The inside scoop on Marriott's epic woes?
#16
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,760
Marriott Bonvoy 110,000,000 Customer Cases Opened Since April 2018?
This may be worthy for its own thread - as I can't figure out where the link of the article should be posted nor I can find it has been posted in this forum somewhere already...
https://loyaltylobby.com/2019/03/14/...ce-april-2019/
Highlight of the article -
Here’s the former employee’s point of view:
.................................................. .................................................. ........
I worked for Marriott for a little over 3 years. Marriott had a motto “Take care of the associates and they will take care of the guests.” In April of 2018 Marriott rolled out their new “Service Delivery Module.”
At the same time, they stopped taking care of the associates.
Before SDM, there were several departments to contact. Sales, customer care, rewards, etc. Now, no matter who you call, you are getting a sales rep. If you need to get sent to “loyalty” you are getting a sales rep that 3 hours more of copy and paste training. If you get sent to “elite” they had 2 more hours of the same training. And just to add, it was SPG employees leading the training.
An entire new reservation system was forced on us that barely works because Marriott didn’t want to pay Oracle to use the system they had been using before. To add to this, the agents were able to call supervisors that would help them fix things. The supervisors are now ordered not to help.
Everything has to be “make a case.” Cases are “supposed” to be resolved in 3 to 5 days. When I left, there were cases that were 4 months old untouched. The cases started in April. I’ve been told that since then, they have reached 110 million cases.
When the changes started in April, agents that had worked there for 20 years were walking out in the middle of their shifts. The company scrambled to hire a bunch of people with less than normal training. There are a lot of agents that are just terrible. There are still a lot that want to help but can’t. Even the former SPG agents are new to all of the system changes.
Marriott tried to change 50 things at once with them all working at 25 percent. It needed to change one thing at a time. Waiting until it was running well. Then make the next change. My former coworkers say there is a new change that is about to take away their last resort system away next week. Good luck.
So it is not IT like everyone says. Or usually lack of agents trying. It is the company not wanting to pay for a third party software anymore. And SPG training Marriott employees on a system that barely works. And neither company has used before.
I almost left out the best part. The CEO visited a call center for the first time ever two weeks ago. Best of luck travelers. Don’t blame the person on the phone. They are trying.
.................................................. .................................................. ..........
Note the SPG role here - wonder who bought who?
https://loyaltylobby.com/2019/03/14/...ce-april-2019/
Highlight of the article -
Here’s the former employee’s point of view:
.................................................. .................................................. ........
I worked for Marriott for a little over 3 years. Marriott had a motto “Take care of the associates and they will take care of the guests.” In April of 2018 Marriott rolled out their new “Service Delivery Module.”
At the same time, they stopped taking care of the associates.
Before SDM, there were several departments to contact. Sales, customer care, rewards, etc. Now, no matter who you call, you are getting a sales rep. If you need to get sent to “loyalty” you are getting a sales rep that 3 hours more of copy and paste training. If you get sent to “elite” they had 2 more hours of the same training. And just to add, it was SPG employees leading the training.
An entire new reservation system was forced on us that barely works because Marriott didn’t want to pay Oracle to use the system they had been using before. To add to this, the agents were able to call supervisors that would help them fix things. The supervisors are now ordered not to help.
Everything has to be “make a case.” Cases are “supposed” to be resolved in 3 to 5 days. When I left, there were cases that were 4 months old untouched. The cases started in April. I’ve been told that since then, they have reached 110 million cases.
When the changes started in April, agents that had worked there for 20 years were walking out in the middle of their shifts. The company scrambled to hire a bunch of people with less than normal training. There are a lot of agents that are just terrible. There are still a lot that want to help but can’t. Even the former SPG agents are new to all of the system changes.
Marriott tried to change 50 things at once with them all working at 25 percent. It needed to change one thing at a time. Waiting until it was running well. Then make the next change. My former coworkers say there is a new change that is about to take away their last resort system away next week. Good luck.
So it is not IT like everyone says. Or usually lack of agents trying. It is the company not wanting to pay for a third party software anymore. And SPG training Marriott employees on a system that barely works. And neither company has used before.
I almost left out the best part. The CEO visited a call center for the first time ever two weeks ago. Best of luck travelers. Don’t blame the person on the phone. They are trying.
.................................................. .................................................. ..........
Note the SPG role here - wonder who bought who?
