nacho

Agree - the agents are in a difficult situation. I tried my best to avoid calling because I think they already had plenty to deal with, and every time I called I do tell them that I really don't want to bother them but I have to call because ......

Now they need to open a case every time when there's an issue which is ridiculous - MAR might as well fire all the agents and get to computer to calculate what to do like the stupid bank in Swede told Mr. why his credit card application was declined - the computer said no. His income is definitely over the minimum and these people can't tell him why - because the computer didn't tell them why. What's the point of having human agents?

Gadot

I agree, but every agent I have gotten now states they were SPG.
Maybe we should do a poll

Dr. HFH

That's a pretty strong statement. Would you give us a few examples that you have personally experienced?

LTN Phobia

Website got less user friendly than SPG. They no longer seem to show day rooms at airport hotels.

Old hotel-specific emails no longer work for Sheraton for instance.

On the other hand, 24-hour free cancellation policy seems to have been introduced to bookings on SPG properties so I guess they sort of even out.

However, I just find Marriott comms generally less friendly than SPG somehow?

wsucougarchick05

Question for y'all.

I work at the hotel level for Marriott. What can we, as associates in individual hotels, do to create a better atmosphere for our guests (elite and non-elite alike)?

Yes, I will share this information with my management, if needed.

JBord

I still don't get this comparison that people keep making. With UA/CO, not only was IT screwed up and the program devalued, but the experience of actually flying with them was horrible. My experience at Marriott's is as consistent as it's ever been (including legacy SPG hotels).

I often wonder why people are calling so often. Most of what I need to do is on the app or website. As a LT Platinum (current Titanium) I need to talk to a phone rep maybe twice a year. Last time, I was in IAH and found that my connecting flight home was cancelled and I needed a hotel quickly. I had a free night cert. So I called while I was walking through the airport, and the rep was very helpful in giving me the hotel choices and booking it for me. Incredibly polite the whole time. I could have stopped and figured it out myself, but he saved me 10-15 minutes, which seems like hours when you've been traveling all day and then just want to get some sleep before your 7 am flight the next day. So when people call so often that the service becomes an issue, is it that rather than asking for help they're asking for special treatment of something they're not entitled to?

No, of course not. It just doesn't fit the story. Breakfast in restaurant > breakfast in lounge.

That's a loaded question. Legacy Marriott customers want to be treated as they always have. Legacy SPG customers do as well, but that program doesn't exist any more. Most of the complaints you see here are TRULY directed at the corporate rewards program, not the hotels.

When there's a merger like this, there's always an effect on employees. Some benefit greatly and they tend to be happy. Some don't, or they just don't like change. All of that can translate to how a customer is treated. It's usually temporary as the employees who aren't happy leave and are replaced by new hires still in the "honeymoon period" with their new employer.

But in the end the simple answer is treat your customers as if they might have a better choice of hotels just down the street (because they usually do). And when your hotel gets their money, it flows to employees through salary, wages, tips, etc.

Unfortunately, that won't reduce the amount of noise or complaining in this forum, because it won't bring back SPG.

rny321

If a hotel provided the published elite benefits to guests without being asked, it would eliminate a lot of complaints. When upgrades aren't available, being proactive with an honest explanation would improve guest relations. Beyond those simple suggestions, treating guests as you would like to be treated at a similar category of hotel would help. When the inevitable service failures happen, offering a solution without prompting can make a potential bad experience a positive one.

PointWeasel

More fake news.

Service levels for both former entities have dropped considerably.

Keep drinking the Kool-Aid though.

itsaboutthejourney

Thanks for being here!

My suggestions:

1 - Know your stuff, including loyalty. Obviously as FT'ers we know a lot more than a typical guest, but it's insulting and sets a bad start when the FD person tells me things that are simply wrong. Even if said with good intent, don't give me false info on the program or elite benefits. An example: know what the breakfast benefit certificate you are handing me means; is it a buffet? credit towards an a la carte menu? is there an upcharge for hot items? Telling me you don't know leaves me walking away needing to find out and that you have not been helpful. Taking the time to find out will help you explain to hundreds of guests who follow me. And if your property's restaurant isn't telling the FD staff what the breakfast cert includes, there is a breakdown of communication.

2 - Give me some rationale for the room you assigned me. Examples: "The suite we have is on the 2nd floor with no view, so I assigned you a club room on a higher floor with an amazing view" or "we have Club level rooms available, but I want you to see one of our newly remodeled rooms on the floor just below". This tells me you know your rooms and either you or the rooms manager took some time to assign me a room with a little thought.

3 - Know what the Ambassador program is and make sure your computer systems shows you the guest profile and preferences - and act of them.

4 - If I've been 'approved' for a 4pm check-out, please make sure the key is coded to work until then. And if your crazy Marriott system is somehow unable to do that, please tell me that ahead of time so I know to allow time to return to the desk the next day to get the keys reprogrammed for 4pm.

In return, I promise to be polite, patient and appreciative of your efforts. I know the FD is not an easy job. Thanks for what you do!

