I spent a lot of nights in London last year, which really drove up my total.

I haven’t found Ambassador all that useful. The response is slow and they really don’t seem to do anything. It’s totally different with United GS where their agents are all powerful and go out of their way. I’d be bummed to lose United GS. I don’t even care about Ambassador. Near as I can tell, the only difference is 25% extra points compared to Gold.

I hear if you decline the COVID-19 at checkin, you get 25 points per night

I just canceled a room for tomorrow night at the St. Louis Airport Marriott by calling the property directly, they were able to waive the cancellation fee.

On the topic of buffets...

This morning, the M Club Lounge at the Marriott SeaTac Airport was still offering its breakfast buffet style.

One shared spoon for everyone for the scrambled eggs. One shared tongs for the bacon.

While I was in the lounge, most people (amazingly) used those shared serving tools without hesitation. They may have well just gone around the room and licked everyone’s hands. Some - a minority - either picked up the serving ware with a napkin, or used their individual/clean cutlery to serve themselves.

And meanwhile, one guy sat with his wife watching TV — while having repeated coughing fits. And another person nearby repeatedly blew his nose into napkins, left them in a little snotty pile on his table, and left them as he walked out.

The whole time, I only saw the lounge’s Purell dispenser used once — by me. Everyone else came in, served themselves, ate, served themselves again, (some coughed and coughed and blew their nose), and then walked right on out. No hand hygiene to be seen.

Alas, banning idiots is hard to do. Changing high risk buffets to a lower risk delivery method really shouldn’t be.

So why aren’t they?

I'm surprised at Marriott's lack of communication with members. I've received many many emails from Hyatt where I'm globalist. I just received from Hilton & I think I've stayed at a Hilton twice in last 3 years.

I have yet to receive anything from Marriott that I can recollect. Unless they've been sending regularly and their IT shxxshow has lost the messages

It is shameful that Marriott has not released a full waiver, and especially for the United States.

I'm done with them. When so many travel companies are going out of their way to take care of customers, there's really no excuse. Hilton is waiving all cancellation fees if cancelled 24 hours in advance. I really miss SPG.

Thoughts on possible extension of the free nights from the credit cards?
I have one that expires on 5/1/20--actually redeemed it for a night in Atlanta during the Final 4, which I've canceled for obvious reasons

Is there a thread dedicated to meeting/conference rooms booked at Marriott and requires cancelation due to Covid 19?

Just got the Hilton email. It was well written, and I appreciated the thoughtfulness. Their policy seems to mostly mirror the airlines, which I think is very generous.

It's frustrating that Marriott has not made a similar announcement on this as things continue to escalate. I would expect Marriott to follow soon since Hilton is probably their closest competitor, but who knows at this point. I had to cancel a reservation earlier this week and so far have been charged the full cancellation fee. People are cancelling trips because they are scared and don't want to contribute to spreading a new disease, and this should be encouraged by Marriott as it is being encouraged by most other major companies.

If they can cancel March Madness, the NBA, the NHL, the Players Tournament and potentially the Masters for this, Marriott needs to come up with a way to accommodate its guests with more flexible cancellation policies rather than essentially pushing people to take unnecessary trips to avoid hefty cancellation fees.

The only reason I can think of why we have not heard from Marriott today is that they have come to realize they do not have the IT or Customer Service capabilities to handle a policy announcement similar to Hilton.

...and how are people supposed to GET to Europe when the airlines are cancelling flights? That's a bit longer swim than I'm used to.

I doubt that all flights will be cancelled.

Apparently the fax machine is broken.

But aren't they offering special COVID-19 bonvOY rates? ... for our most elite guests who want to quarantine in upscale comfort and style. :rolleyes:

See post # 519.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...thread-35.html