Last edited by Happy; Mar 14, 2019 at 6:26 pm
#17
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: LAX
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Titanium, AA Lifetime Gold, UA Premier Silver
Posts: 188
I personally opened at least half a dozen cases between August and November 2018. Less than half ever got any kind of response, and those that did always followed the same script, explaining that there was nothing they could do but that my issue should fix itself in x amount of time, which it never did.
In my prior 25 years with Marriott I never once had to open a case. If there was a problem I simply called Marriott and the phone was promptly answered by a competent and empowered associate that would quickly rectify the situation. It really is sad how far Marriott's customer service has fallen.
In my prior 25 years with Marriott I never once had to open a case. If there was a problem I simply called Marriott and the phone was promptly answered by a competent and empowered associate that would quickly rectify the situation. It really is sad how far Marriott's customer service has fallen.
#18
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
I personally opened at least half a dozen cases between August and November 2018. Less than half ever got any kind of response, and those that did always followed the same script, explaining that there was nothing they could do but that my issue should fix itself in x amount of time, which it never did.
In my prior 25 years with Marriott I never once had to open a case. If there was a problem I simply called Marriott and the phone was promptly answered by a competent and empowered associate that would quickly rectify the situation. It really is sad how far Marriott's customer service has fallen.
In my prior 25 years with Marriott I never once had to open a case. If there was a problem I simply called Marriott and the phone was promptly answered by a competent and empowered associate that would quickly rectify the situation. It really is sad how far Marriott's customer service has fallen.
This is crux of the ongoing issue. Nothing was being fixed or addressed, even simple things.
Only reaching out to the OCA staff did some thing finally get addressed but that was a waste of my time.
Having phones answered by useless agents does not help anyone and a frequent guest should not have to wait on hold thru ridiculous messaging, and then a useless agent.
I will have zero stays with Marriott Bonvoy this month, which has not happened for years. Voting with my wallet.
#19
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,404
I wonder what fraction of the cases are resubmissions of previous cases that were never addressed, received an irrelevant cut and paste response, or were otherwise handled incompetently.
#20
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Somewhere in Florida
Posts: 2,621
It would be much easier if Marriott managed most of its properties or, at least, most of its full-service properties, but it doesn't. The vast majority of Marriott's properties across all brands are managed by third parties. This makes quality control, brand compliance, loyalty program compliance -- whatever you want to call it -- more difficult.
#21
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Tacoma, WA
Programs: UA Mileage Plus, Alaska Mileage Plan, Marriott Bonvoy
Posts: 82
I have had a few ... moments and disappointments this year so far with Bonvoy customer service. NO issues whatsoever with the properties I have stayed at. All positive experiences.
I didn't get my 15 elite night credits for having my credit card. When I sent the online request in to rectify it was completely ignored. After 30 days I called and was told by an agent that I was indeed due the 15 nights elite credit for 2018 which put me well above the 50 night threshold for Platinum. She told me to wait 3-5 business days for my account to reflect the update. After 7 days I checked n with the Lurkers and was told, no I was not due the 15 elite credit nights because I accepted the 10,000 bonus points when I upgraded from the Rewards card to the Premier Plus card in Mat of 2018. I still don't know if the first agent was correct or the second agent was correct. Did the first agent tell me what I wanted to hear to get me off the line or was she overruled after our conversation?? Did I miss something in the T&C or was this a sneak attack on Marriott's part. So back to Gold I go.
My other issues have been having to request "Missing stays" to be credited to my account on about half of my stays this year. Then I needed to reach out again because i was shorted a night on a stay that they credited. You really have to watch them like a hawk. If they are in fact overwhelmed with requests they might consider accepting everyone on their word on the back log just to get a fresh start.
I didn't get my 15 elite night credits for having my credit card. When I sent the online request in to rectify it was completely ignored. After 30 days I called and was told by an agent that I was indeed due the 15 nights elite credit for 2018 which put me well above the 50 night threshold for Platinum. She told me to wait 3-5 business days for my account to reflect the update. After 7 days I checked n with the Lurkers and was told, no I was not due the 15 elite credit nights because I accepted the 10,000 bonus points when I upgraded from the Rewards card to the Premier Plus card in Mat of 2018. I still don't know if the first agent was correct or the second agent was correct. Did the first agent tell me what I wanted to hear to get me off the line or was she overruled after our conversation?? Did I miss something in the T&C or was this a sneak attack on Marriott's part. So back to Gold I go.
My other issues have been having to request "Missing stays" to be credited to my account on about half of my stays this year. Then I needed to reach out again because i was shorted a night on a stay that they credited. You really have to watch them like a hawk. If they are in fact overwhelmed with requests they might consider accepting everyone on their word on the back log just to get a fresh start.