SkiAdcock

A lot of calls to CS are for IT issues or to get help w/ things that should be working properly but aren't (post 8/18).

A FT friend just sent me a screenshot of his account. 40 upcoming reservations & several cancellations - do not appear at all, even though they did a few days ago! He did not receive email confirmations on any of the reservations. Because he & his wife (different nationality) are going to certain countries that require proof of airline & where they'll be staying he needs hardcopy documentation. Because he didn't receive email confirmations that he could print out, he was going to his account, pulling up the reservations, cut/pasting & emailing them to himself to print. Now he needs to contact MBCS. He also had some reservations that were award reservations made before the category change went up, so needed to contact them to get them to add the dif in points (which is how they handle it) so that they can issue the cert. He's had to call a # of times, gets an agent who doesn't understand what is needed & has to get a supervisor to help, all of which takes several minutes. Others are chasing down stays that aren't posting or PAG points not posting.

I've got a friend who works at a property & it's no picnic for them either. If they have to reach out to MBCS to sort something out, they can be on hold from 15 minutes to an hour 45 minutes. Because folios aren't being received by guests (prior to 8/18 it was rare for a guest not to get a folio), they're having to print/scan/email folios to multiple guests/week - and they get blamed/yelled at by the elite not getting the folio in the first place, when their FD screen shows 'emailing' right after they click on the check-out button & as far as FD knows, the folio was sent.

Agree w/ your comment to treat your customers as if they have a choice to stay elsewhere - and to just treat them well in general, whether they be elite or joe/jane tourist.

Good specific suggestions.

Cheers.

nacho

Why do people have to call? I HATE to call and I still have to, here's why:

1. There's no way I can attach my TP cert online;
2. Agents can't handle how to put in a TP in part of a reservation - the solution is to break it into 2 and do it - apparently they don't know how to do it!
3. Even though the agent said it's attached, it's not, so I had to call AGAIN to do it. It takes 4 calls to get this stupid cert attached.
4. A LNF claim was left unanswered for more than 30 hours - so I had to call and the agent said ,"why do you people have to call?"

iflyjetz

Winner!

I don't call to book reservations; I do everything online so I haven't noticed any difference post-merger. My bookings still go through with no problem for both SPG and Marriott properties.
When I stay at SPG and Marriott properties, I don't notice a deterioration of service levels. The front line staff, with rare exceptions, is great.
I've had all of my stays post properly. Granted, I'm chasing the Hyatt Globalist status dragon right now, but I have booked SPG/Marriott properties if they offer a better value than Hyatt.

From reading these posts, all of the call centers are screwed up. Great; I'll just keep booking online and not calling them. Easy peasy. If any of my stays don't post properly, I'll send an email. Fingers crossed; no problems yet with posting.

Antarius

I dont think it is fair to discount the IT issues. You're lucky if you have had no issues with bookings or postings. Mine has been somewhat messy to the point I had to keep a spreadsheet.

that said, I dont disagree that there is a lot of teeth gnashing is hyperbolic. I was a top tier SPG for a while and while that was great, the footprint was crap, which left me having NO benefits in lots of places.

things arent as good as Arne claims but they arent as bad as FT makes it out to be.

iflyjetz

Well, this is why I have advocated having status with as many hotel chains as possible.
In addition to being able to compare rooms from multiple chains to decide on best value, you can book away from problematic hotel chains. When Blackstone bought up Hilton and totally trashed their chain and program, I didn't see much value so I rarely booked them.

If Marriott is as terrible as many say here, they should book with other chains. The best way to save yourself any Marriott IT issues is to not book with Marriott.
I started chasing loyalty programs with SPG a couple of decades ago but their inconsistency was so bad I switched to Marriott and was able to hit LT Plat there. After Marriott started to decline, I returned to SPG ~2012 and found SPG had improved significantly. I had ~500 SPG nights and ~1200 Marriott nights when the merger was announced. Both pre-merger programs had their pluses and minuses.

But back to possible solutions. I understand Hilton's improved greatly; why not switch over to them? Or Hyatt since you indicate you're used to small footprints ala pre-merger SPG? Either program offers comparable benefits to Marriott - lounges, suites, late checkout - as part of their programs.

I cannot for the life of me imagine wasting a bunch of time on a hotel chain by keeping a spreadsheet due to all of their errors. I would have switched long before it came to that point. It's easy to change loyalty programs. So either it's really, really bad and one moves their business elsewhere or it's not really that bad and people are using any issues to blame Marriott or SPG, depending on which pre-merger chain they were loyal to.

PointWeasel

yes and no.

just in the past few days for me:

1. website login will not work
2. unable register for current promotion
3. app shows incorrect number of stays and points
4. reservation changes will not work and it says to call
5. no one answers the phone line for a Tit Elite faster than 20ish minutes and even then the agent has no clue how to fix things

so, while it may very well be true that YOU are having a wonderful experience with the new, wonderful Marriott Bonvoy program, that does not mean you can simply discount our experiences.

heck, Hyatt, Hilton and even IHG have functioning websites and nearly zero issued to deal with....so that leaves Marriott Incorporated as a stand alone, IMHO.