kennycrudup

I'm seeing a theme:

UA-NYC

MSPeconomist

PointWeasel

Missing stay issues are ongoing and when having them actioned, they are slow to post and post incorrectly (wrong dates, wrong stay length). I spoke to a legacy Starwood supervisor who sounded just as frustrated by the mess and when I mentioned these incorrect stays could be fixed over the phone easily before, it was met with the comment 'nothing has been made easier for address problems with the 'one contact' standard that most companies should attempt to adhere to'.

Coincidentally, a couple of hours later, I received an email from Marriott OCA that still makes me shake my head:

Dear Mr PW,

I have reviewed your further comments and have opened a ticket for our IT department to review these stay posting issues. Again, our sincerest apologies for these continued technical and service issues you are experiencing.

If there are any hotel service issues you've experienced that require further mediation with the hotel, please let me know. Also, please provide any details identifying outstanding missing stays postings, as well.

In closing, please rest assured our Senior Executives are updated daily and are diverting specialized teams to repair these issues as quickly as possible. Thanks again for your patience during this significant undertaking. If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Sincerely,

OCA

And I check my account this morning and there is a tacky banner claiming "Lowest Member Rates" that is nothing to do with Black Friday and not even a link to a promo. Waste of time.

MSPeconomist

cfischer

well, still 7k points missing over 4 different stays. No responses from Marriott ... for weeks. Guess my 80 nights this year don't mean much to them ... got to take business elsewhere I guess. Hasn't been that bad ever w/ Marriott and this is far from stabilized yet. Also all this piecemeal moving of brands to the new platform is just a mess.

MSPeconomist

troyintn

The math did not work for suites. With SPG I averaged 90% or more but stayed on high rates for one night, not long stays. With the addition of the millions of Marriott members the math stinks and yes I expected my upgrades to go way down or not exist.

X-ON

It would be interesting to see how the distribution of suite upgrade eligible elites have changed at different properties post program merger ...for a company so obsessed with cookie cutter solutions and various standardization of elite benefits (like the reduction in benefits on some Asian LC properties ) it is weird that there is no standardized method to assign upgrades to elites imposed on properties ....

ftrichard

Has anyone done the maths on this? We keep talking about all the new elites who are swamping hotels and hoovering up the available suite upgrades but...

1) The number of eligible elites with 50+ nights in the combined programme will be near enough the same as there were in the two separate programmes (ok, so there may be a few additional people who previously split nights between SPG and Marriott and didn't qualify at 50+ before but not huge numbers because that behaviour doesn't make sense).

2) The number of hotels and brands that give suite upgrades to 50+ elites has also remained the same in the combined programme.

So, the total number of eligible elites divided by the total number of available suites before and after will be around the same, no?

I can see how some popular, say SPG, hotels will be targeted by former Marriott elites and may cause capacity issues on a case by case basis but they're now not staying at their Marriott hotel and releasing capacity on that side.

What am I missing?

ftrichard

BTW, having emailed a Design Hotel whose points hadn't posted a week after check out with a detailed breakdown of what was missing only for the points to miraculously appear a day later... I am now convinced that posting problems are not so much created by Marriott's IT but rather by delayed or error-ridden posting by individual hotels who (a) may not know how to use the Marriott system correctly and/or (b) cannot access the post and correct it after it's submitted.

X-ON

I am no expert on the legacy MR rules but was legacy MR Gold eligible for suite upgrades? If no there would be a net positive inflow of suite upgrade eligible elites since all legacy MR Gold now is MPG PLT.

MePlatPremier

cfischer

apparently I am not authorized to make any booking on Marriott.com today. Hope they will let me know when they want my business again

ryw

3 months in and I haven't had many problems. Granted, I didn't really do any stays in August or September, but I've done a lot in October and November. Mostly legacy Marriott properties (Marriott, Courtyard, Autograph), but a couple Sheratons as well. For the most part, it's been pretty consistent - no problems with lounge access, often get an upgraded room (mostly better views, but a suite or larger sized room here and there too). With 1 exception, stays have posted within a couple days (which was the old norm), and from what I can tell, welcome points + megabonus + week lounge points have posted correctly. With the F&B platinum amenity at Courtyards (and the other limited service brands), I'm now considering them, instead of as last resorts as I did pre-8/18, and have been happy with my experience thus far.

There was one case of the $10 F&B credit not being properly deducted, but I assume that's a Courtyard property-specific issue with those being new; and one stay didn't post for 2+ weeks (until I submitted the missing stay form and it "magically" showed up before the representative responded). But overall, I've been satisfied with the experience, and am excited for some more options that the SPG properties provide.