Bizarre e-mail from Marriott
 

Could you imagine the outcry if thousands of MR members received an e-mail blast from Marriott talking about "The Divine Spirit of the Holy Nativity of our Lord and Savior" while peddling Christmas getaways? Something about this just rubs me the wrong way.

Leveraging religious devotion for personal or corporate gain always makes me a tad bit queasy. Whether they're trying to curry favor of Christians on Christmas, or Muslims on Ramadan, I will criticize the people doing it.

I mean, tell me if I'm wrong. I may be way off base here. And I'm the last person to be politically correct. But something strikes me as very odd about this blast. It just sounded like phony piety to me.

Plus, here's the kicker: I'm not Muslim. It's rather odd they sent me this message, worded as if it was a trip being organized by my buddy at the local mosque or something (i.e., the assumption that I'm Muslim and celebrate the month of Ramadan as a Holy month (with a capital "H"), believing the month itself has a, quote, "divine spirit").

Just extremely poor form in my opinion. I would suggest that Marriott stop sending e-mail blasts with religious overtones, regardless of the religion.

**dives into flameproof bunker**

Not IMHO you are not. Maybe just an overzealous ad. writer waxing a little too poetic but not really a huge thing.

It is worth noting however that some folks take big bizness to task for secularizing Christmas by wishing patrons happy holidays so you can't win for losing it would seem and either ignoring or embracing cultural or religious sensitivites each comes with a downside.

I think getting offended over "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" or even "Experience Ramadan in Egypt" is silly.

I'm completely with you. I also think they were just a bit over the top.

Agree with this.

Cheers.

I think you'll find Mariott are a bit desperate here. August is peak season but Ramadan is offputting to Western tourists as it conjures images of stars and stripes burning religious extremists. Or alternatively a country where all eating, drinking and tourism is banned during the month of religious fasting. Or both. Either way, immediately before Ramadan these hotels cost (at the very least) $150+ per night. On 11th August that cost reduced by a third, for no other reason than Ramadan, which has very effectively deterred westerners from visiting. Remember, this is peak season, at this time these rooms should sell themselves.

The idea that going to the Red Sea Marriotts will acheive anything like an authentic Ramadan is silly, quite the opposite, those I know who have been in the Sharm area during previous Ramadans have found absolutely no difference in their hotel at all, although they have remarked that visits to places such as the pyramids started and ended earlier, but significantly, nothing authentically Ramadan about the big western hotels, or for that matter in Sharm or Naama.

Obviously, reducing rates by 1/3rd has not had the desired effect of filling this empty inventory, so now Marriott is going further, slashing another 25% off the already heftily reduced rooms. These rates represent half the usual August prices but even so, you'll be very unlikely to get an "authentic" Ramadan experience in the Red Sea resorts.

You will however get a half price holiday in peak time...

Marriott could say, "Experience the authentic divine spirit of Christmas," with nary a peep from anyone.

Piety by a for-profit company is always phony; it's just an attempt to make (more) money.

Ramadan is holy (or "Holy") regardless of your religious affiliation. Just because it's not holy to you doesn't mean it isn't holy to other Marriott customers.

Of course it's holy to some customers. I don't begrudge anyone their religion. I guess my point is:

1. It's a very clumsily worded e-mail.
2. Considering Muslims make up about 1.5% of the U.S. population, the promo was worded presumptuously.
3. Why would a pious U.S. Muslim go halfway across the world to go to Egypt for Ramadan instead of, say, I dunno, Mecca or Medina maybe? Call me crazy.

This is just a miss all the way around... non-Muslims might think, "Why the hell would they think in a million years I might want to celebrate Ramadan?" While Muslims might think, "Why the hell would they think in a million years I might want to celebrate Ramadan in Egypt?" (Trust me, it's a completely nonsensical promo -- no Muslim makes a Ramadan pilgrimage to Egypt).

Just extremely clumsy marketing.

As BrightlyBob said, it smacks of desperation. They were trying to find anything to fill the rooms, and the marketing guys went... durrrrr, Egypt has some Muslims, let's say "Ramadan" and see if people come. I find it misguided and tacky to the extreme. But that's just me.

I would take this to mean, enjoy the local celebration, not that you are invited to celebrate

Seems a bit of a stretch to drop that into an advertisement for a beach resort. But I'm not that familiar with Ramadan festivities...is it customary for Egyptians (or other nearby Muslims) to take their holidays to seaside resorts during this period? Is it customary for advertisers to directly reference Ramadan in ads?

If I saw a heavily Christian ad from Marriott, I would probably expect it in reference to an Israeli, Roman, or perhaps a Utah hotel. It would seem to lack context if they were inviting me to celebrate the birth (or crucifixion) of Jesus Christ at, say, the Davenport, Iowa Fairfield Inn.

+1. Reminds me of the full page newspaper advertisements our local NY chain retailers felt compelled to put out in the days after 9/11/01 denouncing the attacks but stating they were open for business...

Thank you.

Haha, no, it is not. This is roughly 25% of my point. Ramadan is supposed to be a time when Muslims fast from dawn until dusk to REMEMBER HOW THE POOR LIVE EVERY DAY.

You do not do this by taking a $2000 flight to Egypt and staying at a 4-star resort on the Red Sea.

Not that there's anything wrong with expensive, nice vacations, just saying how ridiculous it is to market a four-star resort halfway across the world as as a good way to celebrate a month that is about self-denial.

Which is 50% of my point.

The last 25% of my point is that they're sending this to people they're not certain are Muslims in the first place.

I suppose?

Yeah, pretty much.

It seems, all this particular email is doing is littering up my inbox, and this forum, at least if you're interested in Sharm during Ramadan.

I'm not a muslim but decided to take Marriott up on the bargain offer in Sharm... but all is not as it seems... For the Ramadan offer (code M11) is not actually available in one of the 3 hotels, that is to say Sharm, AT ALL. Admittedly the M11 code does show up on September 7th but it turns out to be a 25 day advance purchase rate!!

So, at least a third the email upon which this thread is based is pointless, because one of the three hotels is not, actually, offering an authentic Ramadan discount, or at least not the one advertised.

Whoops...

And some screamin' good diving too!^

Yep lets all boycott Marriott now. Totally uncalled for.

Well, I don't fault 'em for that - who would really give them that kind of data to build marketing campaigns to begin with? I'm not offended when I get a generic "Christmas special" email from a hotel chain. The thing that struck me as odd was the "authentic divine spirit" bit. As if you'd get that at any large hotel resort...LOL!! :D

Maybe they should have stuck with "Special offers during Ramadan." Everyone, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, would understand it's simply a time period when the hotel needs to fill rooms.

Anyway, not really a big deal...just an overzealous copywriter.


Also...isn't M11 typically the generic Marriott Rewards code? I wonder if there are other codes for this?