uanj

3 bucks for a grab and go breakfast? I don't want to know what is in that!

I ran into a Marriott and a Sheraton both of which used to offer free parking (at least at Titanium, my level) and are now charging for it. For 10 years neither charged me. Both said that since the covid outbreak they charge everyone for parking at higher fees than before but elites will get a reduced fee. I appreciate the difficulties the pandemic has presented but introducing parking fees with no notice is no good. To boot at one I used the AAA rate which included free parking and was told "that's a mistake". Looking forward to getting beyond these pandemic measures and knowing what to expect when you book a room.

Adelphos

Demand, and more importantly, rate is still down in most major markets in Texas relative to 2019. Because you don’t have most business travel and conventions yet. A possible exception may be gulf coast towns. The cities where demand is at or above pre Covid levels are places like Miami, Key West, Sedona, basically warm weather leisure places.

Adelphos

At least during peak Covid, parking was seen as a good way to generate revenue because more guests were driving versus doing thing like using Uber, so the opportunity was there

asnovici

Checked into the hotel, asked about breakfast, told they have breakfast but its not a Platinum and above benefit and "they are working on it." They are only offering 1000 points for the stay instead of breakfast. Can they do that or is it against the guaranteed benefit?

They are doing housekeeping every third night. We are only staying for 3 nights. If I wanted to stay at an extended stay property I would have booked one. After five conversations with 5 different people and 5 promises they would actually refresh the room, they didnt. Someone dropped off two trash bags filled with unfolded towels and water bottles and dumped them by on the credenza with the TV. It was disgusting looking and felt like a low rent hostel. Had to walk to the front desk to stand there and wait for them to send housekeeping to the room. If I pick a full service hotel, I expect daily housekeeping service and no, COVID excuse isnt going to cut it, there is no difference in risk between daily room service and every three days. Cost cutting and money grabbing (just like breakfast).

On a more personal note, we always loved this hotel and stayed here as repeat guests for years dating back to when it was a Luxury Collection with Starwood. How the mighty have fallen.

La Posada "Housekeeping"


Do I have a case to complain to Marriott? Breakfast and housekeeping and complete lack of response from the GM when I contacted him really made me mad.

Kacee

There's a recent report upthread that Marriott is now interpreting the welcome amenity choice as belonging to the hotel - i.e., they get to choose whether you get breakfast or points. Of course this is utter nonsense, but welcome to Bonvoy 2021.
I would complain. I would also flame them on TA, particularly for the GM not responding. That pretty much says everything you need to know about how much they care about guest satisfaction.

ChurnieEls

You absolutely have a case based on stated policy.

Will Marriott care? Nope, not a jot.

Full service prices for limited service offerings and go pound sand for your elite benefits. That's the order of the day for Marriott at the moment.

I would still encourage you to register the complaint & think carefully about booking Marriott in future based on the current practices of them not enforcing elite benefits and allowing properties to do what they wish, because "COVID things".

lamphs

Happy here in Skopje. Lounge only has non-alcoholic drinks. 750 MKD each day for use, lunch and beyond, in the restaurant (only open to guests and surprisingly busy as I type) in lieu of the lounge. Breakfast is in the restaurant; order anything I want off the menu. I'll post a review in the appropriate thread in a few days.

asnovici

Thank you, everyone, for your input. I will register a complaint and do a TA report.

Does anyone have a suggestion on whether to register the complaint via Customer Care email or via Ambassador Service email?

ChurnieEls

I would go through the Ambassador channel in your case. Ordinarily I would recommend Twitter. The outcome will likely be the same in both cases; they'll claim to register a ticket with the offending property & then you'll hear from neither Marriott nor the property again. I assume they do have to log these tickets however, so hopefully they'll start showing up on an analytics deck in a meeting sometime soon if (when) this reaches a critical mass.

I'm very much reminded of that Dave Chapelle skit with the way Marriott are carrying on at the moment - "Why treat the customer this way? Why?...."

asnovici

Just sent the email to the Ambassador Service. Will let you know what unfolds, if anything. In the meantime, Im adding a TA review about this place.

Radiation Station

I hope the hotel compensate you appropriately and apologise. I suspect most hotels care more about negative trip advisor reviews these days than Marriott corporate wrist slapping.

asnovici

Thank you but based on the experiences so far at this resort I am not holding my breath. Its a stark difference in attitude from staff compared to what it was like under previous management. New GM clearly has his mind set on playing games and cost cutting to the extreme. The hotel is owned by Remington Hotels and he is their employee. Bonvoy benefits or service seem to be at the bottom of the list for his worries.

WasKnown

Currently staying at the Le Meridien Central Park. No Platinum+ breakfast (the restaurants isn’t open), housekeeping every 3 days, and the gym requires advanced reservation. I’m staying for a month so 1000 points is definitely a big difference from daily breakfast. Truthfully, I don’t care about the restrictions as much as many people here seem to. I doubt the breakfast was anything special and housekeeping a couple times a week is more than enough for me. The gym limitations are definitely inconvenient but it’s not the end of the world.

NYC is pretty open rn with indoor dining back at 75% capacity (full soon) and most areas (including the hotel) are packed rn. I wonder what it will take for these hotels to start operating at “full service” again.

DELee

Perhaps they should be compensating you. Especially with at least 1000 per day for no breakfast.

David

WasKnown

I can understand why a lot of people would want compensation. I was unlikely to eat the breakfast anyway so I don’t care too much.

I think an customer-friendly solution for the breakfast issue is for Marriott to change the welcome benefit from 1000 points at check-in to 500-1000 points every night (to be issued by the hotel, not Marriott). I doubt that will ever happen though.