Whats Marriott Customer Service teams role?
#31
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Northern California
Programs: I want to be free! Free!
Posts: 3,446
Ok, I knew I would find an answer here. This board is worth its weight in, well I was going to say gold but I won't even go there.
My complaint with the property has to do with the website, the app, the reservation system, and the guarantee I get the room I booked.
(Long story short: Booked a suite, confirmed a suite, got to hotel, oops no suite, root cause of the prob: Marriott app lists suites that do not exist at hotel -- in the meantime, I still did not get the suite I booked and no compensation because the hotel said it was a corporate issue, Corporate refers me to the property) I call or email to complain, am told it will be resolved and that the property will reach out to me, and then quietly it is closed with no resolution whatsoever a few days later and I am none the wiser. I guess eventually I will have to move on and forget it, right? I'm just going to take it up with American Express. They'll start listening when they stop getting paid.
This circular nonsense has got to stop. I realize that right now in the middle of the s--tstorm that Marriott is in, no one wants to be the one that stands up and owns any particular piece of this fiasco, but it is getting to the point where all trust and loyalty has been lost and no one is going to believe anything anyone tells them. And what is the point of a *loyalty* program then?
I can't even remember the last time something was so mismanaged.
My complaint with the property has to do with the website, the app, the reservation system, and the guarantee I get the room I booked.
(Long story short: Booked a suite, confirmed a suite, got to hotel, oops no suite, root cause of the prob: Marriott app lists suites that do not exist at hotel -- in the meantime, I still did not get the suite I booked and no compensation because the hotel said it was a corporate issue, Corporate refers me to the property) I call or email to complain, am told it will be resolved and that the property will reach out to me, and then quietly it is closed with no resolution whatsoever a few days later and I am none the wiser. I guess eventually I will have to move on and forget it, right? I'm just going to take it up with American Express. They'll start listening when they stop getting paid.
This circular nonsense has got to stop. I realize that right now in the middle of the s--tstorm that Marriott is in, no one wants to be the one that stands up and owns any particular piece of this fiasco, but it is getting to the point where all trust and loyalty has been lost and no one is going to believe anything anyone tells them. And what is the point of a *loyalty* program then?
I can't even remember the last time something was so mismanaged.
And if not, then thanks for pushing it, because it is clearly a broad-based problem that Marriott is refusing to address.
#32
Join Date: May 2018
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott PLT
Posts: 22
I like how you manage to throw the pillow guy under the bus in the mix. The problem is that people need to feel they have a voice, and in that void, they will turn to places that are less than ideal. What really gets me is this whole notion that corporate refers to the property and they get to just decide whether or not they want to respond. Where is the accountability? And if they don't want to hear me out on a complaint, they should just come out and say that rather than taking the cowards way out and closing a complaint hoping I will go away.
#33
Join Date: May 2018
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott PLT
Posts: 22
It was in Phoenix, in January. Good to know there are enough of us there should be regional support groups.
#34
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: SFO
Programs: UA MMGold, HH Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 1,263
It would appear - post merger, Marriott customer service only acts as a liaison between you and the hotel but has no enforceable powers. In this strong economy, your best recourse is a bad review of the property and don't stay there again.
My recommendation moving forward is to try to work it out with the hotel yourself - use Marriott customer service as a backup - or, don't stay at Marriott properties if this is a dealbreaker for you.
My recommendation moving forward is to try to work it out with the hotel yourself - use Marriott customer service as a backup - or, don't stay at Marriott properties if this is a dealbreaker for you.
I will also check out immediately if the property can not provide me the basic things after repeatedly requests to be fixed.
#35
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: SFO
Programs: UA MMGold, HH Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 1,263
I like how you manage to throw the pillow guy under the bus in the mix. The problem is that people need to feel they have a voice, and in that void, they will turn to places that are less than ideal. What really gets me is this whole notion that corporate refers to the property and they get to just decide whether or not they want to respond. Where is the accountability? And if they don't want to hear me out on a complaint, they should just come out and say that rather than taking the cowards way out and closing a complaint hoping I will go away.
There is also no customer satisfactory index built in to measure how Customer Service team address customers' issues as far as I can see. So they really don't want to hear the complaints (they may want the case to build up the numbers of calls/issues for their measurements, but not really to know what's the complains).
#36
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Join Date: Oct 2001
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Short of MAR screwing up on credit card (and then one can challenge it w/ CC company), or proactively putting my safety in jeopardy or trying to defraud me aka the pillow guy, I can't imagine contacting the BBB, much less contact them multiple times. That truly boggles my mind & is a
Cheers.
Cheers.
