Brand standards were never suspended, only the related guarantees. It has always been up to individual properties what they offer, but if they do not meet the minimum guaranteed you can make a claim, as others have suggested.

Can you elaborate on this "make a claim"?

You need to make a claim while at property.

https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/mem...s/guarantee.mi

Truly amazed that people still give money to this company

Look, I believe we should be flexible because of Covid - if club lounges or restaurants are shut, we shouldn't complain & demand compensation. It's a pandemic. we need to be safe and many hotels are going out of business with people losing jobs

Let's be understanding of the difficulties these businesses and humans are facing.

However, if a hotel is selling breakfast but doesn't give elites breakfast, then we should complain hard

If a hotel is selling breakfast or Club Lounge access but both are closed, then we should complain hard

Hotels doing that are cheating the system and loyalty program and should be held accountable. Marriott should too if they don't enforce brand standards

But we all need to be flexible

no, Marriott decided to reinstate their elite benefit guarantee. That’s on Marriott. If they didn’t think hotels would be able to adhere to the benefits, they shouldn’t have reinstated the benefits.

The benefit standards are abysmally low, the hotel literally could give every guest a muffin, banana and coffee. If hotel cannot spend <$1.50 per guest, they deserve to payout.

The old COVID excuse for everything.

Speaking for some hotels outside the US, referencing the Grand Hyatt in Muscat where I’m based in particular, lounge access rooms are being sold despite the lounge being closed by government order. Instead, they’re offering their daily presentations like breakfast in the main restaurant, while using the hotel bar for hosting daytime drinks/snacks, and rotating menus of hors d’oeuvres and happy hour in the evening. I’ve seen reports of the Millennium Hilton in Bangkok partitioning off a section of their lobby lounge for lounge-qualifying guests, and they get served their daily offerings there.

I’d consider using an open hotel venue a fair trade off for a private bar so long as they offer what they promise. Selling club rooms with nothing in return, however, is fraudulent behavior and any property that does this should be named, shamed, reported and avoided.

khabah

If a hotel isn't able or willing to provide ALL services then they should just shut down.

Per its Insiders post, Marriott has given properties some leeway on what they offer:

Quote:

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Please note that based on day-to-day business conditions at individual hotels and/or government regulations, properties may offer a breakfast alternative when lounges and restaurants are closed such as grab and go or credit for food and beverage purchases on property. As always, the Lounge and Welcome Gift elite benefit depends on brand and geographic regions.

---

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32960019-post1147.html

At the same time, Marriott's left the benefits guarantee in the Bonvoy T&C intact. So it follows that if a property elects not to offer anything for breakfast, it's subject to a guarantee claim.

Personally, I probably wouldn't make a guarantee claim if the property's restaurant was closed and there was no onsite alternative (market or Starbucks, for example) and staff were nice about it. But under the rules, a claim would technically be warranted anytime the benefit is not offered.

Like reducing their room rates? Or updating their website to disclose the closures? Or not selling rates that include breakfast? All the things you would expect any honest manager to do.

My expectations have been altered by the impacts of the pandemic. Personally, I'm not going to pull a DYKWIA with a front desk employee at a struggling property who's doing their best and is probably worried about losing their job if/when the hotel closes.

If the hotel has sold me a rate that includes breakfast, and isn't offering breakfast, that's a different story. But this thread isn't about fraudulent breakfast-included rates. It's about the elite benefits guarantee.

Do your job or pay the claim!

I do feel bad for these independent hotels that are probably on their last leg however Marriott sold us on the claim that if you stay X number of nights with a year, you get these Elite Benefits. Last year, they decided to suspend those, which I think made sense. On January 11th they decided they are no longer suspending the Elite Benefits and were letting hotels reposition breakfast in to go bags. If hotels didn’t get the memo, they can take it up with Marriott and if they got the memo and refuse to offer a banana, muffin and coffee, they deserve to pay the $100 claim.

again, if the franchisees have an issue, they should take it up with Marriott. Marriott is very franchisee friendly and less so customer friendly. They will bend over backwards for franchisees.

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