Uh-oh. ***DUCKS***

Happen automagically when?

We pretty much followed upgraded room rules according to Marriott's policy, best room available when you check in. And we did that. Gold and Plats were always blocked in "preferred view" rooms but were not always upgraded. IME, a fair number of Golds and Plats do not care about being upgraded so we did not do it unless they asked. An upgraded room is one of the best service recovery tools, and if you give them away to people who do not really want them it can make your evening quite unpleasant.

1. Some properties track this information to see the percentages of business to leisure travelers. As far as giving your employer's name, that is a free lead for the property's sales team.
2. If it is not a big deal to you, just write the problem down and give it to the front desk in the morning.
3. At my property, the estimated time of arrival was too underused to be of any value. Almost all guests estimated time of arrival was set to the default time.
4. It is no hassle if someone calls within the cancellation window. However, it is a huge hassle when they call outside of window and expect a refund.
5. Marriott's property management system is antiquated but still very powerful. That being said, it takes a long time to perform simple actions. The program can automatically assign a room but what you were most likely seeing is the front desk agent trying to find the best room available for you. Other times, it might be the front desk agent doing a little acting after the guest asked them to check again for an upgraded room.
6. Some properties give bonuses to the front desk staff when they complete a full sell (mine did not). This also has to do with management expectations - some management will want a room sold for anything above operating cost at the end of the night, while others will tell you not to go below the rack rate.

Absolutely. Every other elite member is asking for an upgrade, so you will most likely miss out if you do not ask for anyone.

Thanks for your contributions!

Cheers.

Thank you fdguy!

Great information! Thanks for sharing!

Re: Platinum arrival gifts.

Is there training on offering them on check-in, and also on how to handle it when it's not offered & the Plat requests the $$ payout? There have been reports (when it's not offered) of some handling over the $$ no problem, some saying the guest requested points (when they didn't), and some arguing with the guest & trying to get out of paying it at all.

That question should also be extrapolated to include the bed guarantee, and how that's handled.

Cheers.

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Thanks fdguy ^ I learned something new today. Wish I could say that everyday.

Platinum arrival gifts are some of the first things you learn about. Everyone knows that $100 is promised if the Plat arrival gift is not offered. At my property you were given one free mistake, then every time after that it would cost you the $100 taken out of your check. Almost everyone forgot once, usually in your first month, but no one forgot to do it again. When it was forgotten, and the guest requested the cash, it would be given to them immediately without arguing.

All Gold and Plats were blocked in the guaranteed bed type selection in the morning to make sure everyone had the bed type that was requested.

Wonder if that's specific to your property? We were told by others that it wasn't taken out of an employee's paycheck & thus, if the situation arose, to not worry about asking for the $$.

Perhaps that's why some FDC fight tooth & nail re: not providing $$ or saying the guest asked for points.

Again, thanks for the feedback you've been offering in the thread. Like fireworksboy said, I learned something (and I didn't mean the mistake bit).

Cheers.

It's quite possible. I would imagine this policy varies from property to property. I agree that Plat's should get the $100 if they are not offered the arrival gift, but one could take another route if faced with resistance.

For example, the $100 would come out of my paycheck if I gave you cash but if I did a $100 adjustment to your bill, it would not. I could also give you points citing guest recovery issues.

What are guest recovery issues?

Hospitality jargon. Guest recovery issues = we screwed up and what we do to fix it.

Cheers.