Courtyards: Are they worth it?
 

Lifetime Platinum Member. It might just be me, but it seems over the last couple of years, by experiences at courtyards have been less than stellar. This is from the point of amenities offered as they do not have a club, nor provide free breakfast, instead they have generally an expensive cafe. For the costs of a courtyard stay it seems you get more bang from your buck at a Springhill or another brand. At times they cost is the same at a courtyard as a full service Marriott that has a larger gym , pool, room service, nice lounge, club, etc. Also, for whatever reason it seems that I never get any upgrades at a courtyard. I know this is a rant, but I do not understand the market that they are targeting with this chain. What is the perks they have over other brands in the offering? Thoughts?

The brand has been around for 35 years. That's more than enough time for you to figure out the brand. Maybe it doesn't work for you. In my experience, Courtyard is very reliable in delivering the brand standards.

I only book Courtyards when I am outside of the America Continent. Booked the Courtyard Hong Kong, no problem getting free drinks and food at the Lounge. Booked Bangkog Courtyard, no problem getting free buffet breakfast and late checkout. Good thing that when I need to book one in the USA, there is always either a Fairfield Inn (New York) or another Marriott Brand for almost the same price, where I can push Elite Benefits a little more.

I think the answer is, "it depends."

With 1,156 open properties and 282 pipeline properties, Courtyard is the most plentiful Marriott brand.

Sometimes, Courtyard is great choice. It can be the best hotel in town, especially in smaller cities. Or it could be less than half the price of a full-service property for a room that's not that different.

Sometimes, Courtyard is a poor choice. I stayed at the spectacular JW Marriott at L.A. Live at a lower rate than what the Courtyard across the street was charging for the same dates.

The Platinum benefits at Courtyard will improve in August 2018.

As hotel guests, we can pick what looks best to us. With the full integration of Starwood into Marriott in August 2018 (presumably with the ability to see availability across all brands from the reservation website), we'll easily see all properties that participate in the new loyalty program. In some cases, Courtyard will be the best option. In other cases, not.

I think Courtyards can make sense in many situations for the casual traveller in small cities. For Platinums I always thought the value proposition is lacking for the most part, particularly if there is a full-service hotel in town. That said, breakfast will start being offered to Platinums on August 1st so the equation will change. There will be a greater number of cities where I will consider CY as a decent option instead of just ignoring it. But it won't replace a Club Lounge, and I would be surprised if room upgrades become plentiful. It is just not a good fit for Plats in my opinion.

Most years, I spend more nights at Courtyard than at any other brand, precisely because it has a much wider reach than mainline Marriott or other higher end brands. That will likely continue to be true -- those smaller cities are where Starwoods are sparse. It's true that there are very few membership perks at Courtyard -- I think I've been upgraded just twice in the last five years -- but I think it would be tough for me to maintain status without it.

I'm posting this response from a Courtyard hotel room, so apparently my answer is "yes". :D

That said, my hotel is in an out of the way location. The nearest full service MR or SPG property is about 15 miles farther from where I need to be and it's 50% more $$$. In these sorts of situations CYs make a lot of sense.

Exactly. This is why it's positioned mainly as a lower cost business hotel. I probably wouldn't stay at a Courtyard on a pleasure trip, except in Asia. But I can usually find one within a mile of where I need to be, it's a comfortable room, and there's breakfast on site before I leave for my meeting. No reason to stay in a downtown full service hotel when my meeting is 15 miles outside that big city.

To many (non-elite) younger travelers and business travelers, some benefits not related to breakfast include:

• being lower-cost, no-frills alternative to the FS properties
• more work space
• more locations
• consistency

Granted, most the whining here on FT stems from the limited elite perks.

Found a relevant thread that includes an FT'ers take on CY's DNA:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...ess-model.html

Courtyards in Asia are like the full service Marriotts in the USA.
My experience has been mostly in India (Mumbai, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi). All provide full breakfast (MR Gold and higher), free internet, free water bottles, free local calls, lounge access (when there is one).

Regarding Courtyard, I hope to see more ACs, Alofts, and Elements built out in the coming years

I think any specific property of any brand can be "worth it" at the correct price point. And not "worth it" at the wrong price point.

I don't think there are any global "worth it" statements that can be made for any brand with many, many properties with prices that vary very frequently.

Agreed, each of these brands blow CY out of the water

I'm sure you'll both get your wish.

AC Hotels and Aloft, both of which Marriott classifies as "distinctive" brands, are clearly growth brands for Marriott. As far as blowing "classic" brand Courtyard out of the water, much of this is because new hotels tend to look better than hotels built 20 or 30 years ago, even if they've been renovated multiple times in the period. New Courtyards tend to blow old Courtyards out of the water too.

Element gives Marriott a "distinctive" extended-stay growth brand. That's good too, especially because there are so many Residence Inns already.

Ten years from now, I wonder how we'll perceive AC Hotels, Aloft, and Element properties from the past few years. Will they appear horribly dated? It seems that the more a hotel is designed according to the latest hotel "fashion" trends, the more it looks dated when styles change.

I concur, mostly stayed at CY due to their wide spread in locations near to my client offices, whereas full service properties are usually more than a 10 mile radius away. It's just an extra hassle and cost on my company to travel even more just to capitalize on the free breakfast or lounge perks. So convenience is usually the biggest factor for my travel needs.

I noticed some CY properties in my recent stays at Cali do try to make my stay more comfortable with their own "self-made" goodie bags with odd fruit/water kinck-knacks for gold/plat elites.
It's a nice gesture, but for most of the time, I check in late after my all day meetings, sleep and check out.

Another interesting fact though, the few newer properties I had stayed in, all have CY and Residence Inns merged together as 1 building with the combined lobby/front desk checking guests in.
I still always book under CY for the 10 MR pts per $ > outweighs the 5 MR pts for $ in RI.
The rates and benefits do not differ much (ie no breakfast or other nice elite perks like lounges), maybe with the upcoming merger this might change.