#22
Suspended
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2005
Programs: Delta Diamond, Marriott Ambassador & Lifetime Titanium, Hertz President's Circle, United Silver
Posts: 6,334
The franchise model works very well in the restaurant industry. Many (most?) of the chain restaurants are franchises, yet with a few exceptions, they've managed to standardize the experience and quality. McDonald's is pretty consistent no matter where you are in the world. Ruth's Chris Steak House has ~150 locations and the experience has been consistent. There's a lot of parallels between foodservice & hospitality. The whole point of aligning yourself with a Flag (franchise) is for that blueprint of consistency and customer familiarity, and assured profitability. It's mostly the same reason we stay at them instead of independents.
Imagine if the minimum wage McDonald's teller had to deal with a loyalty program. Teller: "Oh right, sir, you have titanium status and because of that you get the double Big Mac hamburger instead of the junior hamburger." Yeah, no.
Or imagine if you had to call corporate McDonald's to get the franchised restaurant to correctly place your order. Yeah, no.
#24
formerly atomicfront
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 171
The franchise model works very well in the restaurant industry. Many (most?) of the chain restaurants are franchises, yet with a few exceptions, they've managed to standardize the experience and quality. McDonald's is pretty consistent no matter where you are in the world. Ruth's Chris Steak House has ~150 locations and the experience has been consistent. There's a lot of parallels between foodservice & hospitality. The whole point of aligning yourself with a Flag (franchise) is for that blueprint of consistency and customer familiarity, and assured profitability. It's mostly the same reason we stay at them instead of independents.
#25
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: K+K
Programs: *G
Posts: 4,867
Everytime management level N visits, management level N-1 sweeps everything under the rug and show how nice and rosy things are. None of these guys at the P or VP level ever has the balls to speak up.
#27
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Toronto, Canada
Programs: Liftime Titanium Elite Marriott
Posts: 1,752
I think that we are all hoping that someone in Marriott management is going to start paying attention to our comments as our unhappiness. Don't know what kind of collective spending power we as a group have and wether it will affect the bottom line. It seems that profits is a major motivator at Marriott. In the past Starwood did make changes based on Flyertalk threads.
#28
Suspended
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2005
Programs: Delta Diamond, Marriott Ambassador & Lifetime Titanium, Hertz President's Circle, United Silver
Posts: 6,334
I think that we are all hoping that someone in Marriott management is going to start paying attention to our comments as our unhappiness. Don't know what kind of collective spending power we as a group have and wether it will affect the bottom line. It seems that profits is a major motivator at Marriott. In the past Starwood did make changes based on Flyertalk threads.
#29
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: IAD
Programs: UA 1K & 2MM, MR Titanium
Posts: 458
An entire new reservation system was forced on us that barely works because Marriott didn’t want to pay Oracle to use the system they had been using before. To add to this, the agents were able to call supervisors that would help them fix things. The supervisors are now ordered not to help.
This is almost exactly what happened when United decided to use the old Continental Shares reservation system after the merger because it was "cheaper." It turned out to be far more expensive in terms of reduced capabilities, frustration for passengers and many (ex-United) agents alike, and the need to spend much more money to fix the problem. This cannot end well...
This is almost exactly what happened when United decided to use the old Continental Shares reservation system after the merger because it was "cheaper." It turned out to be far more expensive in terms of reduced capabilities, frustration for passengers and many (ex-United) agents alike, and the need to spend much more money to fix the problem. This cannot end well...
#30
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Aug 2002
Programs: UALifetimePremierGold, Marriott LifetimeTitanium
Posts: 71,107
An entire new reservation system was forced on us that barely works because Marriott didn’t want to pay Oracle to use the system they had been using before. To add to this, the agents were able to call supervisors that would help them fix things. The supervisors are now ordered not to help.
This is almost exactly what happened when United decided to use the old Continental Shares reservation system after the merger because it was "cheaper." It turned out to be far more expensive in terms of reduced capabilities, frustration for passengers and many (ex-United) agents alike, and the need to spend much more money to fix the problem. This cannot end well...
This is almost exactly what happened when United decided to use the old Continental Shares reservation system after the merger because it was "cheaper." It turned out to be far more expensive in terms of reduced capabilities, frustration for passengers and many (ex-United) agents alike, and the need to spend much more money to fix the problem. This cannot end well...
Cheers.