Somehow I think Marriott new CEO manage to get profit by cost cutting alone without revenue, based on what he said.

But to be honest, Marriott definitely try to outrun Hilton instead of the bear.
They have their footprint as one advantage that hard to beat.
Although they will still lose to being independent.

I guess Marriott create that POV forum to hear which benefit they can afford to cut and which one they need to keep to outrun competitor.

Their footprint is really not better. They just have a lot of different brands in the same market. Hilton is many places they are not and while they do not have as many brands in a market, they only need to have one to satisfy the masses.

I presume you mean getting a profit without increasing revenue. If you don't have any revenue, you're unlikely to have much profit, no matter how low you can cut costs.

In the old Starwood program, if I wanted an award in something other than a standard room I could call and pay extra points. For example I wanted a king and the standard room was a queen, or a couple times I just wanted a better view. (Never tried doing this for a suite)

Does Marriott allow this? Sorry I could find a discussion when I searched here and the MR site doesn’t indicate it like SPG did. Thanks.

Sometimes (but not always) you can book non standard rooms with points through the app. I have had success contacting properties and getting cash upgrades through Marriott and Hyatt. I have never gotten a points upgrade that wasn�t already listed in the app but I also never really asked for it.

I also think there is a great point about footprint vs. super luxurious hotels. For example, in Miami, the Hyatt Centric and Confidante are perfectly fine hotels. There is a nice footprint of hotels on the beach and in the city.

However, the Confidante is not the St. Regis or the W South Beach. The Centric isn’t the JW, etc. I personally am just fine with staying at the Confidante. I understand why others wouldn’t be, but it isn’t really a “footprint” issue to me, unless the issue is that Park Hyatt’s footprint is too limited.

I�m glad you are a fan of the Hyatt Centric and Confidante in Miami. They look like fine hotels. But, ultimately, you do not really have much of a choice. IMO, this strictly makes Hyatt�s footprint more limiting. I really love that all chains have affordable options in most major markets for leisure. However, I really think the biggest point of differentiation is with slightly higher end hotels.

I do think Park Hyatt�s footprint is too limited and Hyatt does not really have a soft collection of luxury hotels comparable to Luxury Collection or even LXR. Even Hyatt admits many UCs are upscale and free market pricing seems to peg most UCs (ie Confidante) at this range.

Examples of major leisure markets without a developed luxury portfolio for Hyatt:

Boston, Miami, San Francisco, Seattle (though Marriott is weak here too), Houston, etc.

Internationally, I would argue the difference between elite status programs is much smaller (at least Asia and the Middle East). However, I still find Hyatt to fall behind Marriott for luxury hotels in key markets like Shanghai (where the Park Hyatt is fine but�.. in PuJersey).

In Europe, I think most of the chains are not amazing. I am currently planning a last minute Switzerland/Italy trip with some friends. In areas like Lake Como (where the cheapest acceptable hotel is pricing at $2k/night and I would love points options), there is really not a strong showing from any hotel. I am thankful there is a Park Hyatt in Zurich but I ultimately did not even book it.

I am simply saying, for those of us who are unlikely to stay in luxury hotels, the footprint isn’t really “that limited”.

I would be willing to say, that Marriott has a more robust network when you consider vacation properties. Hyatt is getting better at this with Destination by Hyatt, and by adding the Welk timeshares as well. But Marriott is way better with resort properties, at least in the southeast I have to say.

The footprint for most travelers, traveling for work, or who are visiting major city centers, really isn’t that limited.

Sure. I honestly agree with you. For normal FS properties, Hyatt probably has similar coverage. My only addition is that it also has less depth of options in most cities. For people solely loyal to Hyatt, your hands are pretty tied if you value choice when you travel.

�
Just for more context on the higher end hotel thing:

For higher end hotels, Hyatt just does not have a competitive US portfolio (sorry to beat a dead horse). That may not matter to most people on cash stays, but it is definitely a huge limiting factor for people hoping to get outsized value on redemptions.

I sincerely believe Marriott has a compelling value proposition here. You can redeem your points for an aspirational stay in almost every major city in the US. Hyatt, Hilton, and IHG don�t come close to matching that.

IMO, the depth of properties you can redeem at is crucial for the �reward� aspect of loyalty programs.

My experience is that Hyatt is also typically more expensive than Marriott, across similar hotels. This is obviously highly anecdotal but this has been one of the things that dissuaded me from Hyatt beyond the (for me) poor footprint. It is very uncommon for me to not find an option I'm happy with in pretty much any city in any country that is not adequately covered by Marriott (and Hilton Diamond as backup). Marriott gets a ton of criticism on Flyertalk which I suspect has to do with FT being quite US-centric. As a Europe-based Titanium member that stays globally, but more in Europe, Middle East and Asia I must say that Marriott recognition is great and I'm super happy with how my loyalty is rewarded. Is it perfect? Hell no, but it's pretty good and that's all one can ask for I think in the current travel climate.

What's up with Mobile Check-In defaulting to points, but you don't get the points? This is my 4th stay where I did mobile check-in and my points don't show. Heck, I even got $8 worth of stuff for breakfast in the lobby and didn't get my $10 F&B credit in lieu of those points. Once again I have to email the ambassador thing and ask for the points.

Does mobile check-in automatically put it on and hotels are removing it? Or do front desk agents just ignore it and hope no one notices.

Marriott had TPG come to an industry meeting with developers, executives, CFO, etc where they talked about alarm costs, breakfast costs, etc

https://thepointsguy.com/news/marrio...m-clocks-alis/

I do think it is kind of odd Marriott is now inviting loyalty bloggers to these kinds of internal business meetings to talk about cutting costs. It seems like they are intentionally trying to get customers to think about this stuff maybe? This has to be a CEO initiative, it is strange

TPG has been paid off by Marriott. Not an unbiased source.

It is not strange , this is a trend to make a good PR campaign by using influencer , bloggers or vloggers such as TPG's team, Sam Chui or some "instagram models"

Of course its not for free , but it come also at the cost of these people loosing their freedom or analysis skills , so you should rather view them as advertisements than news outlets

it was actually sarcasm on my part as Marriott CEO mention that they only want to appease their customers (hotel owners)
Seems like they don't need paying guests to fill and pay for those hotels rooms.