eznh

Staying at my second Design Hotel. Currently at Hospes Palacio de San Esteban in Salamanca, Spain (as a Titanium). Previous stay was Mykonan Kyma (Mykonos, Greece) as a Platinum.

At the Kyma, the experience was basically the same as any other Luxury/Autograph Collection: greeted as an elite member, benefits fully explained. Received breakfast, a nice upgrade, and a late checkout with no pushback despite a full hotel.

At the Hospes, the complete opposite. Person checking me in seemed completely unaware of Bonvoy Program, but added that they are in training. Hotel did not even honor my standing room type requests (one bed, away from elevator). Emailed a manager later and was able to get a 2pm checkout, but that was it. "This is not a Marriott." Never said it was.

The Marriott T&C do exempt the Design Hotels from pretty much everything, especially if hotels just claim upgrades, late checkouts, etc. are "unavailable." A bottle of water, wifi, and 1000 point welcome gift are the only firm entitlements.

Curious which experience is the more common one at this brand. If the Hospes is more common, will definitely take that into account in future booking decisions.

ftrichard

As you've checked the Marriott T&Cs then I think you've answered your own question.

Design Hotels are independently owned and managed hotels that have joined a marketing organisation called "Design Hotels" and have additionally agreed to have their inventory sold through Marriott's sales channels to Bonvoy members. They are about as arms-length as you can get from Marriott corporate. They do not even use the same IT system as Marriott's own hotels and to my knowledge have to manually enter your stay details for the points and nights to credit after your stay into a portal so they won't have access to your Marriott profile.

Looking at the Hospes, it appears to be a Parador type property and offers a unique boutique experience in a historic building. It's also the only hotel bookable through Bonvoy within 60km. I would argue that the location and unique style would be the reason you stay there rather than whether they situate you away from the elevator.

To answer your question, though, start your expectations from no breakfast and no late checkout at Design Hotels and anything you get above that is a bonus. I'd suggest you phone the hotel if you really do expect more and it's a deal-breaker.

ElevatorEnthusiast

I've stayed at two Design properties - one in Amsterdam and one in Taipei. Both were decent stays, but nothing additional was provided beyond a slight room upgrade (better view in one, corner room in the other). No free breakfast, no late checkout, etc. (though, at one of them, I didn't ask as I had to leave in the morning anyway). I would not go out of my way to stay at a Design Hotel unless I run out of other properties to try or the property is legitimately interesting in its own right.

olivedel

Over my 3 experiences in Design Hotels, 2 were horrendous (with one ending in a full refund of the stay, in Iceland) and 1 was acceptable.
But expect just nothing in terms of Elite recognition. So Design Hotels are my last resort when there is nothing else decent around.

rylan

Pretty much same here as others mentioned... minimal if any recognition and negligible benefits as an Elite. I'm surprised you got breakfast, and upgrade, and late checkout at your first stay as that is well beyond what is described in the benefits (which are basically just that you earn points and get the welcome bonus).

Seattlenerd

Recently stayed at a Design Hotel in Brussels and I'll just pile on, politely: Got what I reserved, but nothing really additional as a Lifetime Titanium Elite. Was told I was getting a "room upgrade" at the desk, but it was (after checking the hotel's website again) the same type of room I'd already reserved and not the room type I had been told I was being upgraded to. OK stay, nothing special as an elite except 1,000 welcome bonus points.

shcboomer

I stayed at a Design Hotel in HK last year. The hotel already went above and beyond what they needed to do for a Platinum member. They gave breakfast for 2 at the restaurant and also provided 2 welcome drink vouchers to their bar. The welcome gift was points. No room upgrade as expected. My expectations at Design Hotels is just to be able to earn points and get the nights.

lost_in_translation

As you've noted, there is no consistency to the Design Hotels experience via Marriott. Some hotels do the absolute bare minimum required (which is almost nothing) whilst others view Marriott elite members as attractive guests and so offer additional benefits not required under the programme to entice you to return. As a broader point, I find many Spanish chain hotels in particular are extremely reluctant to provide loyalty benefits if not contractually required to do so and view this as 'giving things away for free'. Outside of brands that are part of major international chains (Marriott, IHG etc.), many NH Hotels (probably the biggest domestic Spanish chain) go out of their way to not provide anything more than you've paid for, e.g. trying to charge for late check out, refusing to upgrade even one category, etc.

Mykonian Kyma is a very well run property (proper champagne for breakfast!), I've stayed a couple of times and it seems a bit of a generous exception to the typical Design Hotels approach - I have even been upgrade to a suite with a private pool from an entry level room (albeit during COVID).

ftrichard

If this is Ovolo Southside, then they give all their guests breakfast and happy hour drinks along with the contents of the fridge and a goodie bag. At least they used to. The last I looked, the happy hour drinks were down to one free drink instead of one hour. The had an interesting approach to Bonvoy guests. The first time you book and stay through Marriott, they would give you all the benefits but tell you to book directly with them and not through a Marriott booking channel the next time to get the in-house benefits. You would still get the Bonvoy points and nights after you checked out but they really wanted you to avoid using Marriott's booking channels for your reservation.

ElevatorEnthusiast

+1 - no offense to the Spanish, but I was not shocked to read this was in Spain.

Or, perhaps, one of the Mira properties? I have always found them some interesting as an idea.

ohmark

Be curious as to which the Iceland property was. Also, if you care to share, what were the problems leading to refund? Thanks.

shcboomer

That honestly sounds like a lot of Design Hotels and their approach to Marriott bookings.
Yes, it was The Mira in HK. One of the upsides was the benefits are posted on their website already so I was aware of what I was getting. Ambassadors do get lounge access as well but sadly I'm a lowly Platinum member.
https://www.themirahotel.com/hong-ko...rriott-bonvoy/

DJ_Iceman

I stayed last weekend at a Design Hotel in Calistoga, CA. I booked the best room at the property on a package that included breakfast,so those two benefits (upgrade and complimentary breakfast) didn't apply anyway. So what I got was a nice hand-written note with a selection of local chocolates (not required) and my Ambassador bonus points (required). In other words, I got more than promised and am happy with my first stay at a Design Hotel.

Explore

Late checkout? What was the rate? Napa Valley hotels are super-expensive.

DJ_Iceman

It was $529/night. They proactively offered 4pm late checkout when I checked in, but I told them (as is almost always the case) that I'd be out early in the morning and didn't need any kind of late check-out.