Dr. HFH

But he, or his employer/sponsor, could have been a very regular customer of that particular property, in which case I would expect him to have been upgraded first. It's all about business.

TGLoyalty

Have to be honest what does the OP expect from status? spends the majority of stays at a hotel where OP doesn’t like the location of the nicer rooms.

if you have given the hotel so much business and not taken up their offer of an upgrade have you suggested breakfast as a suitable alternative?

can you book using a stars or luminous rate instead that includes breakfast anyway?

my last stay at RC Geneva I got upgraded to a junior suite (road noise was an issue) but my non refundable rate included breakfast (decent enough spread)

personal experience of a gold (will hit Plat very soon) is that I haven’t ended up in any of the hotels worst rooms (crap views overlooking air con etc), get my preference of a high floor and away from any lifts and have been upgraded the majority of times (where that’s possible)

BrightlyBob

I think a lot of this is about expectations, OP is mainly staying in Bonvoys luxury brands, RC, Edition, JW. He may have an expectation of those brands and an expectation of Titanium that is unrealistic.

Firstly, Titanium is simply the new name for Marriott’s old Platinum 75 night level. There are hundreds of thousands of us, mostly concentrated in the USA/Canada. It’s difficult to treat 75-night stayers extra specially when maybe a quarter of those checking in are at that level. In Europe the concentration of Titanium’s is lower, and in China lower still (and all Bonvoys brands are generally elevated in China, hence many Courtyards having an exec lounge). Which conveniently brings us to brands, in reality JW is a luxury brand only in Bonvoys definition. I’d really call them “business luxury” - larger rooms, better bedding bathrooms with separate bath and shower, but not really luxury service. Edition hotels are about the Ian Schrager design rather than great service. RC on the other hand is about service and does seem to treat you well.

SNAs - as a European Titanium each one clears first time every time but again I’m using them in Europe so that’s more about the fact that the preponderance of 50/75 night stayers are in USA/Canada where there’s over demand and under supply.

Lastly the silver getting the corner room - he could have booked and paid for it - people do reserve rooms other than the basic ones!

junglematt

I've done well with international upgrades so far this year at a Titanium. Twelve legitimate upgrades so far, three of them with SNAs

Manila Marriott: upgraded to a large deluxe suite
Four Points Ljubljana: upgraded to the next largest room
Courtyard Springfield: booked a suite, but all suites turned out to be accessible rooms with shower heads 5 feet off the ground, so I downgraded
Westin Warsaw: given the largest suite they offer. One down from the presidential.
Marriott Brussels: upgraded to a junior suite
Kameha Grand Zurich: slightly larger room
Rome Marriott Park Hotel: upgraded to a junior suite
Sheraton Stockholm: booked a two-bed room and was upgraded to one of the top floor balcony rooms
Courtyard Berlin: no upgrade
Sheraton Bucharest: upgraded to one of the largest suites
Fairfield Inn Penn Station: booked a two-bed room, so I was given a slight upgrade to a high floor
Phuket Marriott, Nai Yang Beach: applied 7 SNAs, had them denied, then got an upgrade to a pool villa 2 days before check in
Westin Grand Sukhumvit, Bangkok: applied 2 SNAs, upgraded to a large suite
Warsaw Marriott: applied 2 SNAs, upgraded to a gigantic suite
Aloft Kiev: given a high floor
Courtyard Budapest City Center: upgraded to a top floor room with a balcony
Sofia Hotel Balkan: no suite, as they were doing construction
Fresh Hotel Athens: no upgrade
Rome Marriott Park Hotel: was offered a junior suite upgrade, asked to downgrade to something with two beds, as I was with my mother
Paris Marriott Rive Gauche: given a high floor room
AC Hotel Milano: applied one SNA, no upgrade, but got a 0730 check-in
Four Points by Sheraton Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai: applied 3 SNAs, upgraded to a two-bedroom, 1614 square feet, at the 5-day point. I check in on Friday.

MSPeconomist

What's your definition of a legitimate upgrade?

