deathwatch

Oh wow I was emailing them and just have a very horrible/funny thing that happened. I didn't know Marriott's IT/internal consistency is this bad.

I got an email from them in Jan. 2021 replying to my request in 2020 (I will go into detail later.) In that email it says <Marriott associate name>[email protected] <phone number> (I am in China currently and asked for a Chinese Ambassador and switched my address to China.) Beware that it is in capital letters.
I just booked a stay in Shanghai and asked the Ambassador's to ask the hotel if they could upgrade me. This is what I got back:
Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups:[email protected] e-mail address you entered couldn't be found. Please check the recipient's e-mail address and try to resend the message. If the problem continues, please contact your helpdesk.Diagnostic information for administrators:Generating server: [email protected]#550 5.1.1 RESOLVER.ADR.RecipNotFound; not found ##

I literally copied the email address from their email asking me to send email to that address and the address doesn't work!!!! Amazing! Marriott's IT can't handle capital letter it seems.....?

Now to rant a bit more on my other experiences with them:
At first I heard the lay off and losing personal assistance last year I was upset, but my personal Ambassador's email was still reachable and no redirect requests so I assumed the Chinese division is doing fine. But it hit them in Dec. as well. No personal email letting me down easy or anything, just an automatic reply after I sent an email to the usually address: Thank you for your email, someone from the ambassador team will respond to your note within the next day. In the future, please reach out to our dedicated ambassador team by emailing us at: [email protected] rather than using my personal email address. While this email is being rerouted for response, beginning in Jan 2021 emails to this email address will not be. Your email is still incredibly important to us and I wanted to make you aware of the change in advance. We are excited to assist with any and all of your travel needs. Thank you for being one of our most valued members.
And to add insult to injury, I actually need them for something important/time sensitive in Dec. 2020. I need 100 nights for the Platinum status gift, and one of the hotels I stayed at didn't post a stay. I used the website's missing stay form first after a week nothing so I emailed them on 12/21, and guess when did they get back to me? 1/19/2021!!!! That's after I send a second email on 1/14/2021. How's that acceptable for the supposed top paying members of your loyalty program?

I came from SPG and I emailed ambassador in December before and they certainly didn't take nearly a month to get back to me. Even the old SPG lurker email in December is much faster. Honestly what's the difference between the old SPG lurker and the current ambassador email now that it is no longer personal? Since my birthday is also in Dec. I only got a generic 50 USD Marriott gift card as birthday present.... Thanks a lot Marriott.

This year they ain't even waiving the 20k spend requirement, just lowered to 14k. Even with the double elite night promotion I am doubting if it is worth it to keep my status. What's there honestly over a Titanium? Maybe a few upgrades more here and there but is it worth 14k? I am probably jumping ship to IHG, already have Shangri-La diamond from promotion just needs something when I get back to US, and Marriott's status ain't worth jack in US anyway.

dcstudent

Um...how long do you all wait for a response from the general Ambassador line? I'm passing 24 hours without even a "we've received and we're working on it" type of response. ANd, I thought the request would be easy and save me a phone call to Marriott. I cancelled a reservation booked with an Amex 35K cert and the cert was not returned to my account even though it does not expire until 4/2022. Thoughts on next steps?

E-mail I sent to Ambassador:

Hello,


I need a FNA certificate credited back to my Marriott account.

I made a reservation at the XXXX Hotel "Location" for the night of "date" using an AMEX 35K FNA. THe reservation number was: XXXXXXX. I have since cancelled the reservation, cancellation number: XXXXXX.

Even though I cancelled the reservation, the certificate has not been credited back to my account for me to use. As the FNA was valid until 4/2022 it should be credited back.

Thanks for any help.

Dcstudent

anteater

Depends how urgently I need a response. For this, if I hadn’t heard back within 24 hours I would call.

Sadly, it continues to be hit or miss.

Marriott Bonvoy Lurker II

Hi Dcstudent,

We would like to help look into the certificate issue if you could provide your Marriott Bonvoy account number to us via private mail here or by email below.

Best Regards,

Christina Z
Specialist, Social Media
Marriott International

[email protected]

dcstudent

Thanks so much for offering to help Christina. Fortunately, I got an email last night from an Ambassador in the Singapore center letting me know the cert had been restored and I do see it in my account this morning. I appreciate your offer to help and all that the Lurkers do for us here!

deathwatch

Weird stuff, don't know if it has happened to any of you or just me.

