Do you care about welcome dessert and card?
 

I care.

I think a hotel pre assign room for elite member and prepare additional snacks and welcome card ( hand written or typed) showing that this hotel is particularly caring and thoughtful , thus providing a more personal expereince. This kind of service is one of the reasons I continue spending in royalty program .

Among my 100nights in past 2 years , I had received about only 15-20 hotel stays that providing me hand written welcome card wrote by manager or guest relationship team.

some people said it’s useless but I always collected those kind of things and I will go to TripAdvisor to give them a five star.

Usually , a hotel that sending you pre arrival email and providing welcome card and snacks for me in room, usually providing a lot more superior experience than those who didnt.

This trip in Middle East I received hand written card by GM in Cairo Marriott and Mena house, both stay are fantastic , they give me a huge suite and even asking me how was the stay after leaving the hotel by email. It’s so rare to find a hotel that really cared about how guest feelings , many hotel just follow the standard sop and once you left the hotel and having problems regarding bill or other concern, they don’t care. Yes, I am talking about you JW Marriott Cairo.

I also had mediocre stay at JWM Dubai and Abu Dhabi Edition.

Thus , you must give credits to those hotel team that provide more than standard service to members.

The hand written note is definitely nice and demonstrates a higher level of personalized service, I agree and I love that. But the dessert they leave in your room? I have yet to find one dessert that actually tasted good or fresh. Would much prefer a cocktail or a freshly cooked dish.

The GM doesn't really write these notes by hand, nor individually compose them (although IME there's a different version for returning guests). Since there's usually some piece of paper with these welcome gifts indicating at least the guest's name/room number and some graceful statement indicating that it's a gift from the hotel/management, I see nothing wrong with generating the notes by computer and having them printed (and not even signed by hand). In fact, I sometimes imagine some unfortunate intern being assigned the unending task of writing the hand written notes--or maybe the most junior administrative staff member or front desk agent working a slow shift.

BTW I prefer wine rather than a dessert but we shouldn't kick a gift horse in the mouth.

I appreciate the notes although I wont make any fuss if it wasn't there.

And for fruit platter/dessert/wine(never got one at Marriott hotels) again it does show how much they care about a loyal guest coming. I also find that those plates made with creativity is very pleasing.

By the way, I don't think kicking a gift horse in the mouth is a good idea ... if the horse retaliate, it might end up not well :D

You...only you.

I think you're kidding yourself on the personalized experience, but I'm willing to accept that those properties that go to the effort of writing welcome cards etc are better managed.

I appreciate the note for about 2 minutes, then set it aside.

As for desserts, fruits, etc., I think it's a nice touch but it would be a lot more meaningful if it were actually personalized. I don't eat desserts, and actually don't like a lot of fruits (I know, I'm weird). But a different type of snack or even a couple airplane size bottles of whiskey or bourbon would be more appreciated.

In any case, I don't expect anything. But I feel kind of bad wasting the fruits and desserts.

I have no expectations (especially just as a platinum member - there's a lot of us!). It's a nice gesture when it happens though. I recall a nice fruit basket at the JW Hong Kong, hand written personalized postcard at the Sea-Tac airport Marriott, as well as a lot of printed welcome notes (sometimes written to me, sometimes to a generic platinum member).

I enjoy it when it happens, but usually it's not enough to significantly sway my habits... (e.g., I really appreciated the personalized welcome note at the Sea-Tac airport Marriott, but will still stay at another Bonvoy property in the area if there's a significant price savings).

Though I’ll edit to say that I really was super surprised by the Residence Inn Portland Convention Center giving out welcome goodie bags to elite members at check in with my name written on it, as well as jars of mints in all their rooms - which has been enough to make me choose that property multiple times when the price is right.

I'm a total sucker for a hand-written note and a welcome food platter.

I haven't had many of these - too few full-service properties in my stay repertoire, especially recently - but those I have had have always been appreciated. One of the best was a couple of years ago at the Warsaw Marriott: a large tray with 2 brioche/muffin pastries, some cheese cubes in a clear jar, some crackers and a generous fruit platter. This was especially appreciated as MamaTwick, who is allergic to wheat, could share in most of it.

Sometimes some GMs do... ;)

I'd rather have an upgrade than a crappy card and desserts that they couldn't sell the day before as a welcome gift.

In my experience, this is happening a lot more, at least for ambassador members. The last 5 or 6 stays I've had they did this each time. I think the last time I didn't get a welcome note was when I booked a stay on the app from the parking lot of a property.

It's nice to be recognized. Not z major thing either way, but nice.

If I were a hotel owner who discovered my General Manager was spending her or his time personally writing welcome notes, we'd be having a long discussion about priorities.

I just finished up a stay at the Marriott in Puerto Vallarta where they sent us a bottle of champagne on ice and a tray of exquisite mini desserts including strawberries decorated in adorable white/dark chocolate tuxedo jackets! After a long travel day from NJ, it was a very welcome sight. In Europe, I tend to get a welcome note and some type of local sweet (candies, cookies, etc.) Here in the US, it is hit or miss with any kind of additional recognition.

I routinely get the personalized note at both Bonvoy and Hilton properties. The short notes are written by the GM's that I personally know, the longer ones are written by associates and signed by the GM. On occasion, I have received a printed letter with the GM's signature. Of course, I value the personalized ones, and will often keep them as a memento.
The welcome amenity, over the years, has largely gone from the savoury to the sweet. Not having much of a sweet tooth, I will either ask housekeeping to remove a fruit or sweets platter the following day, or just refuse it if it is delivered while I am present in the room. I explain it is due to dietary concerns so as not to offend. I recently had a weeklong stay at a German hotel where the GM, whom I personally know, would, every afternoon, send an elaborate plate laden with fruits, snacks, local specialties as well as cider. I finally had to tell him to stop, as I couldn't possibly consume any of it and still enjoy a healthy dinner. He laughed, saying I had candidly critiqued his EL's tea service, and so he wanted to augment the service for my benefit. Truthfully, I would prefer a local souvenir of sorts, rather than anything edible.