Sorry, I saw your second IME, but missed your first.

Suggestions that customers who don't like whatever policy is being discussed hit the road, are usually the last bastion of folks who have nothing better to offer, and I 'm surprised you went there. Nevertheless, I'm sure the many folks posting in this thread are grateful as to your concern over their "angst."

I'll trying to be helpful here by explaining that one of the major purposes of FT is so to discuss issues exactly like the issue being discussed in this thread. That is the impact of Marriott's change of language on its website as to a policy of high importance to regular contributors to FT. The tenor of some of the posts seem to change when it was correctly reported here that Marriott's manager in charge of the elite program was flat out asserting that there was no change and reports to the contrary were false, a claim backed up above by Socrates.

Reading different perspectives here, including those one disagrees with, such as yours, is interesting and sometimes educational, and even causes some of us to occasionally re-think our position on something. Telling people to butt out if they don't like whatever the policy being discussed is seems very contrary to the spirit of FT.

It is hard to decide how I feel about a policy when the policy is described in two different ways by the same company.

This is how the language reads in my paper 2011 Gold membership benefits guide (p. 5):

ROOM UPGRADE
Upon check-in, you can look forward to being upgraded to our best-available guest room. Upgraded accommodations are at no additional charge based on availability. Suites are excluded. Upgrades are not available at Marriott Vacation Club. Upgrades from studio to one- or two-bedrooms not guaranteed at Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites.

The new website language is definitely a purposeful change; there is no way it is a mere clarification as "best-available" is worlds apart from "next category"

This is one of those examples (there are several) where I think Marriott's lawyers have taken over and made a policy confusing. The fact is that many properties cheerfully upgrade me to suites whenever they can, usually without me asking. I appreciate this very much but I don't feel entitled to suites - I know that's not an official benefit. That is what I think (and hope) Marriott was trying to dampen - that we not feel entitled to suite upgrades. But much like the weekend breakfast fiasco a couple of years ago (a memo went out and properties took it as an order to stop offering comped breakfast on weekends) this sort of language could be twisted into properties saying "Oh its Marriott policy to not upgrade you to a suite, we'd get in trouble if we did (which is exactly the type of response I got when I asked a few properties why they terminated the free weekend breakfasts for Platinums).

I will continue to come back more to properties that treat me more special than others - I'm just a sucker for that kind of treatment.

I had many times where I was told I was upgraded only to find out it was from 2 queens to a king bed but this has been true in many chains, not just Marriott.

What he said.

On a dif note - I'm not feeling any 'angst' over CJKatl having to pay 50% on a Sat night rather than get it for free if Marriott goes to that methodology vs. the BOGO which allowed him to let his company pick up the Fri night & he got the free night on Sat, costing him nothing, given a lot of us don't have corps picking up our first nights

Back on this topic - the Marriott folk are speaking out of both sides of their mouths on this one & I applaud ohmark calling them out on it on both this thread & on Insiders.

Cheers.

This stinks! What I dislike most is the ridiculous claim by Marriott that 'nothing changed'. Most other chains are trying to enhance the Elite experience and Marriott continues to go the other way. So far I have 15 mights with Hilton this year (compared to only 10 for all of 2011) and 10 with Marriott ... with a lot more travel in the 2nd half of the year I can see myself to rebook some 20-30 nights from Marriott to Hilton.
I'll see if my upgrades change over the coming months; if that is the case I'll move my business away from Marriott. The combination of no more EEOs and this downgrade makes Marriott very unattractive.

Add me to the list of those who are confused now.

So are you saying that Marriott has always (at least for the last few years or more) had an internally only defined upgrade policy of one room category and they have just now (only because of complaints on FT) modified part of their publicly listed rules to match that?

Or are you saying that internally they still have no "one room category" upgrade limit and that someone has erroneously added that text to a webpage?

Now I do understand that you have access to internal documentation and that can sometimes tie your hands a bit and limit what you can and can't say. But I am truly confused by the comments directly from Marriott saying that nothing has changed. No publicly published rules and T&Cs on upgrades that I know of has ever stated anything about a single category upgrade limit. So either Marriott has been giving hotels one set of rules and their Rewards members a different set. Or there is no single category upgrade rule. In which case, Marriott should be quickly onto fixing the website to get it back to what has always (i.e. for the last few years) been the publicly listed rule of "best non-suite room available."

The people that have posted on this thread are a who's-who of my favorite Marriott forum people. A lot of great people who have shared their Marriott wisdom with us unwashed masses. I find it distressing that so many are gnashing their teeth, as am I, over this policy change. That said, to the topic at hand.

A while ago, I started a thread about moving to another hotel chain. I was disappointed with Marriott's less generous loyalty program ... but that darned LIFETIME STATUS bauble kept me going. I now see that lifetime status at a chain that has decided to monetize every aspect of their client base is not a benefit.
Where did things go wrong with Marriott? Is this due to Arne Sorenson taking the reins of Marriott? I don't know. I'm thinking that Marriott started to take a different direction once he reached the position of President and COO (May 2009). More than a couple 'nicities' that I enjoyed have been hard to come by since then. My fave was Bonus Bucks/Extra Euros/Premium Pounds - now extinct. Others have decried the death of BOGOs. And weekend breakfasts for elites. In the last 3 years, it's felt like Marriott has tried to extract maximum dollars from customers while offering less and less in return. That works in the short run but kills the brand in the long run.

Other hotel chains will work at not only getting, but also keeping your business.
I moved to Marriott from Starwood. I loved FS Starwoods (St Regis, Westin, W) but wanted LIFETIME status once my heavy traveling was done. So what did Starwood do? They announced lifetime status requirements this year. I've stayed at 3 Starwoods this year for the first time in ~6 years. Felt good; I'm impressed with the new Starwood. And I just got comped Gold; I'll be Plat before the end of this year but it was very nice to be comped gold after being gone for so long.
I also did a Hyatt Diamond challenge late last year. One word for Hyatts: AWESOME. I'm very happy with their level of service. I would recommend Hyatt to any MR member who stays at FS Marriotts. They're a bit thinner on properties but the level of service is a cut above.

I can't speak for Hilton or the other chains but it seems like the others are trying to get your business, whereas Marriott's current approach seems to be wringing as many dollars out of their customers. It's a shame. It's painful for me to watch such an iconic brand name implode.

Folks, there are other choices out there. I know it's very hard to leave Marriott but nothing will change until many vote with their feet.

It's interesting about 1 cat. room upgrade policy because when we checked in at several Marriott properties in Germany, this is was we were told, 'you are a Gold member and you will be upgrade to next cat. room you booked'.

I thought it contradicts with the 'best available room' term, but I guess there must be some corporate guidelines about 1 room cat. upgrade.

I'm certainly not a big fan of the 1 cat. upgrade because if hotels decides to exercise the right, then we might not get CL room, but rather like Hilton - you get a regular room with CL access. To me it's a downgrade.

1) I find no changes to the SOP
2) It's a common theme
3) there is no reference to "next highest room category" in the SOP

(sorry for the short answers - sick today)

I'm sorry but I'm not sure how you "win".....I'm not anything official for MI here (as stated in my signature)...in fact I'm retired from the company, and have been for quite some time now.....if your bet requires you to have an official answer from MI I'd be happy to put you in touch with them so you can find out if you won or lost the bet

No, not if your are a MR Gold member and are comparing that to Hilton Gold. Hilton has diluted Gold further and does not require Concierge Lounge access if you are not on the Concierge floor. All it requires is that you are given breakfast as a Gold and the hotel can put you on a regular floor and deny you access to the lounge and only provide you breakfast. Although a hotel may disregard the above and upgrade you to the CL, it very well does not have to do so.

The Marriott change is not welcome but we will see what it really means in practice. However, even with the change, CL access is guaranteed to Golds and above, provided the lounge is open. That is still different from Hilton's new formulation, at least in respect to Gold members. However, Diamond members are always guaranteed CL access, even if not on the Concierge floor.

that is not what I stated and that is also not accurate

not at all what I'm saying - the point I tried to get across was the SOP and all internal websites had not changed (to further clarify nothing internal makes any reference to number of room categories)