My last personal Ambassador just emailed me a few days ago sharing the Asia 30% off food promo (which is really old) and asking if I am ready to travel again. And that I am eligible (71) to choose the choice benefit.

I had a terrible last stay at Royal Le Meridian Shanghai and the ambassador team failed to do anything to remedy it so I didn't book any stay since last month. Don't know if that's what triggered this email or Marriott is asking Ambassadors to send emails to their old guests en masse due to people getting fed up and not booking in general.

mileageking

Posting here instead of starting a new thread (mods please move if necessary).

Got an email from Ambassador service team called "Share your thoughts to shape the future". Basically an invitation to 3rd party survey to help shape Ambassador service better. I haven't done the survey yet but will do in next few days.

Anyone else receive this email or done the survey? Thoughts?

anteater

Yup, I was very honest and harsh. They need to change their processes to minimize service failures, to educate agents on policy, and to empower agents.

Kacee

I don't know why they need a survey. Spend an hour and read the threads on FT, then add some differentiating benefits to justify the $20k spend requirement and restore Ambassador service to what it was before Marriott completely gutted it.

It's really not rocket science.

goodeats21

I haven't received the survey, but they did this not too long ago as well. I spent 30 minutes on the phone with someone from Marriott who called me as a result of what I said in the survey.

They know the program is crap now. Time they move from data gathering to action.

Unless the plan is to keep asking until they get answers they like... Haha

khabah

I got the survey early last year and left an honest, fair but ultimately scathing review of my experiences from the program. I got an email response from a manager who apologized for my dissatisfaction with the program and asked for more feedback and thoughts if I had any, and I sent him a detailed email.

Crickets. Not even a “thank you” or anything of the sort.

When I got the survey email this year, I deleted it immediately. In my experience, the Ambassador program continues to get hollowed out and less rewarding. I agree with one of the posters above that all Marriott has to do is read through some of the threads on here, and they’ll have more meaningful feedback in a day than they would through their just-for-PR surveys.

I was on the phone yesterday with a manager from Ambassador services chasing down my lifetime years discrepancy [yes, that’s still going on]. I eventually got to her after filing another complaint with an Ambassador agent almost two weeks ago who promised me a manager’s response early next week [this was supposed to be last week] and I got nothing for nearly two weeks. Only after raising the issue again did I get this manager, who couldn’t explain or understand why I didn’t get a response when it was noted in their systems. She said she was part of SPG’s legacy Ambassador team, and understood that guests were super-passionate about the program and that a lot of guests today have been wary of the program. While she said Marriott is keen to preserve its spirit, I could implicitly feel in her voice and language that it is indeed watered down from what it was.

Marriott doesn’t care - this is all about their footprint and reach, and our “rabid” nature and “noise around the edges” will forever be the legacy of a CEO who ultimately set the tone for what impassioned guests who devoted huge amounts of time, money and loyalty to a program that meant something to them when he took SPG and mashed it into Marriott. We’re just noisy, irritating, entitled PITAs who demand pennies from their bottom line.

khabah

longtimereader firstimeposter

I don't have sunny memories of Ambassador service with SPG. I never received anything proactively and properties greeted me as a Platinum guest since it was not it's own designated level. Granted, as it is mentioned several times on this thread, it was most likely dependent on your Ambassador. I don't think Marriott has done anything to improve or worsen the service.

Kacee

Seriously? First they increased the load on each Ambassador from like 200 to 600, making it impossible for the Ambassadors to provide meaningful personalized service. Then they canned most of the Ambassadors and completely ended personalized Ambassador service. Ambassador service basically no longer exists.

longtimereader firstimeposter

It's my personal opinion. In the 8-9 years I've had an Ambassador I never received a 'personalized' experience. I honestly prefer to reach out to a team who can get things done as opposed to waiting for one individual to respond. Sure, in the past year they've removed personal Ambassadors but I wasn't travelling anyway.

Kacee

Unqualified opinion much?

If you read the posts by those who actually have been traveling there are lots of complaints about the current service, including inconsistent response times, inability to accomplish anything, canned responses backing the property, and in some instances downright hostility. I've experienced most of these. I find the service totally worthless (and totally different from my experiences with my Hyatt concierge).