What is the "guest of the day"?
 

I've seena sign at the front desk with somebody's name on it saying they were the guest of the day. What does this mean?

It's an arriving guest, probably an elite or someone who has previously stayed at the property, who is given some items (little bag with bottle of water and ?) from the convenience store at check in as a surprise little treat at some Residence Inns.

We had it at the CY I worked at a few years ago. Usually a Gold or Plat. They got a coupon for a free breakfast and their name on the Guest of the Day sign. I was the Guest of the Day at the Marriott in Birmingham, AL a few years ago. Free breakfast buffet.

I was Guest of the Day at the Marriott Magnificent Mile in Chicago. As a Gold member, they upgraded me to a HUGE multi-room suite and delivered a platter with mixed nuts, chocolate-covered strawberries and a couple of bottles of water.

I've had my name show up as the "Guest of the Day" a couple of times in the past. And as mentioned, its a nice little bit of "recognition" but there isn't much to it nor will you get much out of it.

I was guest of the week at CY in Dallas. I got free breakfast for my 3 night stay and 5000 points. Guest of the day got 250 points. Not sure what the procedures were but I got this the week after I filled out a glowing review for the front desk clerk who helped me during a stay. She offered me an upgrade to balcony suite, I said sure thing and the a/c wasn't working. I had just unloaded 26 boxes of paperwork so I told her I would really like to stay in the room while they tried to fix it and it took about 3 hours but they took care of it. She gave me 10K points a free movie and breakfast for my troubles. I wrote nice things about her in the review your stay email and on my next trip I'm guest of the week.

Thanks. Maybe I'll get it someday.
 

Ive got several stays in the next 6 weeks lined up. I'll see what happens.

I've been "Guest of the Day" at several non-FS properties. Bennies ranged from zip to food to points.

How does the property determine who the "Guest of the day" is? Any criteria or guidelines they follow?

I would guess that since this isn't something mandated by Marriott, it is totally up to each individual hotel to decide whether to offer it, how they implement it, and what criteria they use.

The guidelines at the CY where I worked were very strict. Sometimes we put names in a basket and pulled one out. Sometimes we had one of the housekeepers pick the name they liked best. And...sometimes we picked the one we thought was lowest on the MR totem pole...based on nothing in particular.

I was the guest of the day while at the Courtyard in Charleston on a work trip about a month ago. They just gave me a bag with some candy and hand sanitizer and stuff in it.

Like everyone said, it looks like they just post some elite members there on the frontdesk. The first time I didn't even notice it until one of my friends mentioned it and pointed to my name (still Gold at that time). I returned again a few weeks after (Platinum) and saw my name again. Maybe they don't have a lot of elite members going to that property. Both times have been a weekend getaway trip at a Fairfield Inn and there was nothing special during check-in. Didn't expect anything unless it was a FS Marriott but then again it varies by property.

I'm amused by the notion that housekeeping decides who to give hand sanitizer to.

One could always take a picture of it to show mom or the kids :D

Cheers.