Here's my totally unsubtantiated out of thin air guess: Encouraging elites away from CYs and towards SHS, FS, et al, likely maximizes the number of guests across all brands...

Plat Marriott guests are going to react one of two ways: stay at the CY anyway or move to a nearby FS, Ren, SHS or FI. A very small number would wind up at a non-MI property.

At the high-economy/low-deluxe level, non-elites are less likely to consider SHS or a FS property. Those of us who stay in hotels often likely know the SHS brand, while the occaisional traveler probably isn't as familiar with that brand as with CY.

Not including breakfast likely translates to some elites choosing another MI brand hotel. If breakfast were included, more elites would stay at CY, fewer rooms would be available and the non-elites who couldn't get into a CY wouldn't choose SHS or a FS, but would, instead, migrate Hilton Garden, Hampton Inn or Holiday Inn Express.

As others have stated, MI could easily, inexpensively add breakfast. They've likely modeled revenues with and without the free breakfast and have figured they come out ahead not offering breakfast. They have the actual data with which to analyze this. They are a successful company. You gotta figure they know more than us when it comes to the cost effectiveness of hotel perks.

That's a very, very good point. Discouraging elites from staying at Courtyards may send them to more expensive high-end brands or provide needed business to the "lower"-end brands. This might make sense, after all.

Bruce

As long as CJKatl is playing marketing consultant , what's the rationale for not awarding point for incidental spends?

And not to point out something obvious, CY has never offered brekkie in its 22 years. IIRC SHSs are relatively new to Marriott (not 22 years), so I'm not sure sending folk to the lower cost brands was the rationale for not offering breakfast. Might have been a reason back then to go to the full-service brands.

Cheers.

Sharon - I think not offering points for incidentals is another one of those things that makes CY a less likely choice for elite travelers. Why give away more than you have to, when you're doing pretty well not giving it away?

The SHS brand isn't as well known as the CY brand, and the FI brand isn't as highly perceived. MI likely maximizes its overall bottom line by getting us out of the CYs and leaving the space available to the general public, since most of us would stay in a SHS, not a non-MI property.

Heck, I think most of us like the room set-up, bedding and better standardization offered by SHS anyway.

Personally, when I need to be somewhere, I use the address search function on the MI site. If there are a FS, CY, SHS and FI close by, I look at price. If the FS isn't too much more expensive, I say there. (We have good corporate rates at many hotels.) Otherwise, it's usually the SHS before the CY of FI, unless one of the latter are significantly cheaper. My tie breaker on those two is Trip Advisor.

I'm definitely in that camp.

Bruce

I'll take a HGI everytime over a CY when considering this type of property

HGI's slam CY in pretty much every imaginable way

Same here

+1

stayed at a SHS last night here in MCO.

newer, great breakfast, good bed

I'm guessing you didn't stay at the one on Universal. It's the only really old, decrepit SHS I've been to. The very nice woman at the desk indicated it's scheduled to be updated in the Fall, which is needed. The King bed didn't quite fit in the space, so it is practically under the exposed rod that serves as a closet. Clothes hanging on the rod stick out to the side of the bed. The elevators were hit or miss, and there was some issue with the pool that kept people complaining, to the point where they were going across the parking lot to the pool at the RI.

Literally the only way I'll stay at a CY is if the property is so darn cheap it doesn't make sense to stay elsewhere, or if it's close to a required mtg/event & there are not other chains available.

I'm in the HGI beats CY camp.

Cheers.

I started thinking about this when I took out the garbage (sorry, couldn't resist ).

I'd actually submit that CY is a 'lost' brand, and that really HGI & SHS are true competitors at this point.

Cheers.

I'll join the crowd -- CY has lost its way. And the breakfast is the biggest issue. SHS is now the obvious choice if both brands are available. When I stay in a SHS I feel like I'm getting what I used to get at a CY, and the rooms are generally a lot newer and nicer. I now only stay at a CY if it's my only Marriott option. They've really trashed the brand. A real shame.