anteater

Agreed.

Ambassador Service (TM) grants you exclusive access to our most basic, poorly trained, and sometimes hostile agents.

longtimereader firstimeposter

We are talking about two different things. You’re talking about the past year, which I think is a terrible reference point, and I’m talking about overall the difference between how I was treated as an Ambassador guest at SPG vs Marriott.

After having Ambassador service for 4-5 years at SPG and 4 years at Marriott, the service has not changed for me. I’ve never received “personalized” service on the SPG side or Marriott side so for me Marriott has not made the service better or worse.

I don’t have a reference point for how SPG would have handled Ambassador service during a pandemic where occupancy is at a record low. Maybe you do to make a qualified statement? Outside of bhrubin, who’s been banned from this board, I never heard anything glowing for Ambassador status on the SPG side but maybe there were more unicorn ambassadors out there.

Kacee

I compare it to Hyatt's concierge service, which has been absolutely stellar during the four months I've been Globalist.

Blaming COVID for Marriott's gutting of the Ambassador program is a cop-out. Hyatt has showed us how it can be done (a comparison which applies equally to the two programs' handling of the breakfast benefit, as well).

kennycrudup

This is now there after a long stay posted with the current 2x promo ... sooo "... yay?"




(Disclaimer: I've been on FT for a long time and well-aware of the current Amb limitations and FT disgruntlement of late with the program). I've still been traveling pretty regularly anyway (would have (re-)qualified for Ti late last year if I'd had to) so it will be interesting to see if I notice any changes during stays, and now that most of my acquaintances are dialing down the Covisteria I can start traveling to leisure destinations again (need to burn off those 21 SNAs, too!).

longtimereader firstimeposter

Going a different direction again. I just stated that I do not believe Marriott gutted or made the Ambassador program worse when they took it over from SPG, however you may be right in the past year that the service has been worse than it was two years ago. I think it has been equally underwhelming from the promises of some type of personalized service that I have not heard of anyone receiving in both the SPG days or Marriott's implementation of the program four years ago. I'm not sure how long you've had the Ambassador service, but I think I'm very much qualified to make that statement.

I don't have any data points in comparing the Concierge service with Hyatt to SPG or Marriott's implementation of their Ambassador service, but the SPG/Marriott bar was really low to begin with and even lower during the pandemic so it's great to hear Hyatt was able to beat them out. My overall view of Hyatt after all the blogger's hype and loyalist have posted on the Marriott board is that Globalist service, the Hyatt footprint, and lack of luxury hotels have underwhelmed me in the past two years of having Globalist status. My recent stay at the Andaz Mayakoba, supposedly one the of the best/pseudo-luxury Hyatt properties, has confirmed that.

Kacee

I don't have SPG Ambassador experience, having first qualified in 2019. But just looking at the objective facts, Marriott doubled the load on Ambassadors immediately after the merger, has now laid off most of them, and discontinued personalized Ambassador service. I don't know how that doesn't qualify as "gutting" the program.
I don't think that statement (Mayakoba as a "best" Hyatt property) would find much support in the Hyatt forum. I certainly wouldn't put it in that category. It's a very good value on points, with good restaurants, a good TSU suite, and a very generous breakfast benefit. It's not in the same league as most of the Park Hyatts, for example. I will say though that you'll be hard very pressed to find a Marriott property anywhere in latin america that provides equivalent value as a points redemption.

mfirst

I am curious - those of you who are (or have been) Amb. - what types of issues or problems have you asked of them?
... do you think the need for that type of program is because of all the variability across brands?
... it is rare that I have questions and/or problems (although my needs are probably much different) that cant be managed locally

-m

kennycrudup

TBH, the best tool that's worked for me for making specific requests (pre-Ambassador, anyway) is the "Chat" feature on the mobile app.

longtimereader firstimeposter

Okay, so you have no qualification in responding to SPG Ambassador service vs Marriott Ambassador service or the merger of the two which was five years ago. I never received personalized service, they can gut the program altogether and it would not change my lack of personalized service from my Ambassador at SPG.

The one enhancement that Marriott made, and I was excited to see how it played out long-term, was the making Ambassador it's own level. As you were never an SPG Ambassador, it was Platinum with an Ambassador. Hotels would thank you for being a Platinum member and you were no different than someone who staid 50 nights a year.

anteater

This is a long thread, plus a few others out there, but if you take the time to review, you will find there are many posts of amazing SPG Ambassadors / Platinum 100 + Ambassador Service experiences.

Personally, SPG was near perfect with the Ambassador Service and the moment the merger happened it went downhill. Marriott lost a pretty penny from me, but I still frequent the hotels that treat me well.

longtimereader firstimeposter

not what I recall and definitely not “near perfect” but I think people are looking at things with rose colored glasses. The SPG thread was full of people complaining of disappointing experiences and bhrubin telling people they were incorrect. You should take the time to review that thread if it’s still around.

Regardless, it’s just my opinion and experience that the service was mediocre before and continued that theme in the merger. At least we can all agree the service today is not worth the $20k.

anteater

Yes, I agree that these are our opinions and all we can reference are data points.

Personally given what I experienced under SPG and am experiencing under Marriott, I miss SPG.

As for BHR.. oh boy. When I directly asked him if he was leveraging his private FB group for AE guests into Cobalt status with Marriott he banned me. This was when he was railroading an official Marriott rep into the FB group, against a majority of the users’ wishes. He definitely does not have the average person's best interests at heart.

🤙🏻

Kacee

I don't need an ambassador to arrange a bathtub full of jello or Presidential suite upgrades for my giraffe. What is desired is a single point of contact to effectively handle reservation and program requests/issues. That is what Hyatt provides and what Marriott does not.
Yeah I've read it. Again, my giraffe doesn't need a Presidential suite.

longtimereader firstimeposter

You’re missing the point. Just stick with Hyatt, there’s no need for you to keep responding on this thread.

uanj

Under SPG you were assigned a specific Ambassador who got to know you somewhat, arranged small gifts like a bottle of wine or checked on your room upgrade. Under Marriott, no one proactively contacts you and your request or email gets thrown into a pool where the agents seem to be paid by the number of contacts that they respond to. Nothing to do with the quality or accuracy of the response. When an agent said she could not modify my reservation at a Times Square property that had been open for 10 years because they had no record of the hotel's existence (and she had my reservation number) I called it quits.

SPG was not massive, they really had to work harder. Marriott is too big and does not care about customer service at the individual level. It may well be that the Ambassador program SPG ran is not cost effective for Marriott, I don't know. But Marriott clearly is not that concerned with the much diminished service level the Ambassador program provides today.