MePlatPremier

(deleted)

Intl359Widget

That is one of the most solid properties that I’ve had the pleasure of staying at and their staff is top notch!

MePlatPremier

I don’t get your point.

Titanium Elite is the new name for what was previously called Platinum Premier Elite, and Ambassador Elite the new name for the old membership level of Platinum Premier Elite with Ambassador.

In fact, with SPG everybody was just called Platinum and there were no new monikers after hitting 75 and 100 nights.

DELee

But that's the point of this thread - "Unimpressed with real life experience as Titanium".

Whether Marriott calls us Titanium or what was Platinum Premier or Platinum Premier with Ambassador - or SPG's Platinum 75 or Platinum 100, there is nothing that's either different with the new names or the benefits that accrue.

Our Overview web pages prove that Marriott IT hasn't even tried to update and correct itself to show that there is any difference whatsoever - fixing the names of the links is trivial. They and Marriott just don't care.

And, as others have posted above (and I've experienced), treatment of elites at Titanium especially by individual properties is still hit or miss - mostly miss.

David

junglematt

I don't count the slightly higher floors or the slightly larger rooms as legitimate upgrades

TGLoyalty

or robes and a coffee machine

but expectations have to be set accordingly as some hotels don't really have much difference in the rooms, the floor, the view and the proximity to lifts etc is how they determine what's a worse or better room.

kaizen7

or upgrade to the club floor without club access

SacTownGuy

I am with the OP. I am on my 11th straight year as Plat/Tit (now lifetime Tit and 95 nights this year fwiw) and I almost never get an upgrade other than a "view" or a "corner room" or some minor "upgrade." My experience as a Diamond at Hyatt, 5 years ago, was way better including one presidential suite (too bad I was alone on that trip). The one difference I have from the OP is I have no problem with the 4:00 pm checkout and take advantage of that about 60% of the time. However, the other errors I totally agree with as you literally have to watch every single points posting to make sure it happens and make sure it happens correctly. The suite upgrades are basically non-existent unless using an SNA and they were basically totally non-existent before the SNA's started so I guess it's better now. Lol.

Having said all that I will say the lounges on my Asian stays have been great and definitely make status worthwhile. However, that's once a year at most so not a big deal.

Bottom line: Marriott has left a lot of room for improvement.

JBord

My favorite is the upgrade to the club floor when the club is on a different level, specifically when it's off the lobby.

That said, my experience as a Titanium is about the same as it was when I was a Marriott Platinum (75 nights old program). I do like the addition of SNA's, so maybe slightly better. To be honest, I didn't expect the experience to change much at the properties just because they changed the name of the program and some of the names within the program.

dtremit

OP named a lot of specific problems -- late checkout issues, issues with hotels blocking connecting rooms, execution problems with SNAs, and issues with points posting. I can't figure out why any of those would be an unrealistic expectation with any Bonvoy brand, and seeing them at luxury properties is especially disappointing.

This is my experience, too -- the one place I have not struggled is with late checkout. I am sort of surprised by that. But very few meaningful upgrades or special treatment of any sort. I had significantly better experiences with Hyatt (though their footprint doesn't work for my travel patterns these days), but I also had significantly better experiences as a 50-night SPG plat, and as a Hilton Diamond back in the day.

My biggest disappointment is with the lack of attention to detail. I don't expect an upgrade at properties that are half full of elites, but that's not an excuse for not looking at my profile. Mine says "high floor" -- and yet about half the Courtyards I stay in put me in first floor rooms facing the parking lot. That literally *never* happened to me in 10+ years of elite status at other chains. Likewise, I have checked in next to zero-status coworkers staying on the same rate, and have been given significantly less appealing rooms.

It shouldn't take a whole lot of effort for hotels to go through their check-ins in the morning, in status order, and block rooms that meet basic profile preferences. I don't know if this is a culture problem, or if Bonvoy systems make it harder to get to this information than the guest management platforms at other chains, but it's not a problem I've run into elsewhere.

Between that and the silly nickel-and-diming that is the breakfast policy, I'm not sweating making Titanium for next year -- Platinum will be just fine.