Marriott's Customer Service : General Discussion Thread
 

Is it down, or is it no longer offered?

I'm traveling internationally right now, so I'm trying to use it -- rather than phoning.

First attempt ... about a 10 minute wait, and then it looked as though it was answered by an agent. But absolutely no response from that agent -- just a blank screen. (I typed in a few "Hello, are you there?" messages -- with no response.) I closed the window and tried again, and my second attempt went unanswered for about 20 minutes. I just gave up.

(I've found that the online chat feature is almost always answered immediately -- by fantastic agents who know their stuff.)

What happened?

My apologies for any inconvenience. It is still offered, but we checked with the team and they say there are no known technical issues on our side. However, if you are actively traveling sometimes the service is affected by your device fluctuating between hot spots.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts LLC

[email protected]

Might be the wrong thread, but does the 24 hour in advance app check in work?
ThAnks

Marriott's Customer Service General Discussion Thread
 

I've been a SPG member for ages - lifetime Plat. I've loved SPG and still do. I was worried about the Marriott merger but ended up being pretty happy with having their lower end properties to book since SPG doesn't have very good coverage in comparison. I also have enjoyed the Ritz Carlton properties.

With that said, I had my first bad experience today while calling customer service. First, it is frustratingly difficult to get to a person. Second, I was on hold for almost 15 minutes before I spoke to agent. Once I got to the agent, they were great and did what I needed (a request that needed a person rather than the automated system). Agent was nice, knowledgeable and quick. I'm hoping that wait time was an anomaly and not the norm!!!

By comparison, I've never had a wait like that with SPG. I also like having the option to text them - I don't think Marriott has that. Guess SPG just spoiled me!

Not that this is an excuse nor do we have any idea if it is temporary, but the long waits on the phone are relatively new. Marriott used to answer pretty quickly, but there is a thread on the Marriott FT forum where many people are complaining about the long wait times, myself included.

Another issue is talking to a human is often a long involved process while you work through the automated system. I am Plat and have been for fifteen years. I know I can check my balance online and I am not calling to get my MR#. Having to go through five minutes of telling the recorded voice this is a waste of time.

I've had great experiences with Marriott customer service and you do have the option for online chat from the website.

The Marriott customer service agents may be inundated with people asking "but will I be Platinum come August?" I'm sorry, that's another thread but seriously they may be busy fielding questions that can't be answered until Marriott releases additional information.

Obviously be aware of your surroundings if you decide to use this but...

An interesting trick I learned from a friend who works for a supplier of call automation systems is to use expletives as if actually angry/frustrated with the system. Why? Many, but not all, systems are designed to recognize extreme customer dissatisfaction and prioritize accordingly.

It wouldn't surprise me if it's the standard CSR staffing level trying to support normal traffic plus all of the "what does the merger mean to me" questions after the recent announcements.

Are you sure you dont get 'prioritized' to the bottom of the pile??? :D

I’ve also noticed the slow Marriott service lately. It might be dependant on the time of day. I called for a missing folio and the first time I waited at least 10 min before giving up. I called again early the next morning and had someone within a couple min.

ding ding

How much of their call volume is actually for those questions? And how difficult is it to only give those ridiculous voice menus if the system doesn't recognize the caller? Long voice menus are intentional customer mistreatment in my book.

I'm sure it's slower following the latest announcements, but even before all the recent changes, it wasn't great (especially compared to SPG). They also have limited hours, which was a big surprise. I had to call the UK office once to get a travel package booked late one evening.

When you call Hyatt Globalist you can get to a phone rep with one press of a button. WIth Marriott it's a lot of computer voice recognition triage "I think I heard you say"

As others have said, it used to be easy to get someone on a phone. Within minutes. Now even as Plat Prem, I had to wait 32 minutes on hold to get a point situation fixed. the last 4 calls I've averaged 22 minutes on hold.

Sounds like a good number of you have had a similar experience.

We are going to Europe this summer and I used points for 2 rooms for 9 nights - including two Ritz Carlton's (Vienna and Budapest). That pretty much drained my points. Given the service deterioration and the changes to the SPG Amex (the mechanism for a good portion of my points), I guess I'm going to start "sleeping around" with other chains.

(might just go to a cash back card - maybe the Charles Schwab 1.5% cash back card) - I guess a topic for another thread.

Website's customer service link is unresponsive
 

Anyone else try emailing Marriott customer service through the website lately? I've submitted two request now for missing stays, and two other requests for additional info for a hotel and upcoming reservation... been a couple weeks and haven't gotten any response besides the initial auto-acknowledgement email.

Whats going on over there?

I sent a message 9 days ago, seeing if they could get me my count of elite years. I got the immediate auto-reply, but nothing since.

This is getting quite ridiculous.

