Ambassador vs Titanium
 

Don't see much difference between Ambassador vs Titanium. What benefit you use most as Ambassador, which is not available to Titanium?

I use the Your24 benefit extensively.

same here....its the best benefit of being ambassador in my opinion....

My sense is that Ambassadors get better upgrades. As Titanium, I'm getting fewer really great upgrades than I did as a Plat.

No. Previously we were all Plats for upgrade purposes.

IMO the single best benefit is someone you can ping directly to deal with various Marriott issues, vs. trying to get help from customer service

So much depends on the specific Ambassador you get. This year, I have been less than satisfied with the support and frankly, effort, from my Ambassador. At least the “Your 24” is a specific benefit. I find the hotel welcome staff understand and recognize the Ambassador status level. I agree with the other poster who said it may be too soon to quantify the differences between a Titanium vs. Ambassador for recognition and for things like upgrades.

Is there a way to see qualifying spend in my Marriott acct? I think I may hit 100 nights, but am unsure on the 20k.

Nights and dollars (qualifying spend) show up on the app

Too many people are thinking about Ambassador as only being about having the actual Ambassador to help you out. That was particularly important with SPG and in the pre Feb 2019 launch of Bonvoy, since Ambassador guests weren't considered a higher actual status tier.

That changed on Feb 13, 2019, with the introduction of Bonvoy. As of that date, Ambassador was not only a person to assist us but an actual higher status tier.

Once all the Bonvoy portfolio properties had their systems updated, they all now can see our Ambassador status well before we arrive. With SPG, properties had no idea about us being so "elite" and our Ambassadors had to contact properties on our behalf in order for us to get the better benefits and better elite treatment.

Not any longer. Now we no longer need to rely on our Ambassadors to contact properties on our behalf. All properties know our Ambassasor status as soon as we book; that allows them to pre-upgrade us and prepare for us in ways that weren't possible or as likely before.

That's why I already am pre-upgraded to a Macassar Suite at the Prince de Galles Paris...for our stay in October. On an award stay. My Ambassador didn't have to do anything. The hotel just saw that I am Ambassador status and a returning guest--and upgraded me.

That's why I was pre-upgraded to suites at the RC Coconut Grove, RC Georgetown, StR Bahia Beach, RC Boston, StR San Francisco, RC Bacara Santa Barbara, RC Half Moon Bay, LM Cambridge, LM Arlington, LM Philly, Sheraton Philly Univ City, FP NYC Chelsea, FP NYC Midtown, CY New Haven, Sheraton Hartford South, Ren Providence, Sheraton Boston, etc. All since Feb 13.

Ambassador status matters now. A lot.

In addition, we all have our Ambassadors to help us whenever we need them. And they've been getting a lot better for a lot of Ambassador elites as the service has reassigned better people to the program and moved less impressive people to other duties.

Upgrades have anecdotally improved, although for me given pretty good upgrades in the past it's hard to tell whether it's just an impression or not. Service has massively decreased since the merger for me and has not picked up, so at this stage I am tentatively planning on deliberately choosing other hotels for the remainder of 2019 to pick up some other points and to move down to Titanium for 2020. I'll need to make a final decision in the next month or so, but my Marriott spend is down $20K YTD.

Marriott retains the best programme on paper, but suffers too high a proportion of service failures and them not bothering to follow through on service recovery is a real annoyance as a frequent traveller. My life is relatively complex from an administrative perspective as it is, and I can do without choosing a hotel provider which I know will cause me hours of follow-up on a high proportion of stays. I'll continue to visit Marriott hotels where they are the best in the city or where I particularly like them (and for many I hope to retain good upgrades as a long-time frequent visitor), but I tentatively plan to prioritise my stays to either Hyatt or the programme where I'm lowest on points to give me flexibility.