KRSW

Make that a $4.78 benefit... We just stayed at a Hilton property for a conference last week. Everyone we know who was there found an unwelcome $4.78 bottle of water charge on their bill. NONE of us touched the water. Sleazy.

Back to our normally-scheduled Marriott bashing: Last year our office spent more time and money in hotels than it ever has. At the same time, due to Marriott IT issues, we spent more time and money in NON-Marriott hotels than we ever have in a year. When call center wait times are 30+ minutes, the website's down, I'm not risking where I'm going to be sleeping for the night -- I head over to Hilton.com.

Even when the website is up, it's ham-fisted at best, with not being able to sort by price, not being able to find destinations (Beijing pulling up Chinese restaurant locations in the USA), bills not downloadable, confirmation/cancellation e-mails not being received, etc. I just can't believe this is still a problem and has been for so long. Something's not right within Marriott and until they make some major changes in management, it's not going to get better.

It's a shame. I do generally prefer the Marriott properties over Hilton's offerings, BUT, the broken website and broken customer service keep me away from them.

J S

coltonatx

CCIE_Flyer

StuckinITH

I was wondering where that name came from and what does it mean.

Anyways, I have been a Hilton member for 20 years. I'm only Gold and I only have that status due to the credit card. I have always been treated very well by Hilton. Only one time in 20 years in Hiltons with Executive Lounges I was not upgraded to the Executive Floor. Even in the US. Last upgrade was this week near SFO.

apodo77

I am still Diamond through 2020 (started in 2017 and was a lifetime PLat with Marriott) and found it to be all kinds of meh. Never once got an upgrade. I did like the free breakfasts at HGI (brand I stayed at the most) but am doing mostly Marriott this year but look for Hilton's as well.
I haven't had any IT issues or CS issues that I can recall. Not sure what all the angst is about in my anecdotal experience.
In fact just booked 4 trips on Marriott.com with nary an issue minutes ago.

apodo77

In 2 years I was never upgraded to the executive level at properties that did have them. Just because you were doesn't mean everyone was.

christianj

Based on all these comments and my personal experiences, I think the real statistic that Marriott should be concerned with is how many elite members chose to book a stay at a Hilton property (or any competitor for that matter) when in the past they would have automatically booked a Marriott stay...not how many additional members HH signed up.

StuckinITH

That's why I said "I". I never implied that everyone would be treated well. And anyway if you usually stay at Hilton Garden Inns there's 0 chances that you'll get upgraded to the Executive floor as Hilton Garden Inns don't have Executive Lounges. I rarely stay in hotels but when I stay in them it's usually in a Hilton with an Executive Lounge. That totally increases the chances of getting upgraded.

As a Marriott Platinum due to my United status, I also had good experiences at Marriotts but there too I tend to stay in Marriotts with Executive Lounges. But will reduce my stays in Marriott when I get downgraded to Gold as it's expected.

Okto

This has to be one of the dumbest moves for the program. I have yet to hear a convincing argument for why they want to shoot themselves in the foot with this.

All of my travel is leisure and half of my leisure travel is with my kids (so I book 2 rooms). This also means Cat 5-7 hotels, for 7-10 nights at a time, so the second room was bringing SPG thousands of dollars in additional revenue. Since I won't get elite night credits for the second room, no problem. Whenever I travel with my family I will be staying, most likely, at non-Marriott properties.

What if I need additional nights to make Platinum? No problem. I will spend $100 to book a "meeting".

So, way to go Marriott: grab the pennies. I will be bringing the real money elsewhere.

SkiAdcock

I agree with both of the above.

Cheers.

cfabar1

I used to be a starwood loyalist. only stayed with starwood.

The merger and my issues with it, coupled with the reduction in benefits have made me seek out splitting my stays between Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriot. I stay more where I want to, and the venue that makes the best sense for my particular travel needs. I am now basically agnostic within these three chains. It means I don't hit the higher tiers, but the benefits are so diluted these days anyways I don't care.

JBord

Absolutely. This has just become another complaint thread, with people rehashing the same issues they've written about in other threads. I have no problem with people sharing complaints, they just don't belong in this thread.

MSPeconomist

dll

Yes. Lounge access + 100% bonus on points. I left Marriott for Hilton, and as a Diamond, I've been quite content with the move. I miss the better premium brand offerings like JW, although the Conrad is a solid choice. I've had very consistent upgrades across the board at Hilton, even in some tough properties (Hilton Hawaiian Village). The waived resort fee on award stays is a good perk. I'm also a raving fan of the Hilton app and online check-in that allows you to choose your specific room from the floor map.

When I don't stay at a Hilton I'm generally choosing based on quality and location. Sometimes that's a Marriott/Starwood property, although more often than not it's led me to book boutique brands. Net net, Marriott/SPG have most certainly lost a good chunk of my business.