Make A Green Choice (MAGC) discontinued by Marriott
 

Just read through this article from LoyaltyLobby where it seems that Marriott has not only reduced housekeeping to on-demand, but has now completely killed off MAGC. According to a spokesperson's comment, the "overwhelming majority" of members don't opt into the program anyway so away it goes.

Gotta love Marriott and its incredible ability to take take take away. Looking forward to seeing what other loyalty perks will inevitably be stripped away from us in the days ahead.

khabah

It was so inconsistently applied that I'd pretty much given up anyway (many times I tried to take the green choice but didn't see the points afterwards. I won't miss it. Housekeeping on demand as a long term concept is interesting, kinda removes a differentiation from airbnb, I will be demanding it, but I am sure it would be popular amongst hotels looking to cut costs. On my most recent stays the hotels were reducing housekeeping to every other day blaming COVID (in Greece), and right now I can understand that. I would however rather that they made housekeeping wear PPE (ala Qatar Airways staff) and paid them a bit better.

I consider anything at the moment fairly temporary and won't get too "outraged" until we are back to normal (whatever that normal is), in 6 to 12 months.

I’ll continue to put out my Do Not Disturb sign. I won’t miss the 500 Marriott pts/night. Very few properties offered it anyhow, at least where I stayed.

Ultimately less housekeeping during a multi night stay will become more of an industry standard, so no sense in giving members points for it. However if you want housekeeping during your stay I am sure some brands will let you pay for it via cash or points.

It was worth it when it was 500 Starwood points, so worth (to me) $7-10/night. When it became 500 Bonvoy points, and barely worth $3, if that, I stopped caring about the "benefit"

Yes-- I've had four US hotel stays in the past two months across Marriott, Hilton and IHG, and every single property, from select service to full service, was not offering housekeeping during the stay-- was told to go to the front desk if I needed extra towels, bathroom amenities, etc. The property owners are already cost cutting as much as possible so I'm sure they realized there was no point in offering points for MAGC since for most properties, it's not even an option for people to opt out now.

And of course there's the obligatory lie by Marriott about the reason for the change:

Quote:

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The global pandemic is affecting the preferences of all guests staying in our hotels who are increasingly choosing to forego daily housekeeping to limit contact during their stay.

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I suspect that McMarriott will not miss this opportunity to pare back amenities. Post 9/11, airlines stripped away all manner of services and today one often pays extra for anything beyond a basic seat.

Will the Walmart of Hospitality soon offer a la carte pricing for daily housekeeping or in-room coffee machines? At this juncture, the difference between the brands is blurring as cutbacks appear everywhere.

Translation: "People never used to opt for the program, so we didn't really care, but now with COVID, most people don't want housekeepers in their rooms during their stay, and thus we've actually had to give out a lot more points than we ever wanted to."

Next step will be an added junk fee for housekeeping.

You probably said this tongue in cheek, but I could totally see it, especially for limited service properties. "Base rates include housekeeping every 4 days, additional servicing is $15/night".

So stupid to kill MAGC - it is such an obvious opportunity for a win-win: hotels saves on housekeeping costs and passes a share of savings to willing customers.

The point is that “saving on housekeeping” will become an industry standard - meaning that in 2021 and beyond, many brands will no longer offer daily housekeeping as a standard amenity. Maybe Ritz Carlton, Waldorf, Park Hyatt, etc, but many others won’t. So Make a Green Choice is irrelevant in that environment

I could also see Marriott justifying the "overwhelming majority" of people staying at the hotel don't ask for a 4pm checkout, so might as well get rid of that too

That would be a major devaluation of benefits for Platinum and above...

Pre-Covid, I used to make good use of MAGC even at the devalued levels but it was nice to have the extra points in my account.

I have a feeling an 'overwhelming majority' don't ask for resort fees. Perhaps those can be removed as well.

Alas whatever benefits the customers gets reduced or cut but whatever benefits the corporation gets “enhanced”.

At the hotel level, the savings you get from going to no automatic housekeeping over a multi night stay are much more significant than any change to 4 PM checkouts for elites (plus, housekeeping changes impact all guests while the 4 PM checkout benefits Plat an above). So hotel owners are much more about housekeeping, which is why it is not coming back to the same degree next year

Recently stayed at Four Seasons Scottsdale, which is still offering daily housekeeping and evening turndown as guest options. You're requested to let the front desk know when you'll be out of the room, so they can service it empty.

An example of how it can be done.

Similar to the St. Regis Bora Bora where I received daily housekeeping and evening turn down service while I was out of the room. The Butlers will coordinate with you as to when you’d like to have these services done and it was conventionally done during my dining hours.

That being said, I do recognize that it’s easier to do at the higher end luxury properties where there is significant staff on hand and a smaller subset of guests.

I liked this option, too bad it's gone.

So are the 'communal' bathroom ammenities like the shampoo, conditioner, soap etc going back to individual containers so we don't have to worry about them being properly cleaned from a previous guest?

the new make a green choice is bring your own shampoo conditioner and soap.