I have requested a Platinum Challenge on 10 days ago via both the Website Form and email to [email protected]. I only got auto replies from both. Eventually I called to sign up by an At Home Agent. Never receive an Acceptance email from the phone agent channel.
Then I received an email from an Internet Communication Specialist a couple days later, informing me an Agent has registered me for the Challenge and confirmed the details. I thought everything has been set up correctly, and have booked stays that the first one is on May 28 Monday with the cancellation deadline tomorrow.

Then this morning I receive another email, from the SAME internet communication specialist, but replying to the Website Form request, telling me to reply to the email to Accept the Offer of Challenge and then the Offer would become effect in 3 business days after Acceptance... While I am supposedly registered already on May 18?!

I cannot believe it is the SAME internet communication specialist replying on the Plat Challenge, and even so, the lady apparently did not check the latest status in the Marriott Member's Account before sending out the boiler plate offer.

I may have to cancel the May28 stay just to be on the safe side if I cannot get a clarification reply today or getting through Marriott Reward via phone call.

Customer Service meltdown in full effect it seems...

Right you are.

See this post from a LT Gold this morning trying to book a Travel Package. Five or Six calls each over 30 min to no avail until finally someone called him back because he was disconnected. (Lucky him to get a call back), and more hold unhold hold sequences before he got what normally can be done in a less than 15 min call from start to finish,

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29793537-post3190.html

I do my best to avoid calling in as much as possible (even with an Ambassador, and even with good SPG customer service...just my preference)

but when 1) no confirmation emails arrive, 2) there's no online chat as an option (did one ever exist w/Marriott?), and 3) e-mails aren't answered (on top of the phone issue)...to me that is the definition of a meltdown.

Trying to make reservation on the website this morning. Keep getting the "Unexpected Error" message. OK no problem to go Marriott app. Nope, can't even get past the sign in page. Guess we'll be staying at a Hilton.

Full Marriott meltdown today - website unresponsive as well as the call center. On hold for 30 minutes and get a message that no one is available and to leave a message.

And you'll be waiting anywhere from 45 minutes to over three hours before you ever get to talk to anyone. The Marriott Customer Service the past few weeks has been non-existent.

It's odd, but on more than one occasion where I have been filling out the Help/Contact Us page to complain about missing points, a chat window popped up and the rep was able to fix it quickly.

Therefore, I'd conclude that they do have the tool, but it's a one-way mirror. Bizarre.

I canceled a stay and requested the 40,000 points be returned to my account. Eventually placed (12) telephone calls to the Platinum line where the minimum hold time was 30 minutes. None of the calls were answered. Placed my refund request via email one week ago, auto response assigned a case number, one week later and no further communication. I plan to file a complaint Tuesday morning with the State Attorney General. I'd encourage you all to do the same.....

I suspect that executives at Marriott International are not aware of the chaos at Marriott Rewards/Reservations. I would call M.I. in Bethesda first and give them the opportunity to fix their problem. And ask for extra points too.

I had a message from MR saying that my SPG and Marriott accounts are going to be unlinked soon, I suspect because there's a different variation on my name on each account. They ask me to contact them.

I am getting the same unresponsiveness. Fortunately, I'm not too worried, although, if it gets closer to August 1st, and still unresolved, I'll be a little miffed.

With all due respect.....I don't believe that in 2018 it is even remotely possible Marriott corporate is unaware.

In fairness I got through to a live person after holding for 7 minutes (yes, I was keeping track!) and the person could see that I had submitted an online claim, retrieved it, and posted the stay manually. The total points refreshed on my MR account (both online and app) instantly, although the actual transaction reflected only a day later (perhaps via a daily refresh).

Anyone experiencing unresponsiveness / slowness of Marriott's website ?

Big time

Emailed yesterday morning regarding incorrect points posting. Received this auto-reply:

Thank you for contacting Marriott!

We have received your email. For your records, the following case number has been created: xxxxxxxx.

We are experiencing higher than normal email inquiries. (emphasis mine)

One of our team members will review your inquiry and respond to you as soon as possible with a personal reply.

Thank you for choosing Marriott!

So far, no actual response; I'm expecting that I will have to call.

Sand still exists and there are those that insist problems will go away if they ignore them. The age of shooting the messenger still exists and staff changes can be hidden by merger changes. And to finish out my line of platitudes, I'm sure there are a lot of tree-huggers hoping to make it past the final merger activities.

Yes, what we see on the web is feed by the back-office systems that get updated on different schedules depending on the transaction. It's havoc when this connection fails and it takes time to get it back on track.

The website appeared to be functional today, so I made a reservation at an FS for a two bed room in a couple of weeks. The website showed the room type as guaranteed. Later received the confirmation indicating that the room type was sold out and they charged a deposit to my Visa card. This is getting irritating. :mad: