felines3

I am a lifetime platinum. 20+ years. CS at the end of last year and most recently (this week) has been terrible. Most recently, I received confirmation for a Starwood resort in Costa Rica - but dates were wrong and the email was written with poor grammer, so I was worried about hacking, given the recent issues. I called to ask and the CS rep said... 'stop talking. I'm going to do the talking here. I'm looking at this.' She had no idea what to do. After waiting, I asked for her name... nicely... and she hung up on me. I called back. Explained what happened. Got nowhere. My second experience this week... I made reservations using points earlier this week for early Jan 2020 using my app. I called with a general property question and CS said, 'I don't think points are allowed for reservations for that property at that time... I said, I already did, and that I was not calling about that. When my page refreshed, my reservation dates were altered/shortened. And not by me.
If I were just starting out in my business, and this were my experience... twice in one week, no less... I would never choose Marriott.
Well, that's my venting for the year. Sorry. Just so disappointing and frustrating.

xooz

For the record, it is "grammar". Judge not, lest ye be judged...

But, sounds like you have the experience of many, where you have a long term investment and expectation of a product and they are starting to disappoint. Many are questioning their loyalty and with reason. Just be sure you don't let the emotions skew your decisions. Sounds like you really got a couple of bad CS agents, but that has happened to all travel veterans like yourself. Hope you have better luck the rest of 2019.

felines3

LOL. Grammar indeed. Thank you.
It's a new day, so to speak... I do hope this was an isolated event. Hope springs eternal.

tfong007

Sent an email three weeks ago. Sent me an automated response, and thats it. Customer service is not improving at all, if not getting worse. Truly terrible

MSPeconomist

remymartin

The customer service is so bad these days, even the Twitter DM fast track remains fast but has become useless. I now only request hotel e-mail addresses for them to get issues fixed myself. I chased a missing stay for more than a month and got it fixed the next day when I had the idea to just request a hotel contact e-mail.

hhoope01

With all the bad customer service posts, I thought I'd post a nice one.

About a week ago, I had a 2 night stay at the JW Austin. The stay posted a few days later, but for some reason was for about 900 points in total (way less than it should have been) and the nights did not post either. So this morning I called Customer Service. Per my phone, the call lasted a total of 6 minutes and 6 seconds. Within that time, I waited a minute for someone to answer, a couple of minutes to identify myself (including providing my online pin number). Once I told the agent what the issue was, she looked up the stay, agreed with me that something wasn't right. It took her about 2 minutes to get my points correctly added along with my 2 night credits. And while she was fixing that, she noticed that my stay in Cancun which just posted didn't include my Plat 1000 points amenity. So she asked me if I had chosen a different amenity (which I didn't.) So she fixed that right there as well. ^

While in a perfect world, my points should have posted correctly, I have to say, I don't think I've ever had a similar call for any other program (hotel, airline, car rental, etc.) that went as smoothly or as quickly. She asked what I would have guessed would be the right questions, verified everything and then fixed it right then and there.

DJ_Iceman

Sounds like every interaction I ever had with Marriott customer service before 2018...

margarita girl

I think we can all agree that Starwood and Marriott operated much better as individual companies than the disastrous behemoth that has now been created.

GrayAnderson

I just want to say that, due to the thread title being changed for the first thread that was rolled into this, it sure sounded like someone was being a cheeky git:

Title: "Marriott's Customer Service General Discussion Thread"
First Post Text: "Is it down, or is it no longer offered?"

(Yes, it had to do with the Platinum chat, but it comes off as a rather strong commentary on the situation.)

MellieAZ

Sounds just like the "Customer Service" rep I had a few months ago. First she told me I didn't know what I was doing, then she laid down the rules - "first I get to talk and you have to listen CAREFULLY - then you get to talk". I asked if she was going to listen carefully and she said "of course". But she never did. I immediately sent an email complaint but they never got back to me. Subsequent contacts with reps both over the phone and email have been better but the only reason I've kept the existing reservations is because they're for free nights from my credit cards. I'm getting good value from the free nights but I might be trimming a few at renewal time.

Sabai

cranrob

Is there anything equivalent to the SPG Platinum Concierge any more? I'm trying to make a request for an upcoming stay. I'm Lifetime Platinum Premier, the phone system recognizes me, but I keep getting routed to "General Reservations" who can't help me. The hotel doesn't answer the phone either.

controller1

Platinum Concierge is no longer listed as a benefit of any elite tier.

jb3t

I really don’t know what to think anymore. After 1100 nights in SPG/MR hotel rooms over the past 10+ years, with all the alcolades (Lifetime Plat, 5 years Ambassador, soon to be lifetime Titanium or whatever) over the past year, Marriott can’t seem to distinguish a “valued, extremely loyal” customer from the once-a-year traveler using a HotWire or Priceline rate. I don’t get it. 8 trips in this year and they seemingly enjoy putting me on the 2nd floor next to the elevator and garbage dump. Also, had many nights where the room type reserved somehow was “unavailable” and all you get is the blank stare.... sorry. Give me a break. It’s time MR or BonBoy gets their crap together and treat the customers that go out of their way to spend 80, 90, 100+ nights a year like valued customers. The drop in customer service that I’ve seen over the SPG days rivals the drop in temps that we’ve seen in the recent polar vortex.

As an SPG loyalist till the day it died, I can say that 90% of the time SPG made it known that they knew you were coming. They had your keys already made, 50-75% of the time I was upgraded to a suite without asking, nearly 100% of the time you were on the club or top floor, you’d walk into the room on many occasions to a bucket of beer or a basket of candy, and they’d call you to check in on you. Oh and you got the room you reserved! Enter Marriott.... you walk in, next to no recognition, no feeling of “we were waiting for you”, they key you into room 101 or 201 (in a 5-10 story hotel) and you’re off to listen to kids partying all night in the room next door on their bottom-of-the-barrel rate. Special.

Over the past year... not a single suite upgrade, not a single “extra” to make you feel wanted, and a whole lot of rooms on floors (and in locations) that I was never put in when with SPG. It’s like a memo went out to disregard status and loyalty. That’s what it feels like. Just tonight, I checked into a Courtyard and was greeted by a very friendly woman. I hand her my info, she thanks me for being a Plat Premier, and Keys Up my room. As she was doing that, I was chit-chatting with her about how I miss the SPG upgrades. She hands me my keys and, your guessed it, 2nd floor next to the elevator of a 5 story hotel. For informational purposes, I asked her if they knew the elites were coming (like they used to with SPG). She said that they get a list of the PLATS coming but do absolutely nothing with it. I then asked if they automatically upgrade plats and she said NO. She then asked me if I wanted a better room! I said, YES. Next thing, she upgrades me to an executive room on the top floor. Why the hell didnt they do that in the first place? I just dont get it. The customer service in regards to elite room selection is bordering on ridiculous.

Sorry for the rant. I dont rant much but this company has a way of making their most valued customers like nobodys. A smart person once said that it costs a hell of a lot less to keep a customer via good customer service than to find a new customer to replace said customer. 2019 is a transition year for me. If I dont see any improvement, I will branch out and take my 100 nights elsewhere. I have lifetime titanium so it's not like I can achieve anything else.

To SPG... it was good while it lasted. thanks for the memories.