I don't think most people realize, yet, just how serious a paradigm shift is coming to the T&E industry.

I think we'll be quite lucky if none of the major chains go out of business in 2021.

Like the airlines, they’ll be deemed too big to fail, slash their offerings, and provide the worst possible product they can. And people will be forced to stay there anyway because there just aren’t that many options.

Well its hard to slash much else when the hotels already are not providing housekeeping, closed lounges, closed gyms, and suspended elite benefits so you get to pay for breakfast if the restaurant is open. Its really just a bed and bathroom now.

MAGC was a phantom benefit anyway. In my experience, only 25% or so of my stays where I opted in to MAGC would actually credit it. Then the calculation became whether it was worth trying to chase down 500 points by reaching out to Marriott. Since there was no automated to do this, it simply caused annoyance or simmering anger...

Agreed, the problem is how much of this is going to come back. Will it even be worth status or will it be more like airlines now where overall it’s cheaper and better for me to just buy F on the airline/flights I want. Ten years ago if I were flying to FRA I’d choose DL 100% of the time.

Now, with the erosion of benefits and pricing, I’d rather fly B6 to JFK and SQ to FRA, than spend money on the lackluster DL J product (and by now I mean pre-Covid).

Blind loyalty for me doesn’t make sense when it comes to airlines. I find I’m better off paying for premium services that I want rather than hoping all the money I spend will get them for free later on. With Marriott, the #1 most important benefit to me is 4pm checkout. If that goes away, I’ll stop caring what property I stay at and mix and match wherever works best for me at my destination.

So far, FHR is still offering the 4 pm guaranteed checkout, plus daily continental breakfast and another amenity. Time to become a free agent and explore some elegant/boutique nonchain hotels.

This is perhaps the most accurate post on this thread.

Purely anecdotally : I've still been seeing quite a number of MAGC tags on door handles even after it was devalued to 500 Bonpoints. Does anyone else's experience also differ from the "overwhelming majority don't" claim ?

I stayed at the Courtyard Boston Waltham for two weeks in March, a hotel which participated in MAGC but offered a property-specific bonus of 1000 points for declining housekeeping, and most if not all of the doors in the wing I was staying in had the cards hanging on the doors. I'd also noticed quite a few cards on doors at many properties I've stayed at in Europe and the Middle East, both during the SPG days and even after the devaluation.

This is just another opportunity for out-of-touch Marriott to make more program cutbacks under the convenient guise of COVID-19.

khabah

Maybe it's the overwhelming majority who don't bother trying to contact Bonvoy to claim their *missing* 500 points after opting in for MAGC and then having the hotel not perform the housekeeping services and then fail to post the points.

And still not pay their housekeeping staff a livable wage.

An "obligatory lie"? Really? Pretty strong words.
I just returned from a long-term stay in Massachusetts where none (read ZERO) of the guests I spoke with wanted housekeeping services.
Why would anyone want a stranger entering their room, touching their door knobs, faucets, sink, blanket, bed sheets, pillow cases, work desk, lamps, TV remote, light switches, etc. during a worldwide pandemic?

Marriott's statement is neither obligatory nor a lie.

Newman

Maybe "lie" is strong as the statement is technically true, but it is disingenuous to say the least to use it as a reason to discontinue MAGC. Read the full statement:Marriott is trying to make the case that the "overwhelming majority" of guests both: (1) don't want housekeeping service, and (2) don't wan't the bonus points for forgoing housekeeping. That is patently nonsense.

On the contrary, I can see Marriott claim that "overwhelming majority" paid the fees, They can get all hotels charge these resort fees!

Back to MAGC, I don't think I opt in for this before.
Maybe i was part of these so called "overwhelming majority" :D

That is NOT the case Marriott is making.
Their statement is quite clear. The "overwhelming majority" of Marriott guests do not choose the green option. I have no doubt that is true, and also no doubt Customer Service has the statistics to back that up.
Their statement also says that during a worldwide, highly contagious, and deadly pandemic, an increasing number of Marriott guests choose not to have housekeeping service. Perfectly sensible, and again, Customer Service most certainly has stats to back that up.

Marriott has said nothing wrong at all. And no reason to be giving out free, unearned points during these awful times for the hospitality industry.

Good job Marriott!

Newman

These statements contradict each other.

Even if the overwhelming majority don't choose this option, what is the point of discontinuing it? It's not as though it costs them any money to keep it.

Totally agree. It would be much less disingenuous if they had just said "times are tough in the hotel industry, we are trying to manage housekeeping expenses, and we don't want the unnecessary extra expense of paying out MAGC points when housekeeping isn't used". We'd end up in the same place, but it would be more honest.

Maybe a majority of Marriott guests don't do MAGC because they aren't eligible for it: They're not Bonvoy members, they're only staying one night, or the property doesn't offer or publicize MAGC.