#37
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Plum Nelly
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy, Delta Sky Miles, and S&H Green Stamps
Posts: 636
#38
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: MEX/YVR/YYF
Programs: AS MVP/AC75K/AM Gold/UA*S/SPG-Marriott Lifetime Titanium/Accor-FPC Gold/HHDiamond/Hyatt Exp
Posts: 5,035
Kidding aside, I will try to deal with the hotel directly to reach a resolution. However, there are properties worldwide that have no clue what it means to run a hotel within a global hotel brand.
Case in point with a recent hotel stay: cockroaches in my hotel room
Hotel resolution? Sorry to hear you did not enjoy your stay.
Corporate Customer Care resolution? We will follow up with hotel management and as a goodwill gesture 10K points.
A point of personal curiousity? How do cockroaches get to the 14th floor of a hotel.
#39
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Programs: Delta Diamond, Marriott Ambassador & Lifetime Titanium, Hertz President's Circle, United Silver
Posts: 6,334
Arne Sorenson, CEO <[email protected]>
David Flueck, vice president of loyalty <[email protected]>
And CC:
Guest Experience Supervisor Escalation <[email protected]>
#40
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So you think I should have been walked and just let it go at one hotel? Do you think I should have booked an Executive Level room at The Laylow and not given that nor the amenities it supposedly come with? If Marriott customer service had quickly taken care of my issues I wouldn't have gotten the BBB involved. @:-)
#41
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As has been so astutely noted here on many occasions, to Marriott the customers are the property owners/operators, and we are the product that Marriott delivers to said customers. It's a scenario almost exactly as OP describes that caused me to abandon Marriott for SPG some years back.
This is why it's important to air your grievances as publicly and in as great of detail as is possible (e.g. TripAdvisor, Yelp, social media, etc, - and of course here also!). Even if you can't expect any satisfaction from so-called customer service, you can at least hurt offending properties where it counts the most by driving away at least some bookings in telling your story publicly.
This is why it's important to air your grievances as publicly and in as great of detail as is possible (e.g. TripAdvisor, Yelp, social media, etc, - and of course here also!). Even if you can't expect any satisfaction from so-called customer service, you can at least hurt offending properties where it counts the most by driving away at least some bookings in telling your story publicly.
With that said, 99% of hotel guests don't understand this. Just like most guests don't understand that Marriott doesn't own nor manage the vast majority of its properties.
Marriott could be a case study for a business school on the perils of franchising and licensing. Tommy Hilfiger experienced this first-hand many years ago, when he licensed his name off without any consideration of quality control. His brand suffered in the long-term.
#42
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Join Date: Aug 2002
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So you think I should have been walked and just let it go at one hotel? Do you think I should have booked an Executive Level room at The Laylow and not given that nor the amenities it supposedly come with? If Marriott customer service had quickly taken care of my issues I wouldn't have gotten the BBB involved. @:-)
Edited to add: are you saying the Lurkers didn't respond when you reached out to them? If you weren't getting any response from MBCS, I would have thought involving the Lurkers would have helped.
Cheers.
Last edited by SkiAdcock; Mar 11, 2019 at 8:31 pm
#43
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I would have addressed it w/ the hotel(s) or run it up the flagpole to Arne directly. If you're not getting satisfaction w/ MBCS, then flagging Fluek or Arne usually gets a response (from their assistants, but gets a response). Speaking only for myself, no I would not have contacted the BBB of Maryland.
Edited to add: are you saying the Lurkers didn't respond when you reached out to them? If you weren't getting any response from MBCS, I would have thought involving the Lurkers would have helped.
Cheers.
Edited to add: are you saying the Lurkers didn't respond when you reached out to them? If you weren't getting any response from MBCS, I would have thought involving the Lurkers would have helped.
Cheers.
I have a separate line open to David Flueck and prefer not to engage him on stay-specific issues. Mr. Sorenson is beyond out of touch, when I sent him a note detailing areas where he's failed in the merger, I got a call from a very nice lady from "his office" in Utah. We had a great chat, but I have little faith my issues were actually heard.
My issues were before the SPG lurkers had coverage of legacy Marriott brands, and will use them if anything comes up going forward, but I clearly won't hesitate to engage the BBB again if needed.
p.s. What is MBCS?
#44
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I agree. You're much better off blasting the property on Trip Advisor, Yelp, and Facebook than going to the Better Business Bureau. I didn't even know the BBB was still a thing. I remember trying to explain to people that BBB wasn't a governmental entity or some sort of regular, but an entity largely or mostly funded by businesses to buy themselves good ratings for marketing purposes.