To the Marriott Prefered Guest Program.
After seeing the many posts from Starwood Prefered Guest, in the Starwood Forum answering their guests questions, complaints and comments, I wonder why Marriott does not go to this EXTRA SPECIAL guest service? Marriott claims to be better than Starwood the but the lack of Marriott here in this forum shows exactly why they LOST to Starwood in the Freddie awards and will probably LOSE next year too, they don't seem to care about what is said here. Marriott you should come in and do what Starwood does and come and stand before your frequent guests here and answer the comments here. It's YOUR MOVE! What are YOU thinking?

[This message has been edited by Loihi (edited 02-15-2000).]

Marriott, I have one question for
you. Are you listening?(reading
Marriott posts on this forum we call
Flyer Talk?) I can assume YOU do. You are my preferred
hotel.. And I am one of your best
customers!>>>>> YOU want to be #
1....Which I can understand.. Don't we all..Just curious.... Perhaps you'll win the "freddie" next year? All I can say is that you ARE consistant! Keep up the GREAT work...


Respectfully,

ONE OF YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS MARRIOTT
HOTELS, RESORTS, SUITES

Mike Mahoney


[This message has been edited by MIKE MAHONEY (edited 02-16-2000).]

[This message has been edited by MIKE MAHONEY (edited 02-16-2000).]

If/when Marriott picks up Loihi's gauntlet all of us will benefit from both programs trying to one-up each other!

Marriott please don't lower yourself to respond on this forum. Let's face it this forum is visted by a few die-hard travellers who have nothing better to do than winge and moan about points, miles and the fact that someone forgot to bow and scrape to them when they checked into a flight or hotel.

Time and again it has been proved that the anominity of this forum means that claims are consistently made which prove to be false in fact.

If someone has a problem with Marriott, they should have the guts to make a complaint to you direct, not seek a bit of publicity and an ego boost by using this medium.

This is the electronic equivalent of graffiti.

Don't waste your time and effort here. You know who your best customers are, you don't need to have them identified to you using this board.


Nick

Oh, by the way I include myself in most of not all of the categories above.

Oh, and while I'm on a role. Why should Marriott care if they 'win' (huhh!) a Freddie or not.

How many extra guest nights do you think they earn as a result of winning a Freddie?

Oh... Starwood won a Freddie - the stock price will rocket!!!

N

Merry,
It's all about SERVICE! Marriott claims to be better than Starwood. The key word here until I and the rest of us see Marriott PUT UP OR SHUT UP is CLAIMS. Marriott should care about serving customers. If they snub guests they will loose guests. The Freddies shows how guests feel about their hotels.
I spend about 4 days a week in hotels and I want them to service me. If they don't I will stay somewhere else. Starood has seen fit to answer questions of their guests here on line Bravo for them. Marriott take a clue.I don't have time to spend hours on the phone waiting for someone to help me. I can put a post here and get it answered with no time waisted.
Oh, P.S. That was 5 Freddies.

[This message has been edited by Loihi (edited 02-16-2000).]

Well, Merry, I have to respectfully disagree with a number of your assertions. First, while this forum is dominated by heavy-duty travellers that is what it is designed for. Sure there a number of people who whine about miles/points, but there is also a lot of great information and discussions on the positives/negatives of each program and how they can improve. Marriott should be reading these posts for that reason alone....unless, of course, they are not interested in improving. Second, you claim that most of the claims made here turn out to be false. I don't think so. Most of the claims and information here are very accurate, in many cases more accurate than what one can get from the program's representatives! Do some members post things that turn out to be wrong? Yes, but I have seen no evidence that it is most (or even a significant number) of posts. Marriott should be here to address incorrect information about their program....unless of course they don't care. Finally, most of the cases where Starwood has responded are situations where incorrect information has been handed out or where someone has already tried unsuccessfully to resolve an issue through normal channels.

In regards to the Freddies, its clear that the programs do care about them, probably more than they will admit.....why else would they bother promoting how well they did in the results and why would Marriott Rewards support this site if they didn't care? The Freddies are good PR for the programs!

My $.03 (inflation)

500,000 Marriott Rewards points earned in 16 mos through over two hundred nights

Never had a major problem. The few times I've had minor problems the hotel has normally taken care of it. When I have problems with points posting I have always had the phone picked up nearly immediately for a human and they've been helpful.

So IMHO Marriott's customer service is excellent. Maybe it pays to be Platinum, but I've been happy with my travel choices; USAirways, Marriott and Hertz all make travelling a breeze. I think that's what makes me real lucky

Thank you MileKing! You took the
words right out my mouth.. I honestly
do feel Marriott cares about there
customers.. Based on doing business
with them for twenty years... BUT
like with EVERY service company they
should be looking at improvement...
in ALL areas of customer
service...And yes the "freddies" are
GREAT PR....
P.S. As a response to a previous post.. There is alot of information on FlyerTalk that is both good and bad about the various frequent stay/ flyer/credit card programs etc... If ALL the news was good... This would be one hell of a boring board... I am very grateful for ALL the information I have received from Flyer Talk.. And it makes me feel good when I can provide iformation of value and importance to other frequent and not so frequent flyers on this board....

Mike Mahoney


[This message has been edited by MIKE MAHONEY (edited 02-16-2000).]

Ok, firstly MILEKING I never said "most".

Secondly, I have no doubt that someone at Marriott reads these posts and persues the evil manager of the Marriott Wanakambe who failed to upgrade a Platinum.

But why should they respond here? If you were them would you want to encourage the airing of your customer complaints is public?

If I have a complaint with a hotel, I go to the front desk ask for the Manager, find a quiet corner and discuss it in private.

I think that expecting Marriott to respond to customer complaints in public is the equivalent of shouting at the hotel manager across the lobby.

By all means let them read the posts here - but to demand they respond is arrogant in the extreme. They have a proper process for airing complaints after all.

As for the Freddies, well really, a day out for the Marketing people, a chance to show off to their bosses about what great loyalty programs they manage - the hotel chains and airlines collect gongs like we collect miles.


Nick

Loihi: "Starwood Preferred Guest" has posted exactly 4 times on FlyerTalk. Doesn't sound so EXTRA SPECIAL to me.

The lack of Marriott on this forum has nothing to do with why they didn't win a Freddie. "Starwood Preferred Guest" wasn't here before they won their Freddie. In fact, HHonors and Northwest were, and neither of them won Freddies.

Marriott runs a good program, Starwood runs a good program, so does Hilton for that matter. How about toning down your posts a notch?

Loihi: Either you work for Starwood or you had some really bad experiences at Marrriott properties. You haven't, I don't think, mentioned any really bad experiences at the Marriott so may be it's the former.......

[This message has been edited by Flyaway (edited 02-16-2000).]

I don't work for Starwood, I have had had bad experinces with Marriott. I am a Corporate Travel Manager for a big company in Hawaii.

I am a Marriott Platinum, and I have had overall excellent experiences with Marriott. It does bother me somewhat when Starwood fans seem to feel they must put down Marriott. Someone noted in another post that it is not true that one program is best for everyone. Nor can I judge other programs in which I don't have extensive experience. It is more helpful to simply share our positive and negative feedback.