Mail general Ambassador email Fri early AM to follow up on it - no response

$20K a year doesn't go far these days...

bhrubin

If you have an unresponsive Ambassador, I would recommend strongly asking for a new one. That's a lot more helpful than just complaining about an unresponsive Ambassador on FT.

I've never had an email to the general Ambassador service go unanswered for more than a day. Yours was sent on a Fri morning, so I'd say the timing was unfortunate since it comes up against a weekend.

If it's time critical or because it's coming up to a weekend, perhaps calling your Ambassador or the general service might be wiser, too?

C17PSGR

I don't ask a lot from my Ambassdor but I always get a response within 24 hours from my Ambassador or someone else on the Omaha team.

UA-NYC

It's likely my last request of Marriott for the year (wasn't planning any more stays til this one popped up), and not a mission critical one, so I used it as a bit of an experiment.

Giving 24 hours for a company's dedicated CS team to respond to its supposed best customers is pretty pathetic - when my clients mail me, even the small ones, I don't find it hard to reply in a few hours, and feel guilty if half a business day goes by.

damon88

bhrubin

I think your expectations are considerably different from my own and those of most. I'd dare to say they are quite unrealistic.

Not to mention that Hyatt Globalist concierges aren't responding any faster based on posts in the Hyatt forum. #ironyorhypocrisy

Confirmation bias strikes again.

UA-NYC

Wow, so unreasonable of me to get a response within 72 hours. What was I thinking.

My Hyatt Concierge has consistently responded within a few hours during the business day. Quite refreshing.

I'd say my Ambassador "experience" is far closer to the norm than one getting pre-upgraded 3 months in advance on a stay. And my requests are far more realistic than having the aircon set to 47 degrees F. Talk about confirmation bias.

FFS.

bhrubin

My Ambassador responds to me within a day during business days--unless it's urgent. Quite appropriate. Over a weekend, she doesn't respond to me, and I rarely email her as a result. I email the general service over the weekend, and I almost always get a response within hours.

Yet there are Ambassador guests who obviously don't have as responsive Ambassadors as I do...just as there are Globalist guests who obviously don't have as responsive a concierge as you do. The truth is in this thread and the Hyatt Globalist concierge threads. Oops.

Hyatt concierges don't pre-upgrade anyone. There are almost no reports of Globalists getting pre-upgraded beyond the dates of arrival. There are many Ambassador guests getting pre-upgraded rooms and suites at many hotels many days or weeks before arrival. Not just me. Oops.

And I ask every hotel in advance--in Bonvoy or not--if it can guarantee 67 F or lower for air con in the room/suite. Hotels that don't guarantee it don't see me book. and hotels that do guarantee it see me book. There's nothing unrealistic about that--and that has nothing to do with our Ambassador discussion. You just shot a red herring, I'm afraid.

Pota

Just to provide an additional data point on "responsiveness" of the Ambassador service - this was an example from some time ago.

Initial E-Mail by me on 24th May to my ambassador (Katrina):
"Dear Katrina,
I understand that this is a fairly late request, but I was wondering if my upcoming stay for today (Marriott New Orleans) could be modified to use my two free night certificates (up to 35k points per night) instead of the 70k points currently used?
Thank you,
XXX"

Response on 27th May by another team member (Cat):
"Dear XXX,
Thank you for contacting ambassador service. My name is Cat. I am happy to assist on behalf of Katarzyna.
I apologize for the delayed response. We have a longer than normal response time with the increased volume of e-mails and calls.
I hope you enjoyed your stay at New Orleans Marriott. Please let us know if further assistance is desired.
Best regards,
Cat"

I received no further update on this topic and nothing happened with my points and certificates, so sent a follow-up E-Mail on the 31st of May (7 days after my initial E-Mail):

"Dear Cat,
Thank you for the response on this request. Could you provide an update on the request?
The request was to (if possible) modify the stay from Points (70k points) to using two free night certificates (up to 35k each).
Could you let me know if it is possible?
Thank you, "

My ambassador responded to me the same day on the 31st of May with the following response:
"Dear XXX,

Thank you for your message. I hope you are doing well and getting ready for the upcoming weekend.
I regret to inform you that switching the type of the award is unfortunately not possible once the stay is completed/consumed.
Please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused.
I truly hope that you enjoyed the stay at the New Orleans Marriott and your package was delivered as expected.

Kindest regards,
Katrina"

I was quite dissapointed with this response and expressed my dissapointed with the negative solution and the overall communication as she did not even mention the gap of response for several days. I also notified my ambassador that I will be travelling extensively in a timezone different to her timezone with the following exchange:

"Dear Katrina,


Thank you for the response. To be honest, I must say I am a bit dissapointed that this change can not be performed as the stay has already been completed/consumed and also dissapointed about the overall communication.

My initial E-Mail to change to points was sent on Friday before arriving at the hotel and I received a response from Cat on Sunday that she will assist with this request. However, after waiting five days without any additional update/information I had to prompt for the (negative) update below.

Could you advise on how we could improve the communication going forward? I am going to be travelling extensively around America (USA/Central/South America) in the upcoming months and it seems like my best approach would be to always message the general ambassador E-Mail address for requests I may have?

Thank you,
XXX"

Her response was the following:

"Dear XXX,

Thank you for your reply.

I am sorry to hear about your disappointment. Unfortunately on Friday, May 24th, I was out of the office. During my absence all emails go to the general ambassador address and being worked by the 24/7 team. Due to the number of emails my colleagues are unable to response to you in a timely manner.
When Cat pulled your message to her inbox it was already your check-out day.

When I am in the office I normally 'scan' all messages I receive so that those more urgent receive higher priority. Nevertheless it may also happen that some email gave to wait to be worked for up to 3-4 days. Therefore I would like to ask you to give me/us a call if you have a last minute inquiry.

For your upcoming trip I am happy to share the below Ambassador Team contact numbers:Europe: +353 214 861 222
USA: +1 866 924 98 85
Asia: +86 203 815 71 56

My extension number is XXX. When I am not in the office any of my colleagues around the world will be able to assist you.

I am sure that in this way our communication will improve.

Please let me know your thoughts.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kindest regards,
XXX"

For me the main takeaway point of this exchange is that "Due to the number of emails my colleagues are unable to response to you in a timely manner" and that my best move going forward will just be to call the direct ambassador phone to have a slightly better hotline. I did not bother responding to he and I have had no contact with my personal ambassador since this exchange in May and have not received any additional benefits (i.e. that gift being sent out to people or the 60k reward).

Recognition in hotels itself has been hit or miss, depending on the property, with US properties being the worst and Asian properties being significantly better.

bhrubin

Thanks for the data point @Pota.

Still, one wonders why you didn't just call your Ambassador after emailing didn't work?

After so many unresponsive and tone deaf responses, I would encourage you to report your dissatisfaction with the current Ambassador (with these emails as evidence) and request a new Ambassador.