I have two rooms booked next Friday at the MSP Marriott. One reason I booked it was for the gold benefit of free breakfast. I called and they said the lounge is closed and they do not offer breakfast to golds. This would seem to violate the gold breakfast guarantee unless I am missing something. Does this mean I will be elegible for the $100 referred to in the guarntees for golds? Thanks for any help?

Guaranteed Lounge Access/Free Breakfast
Help yourself to light snacks, beverages and complimentary continental breakfast in our Concierge/Executive/Club Lounge at participating JW Marriott Hotels, the Autograph Collection, Renaissance Hotels and Marriott Hotels & Resorts. If your hotel doesn�t have a Concierge/Executive/Club Lounge, we invite you to enjoy complimentary continental breakfast on your weekday stays. Outside the U.S. and Canada, you are entitled to continental breakfast 7 days a week. (Not available at resort locations.) In the event that this guarantee is not met, a guest compensation of $100 USD* will be issued to Elite members. [GOLD/PLATINUM]

You're not entitled to breakfast on Saturday or Sunday in the U.S or Canada, only Monday-Friday. So if your stay is Friday night no dice on Saturday morning.

Are you talking about breakfast Saturday morning or Friday morning? If your staying Friday night, then the hotel doesn't even have to give Plats free breakfast then. The elite benefit is for breakfast M-F mornings. Unfortunately, it doesn't include weekends.

Now if you are staying Thursday night and they won't provide you breakfast on Friday morning, then that would be against Marriott's elite benefits. I would then suggest you call the MR elite line and ask them to talk with the hotel to make sure you get the breakfast you are supposed to get.

I'm assuming you mean closed on Saturday morning. You are only eligible for the guarantee if the lounge would be closed during normal hours...and lounges are typically closed Saturday mornings.

If I'm reading this correctly, your cherckin is Friday so brekkie would be on Saturday................ if so, then the answer to your question is NO, the prop does NOT have to have its lounge open or provide you free brekkie.

Guaranteed Lounge Access/Free Breakfast
Help yourself to light snacks, beverages and complimentary continental breakfast in our Concierge/Executive/Club Lounge at participating JW Marriott Hotels, the Autograph Collection, Renaissance Hotels and Marriott Hotels & Resorts. If your hotel doesn�t have a Concierge/Executive/Club Lounge, we invite you to enjoy complimentary continental breakfast on your weekday stays.
http://www.marriott.com/rewards/member-benefits/gold.mi

I never really thought about it, but it does say your "weekday stays" and since the stay starts on a Friday, that could be considered a weekday stay. I guess I could see how it might be a bit confusing. Nonetheless, I have never expected breakfast on Sat AM or Sunday AM. I, like many people on this board, am upset about that, but its just the way it is.

why are you "upset" over a prop that follows the rules????

The poster, like many others here, is upset over the rule, not over the property following the rule.

It's hard to tell whether the lounge closures have been at the will of the individual properties or due to pressure from Marriott, but I think many of us view the closures less as following the rules but rather as doing the minimum necessary to stay compliant with MR's T&Cs!

Not sure how many are "closures." My guess, based on personal stays, is that most non-resort fs properties have not had weekend lounge hours for years. A number used to be open on weekends, and are now closed. One or two used to be closed, and are now open. Some with closed weekend lounges comped breakfast in lieu, but have discontinued that practice. Others which did not comp weekend breakfast in lieu, now do. Some which used to comp weekend breakfast, but then announced discontinuance, have recently reinstated the benefit, as I found out my last stay at the Marriott Westfields. And lastly, there are the properties that may or may not comp weekend breakfast in lieu, depending on who checks you in at the front desk and what their mood is. (I'm talking to you, Renaissance Toronto Downtown).

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/13849211-post1.html

Cheers.

Exactly as ohmark said; I am upset about the "rule" or lack of benefit. Whatever you want to call it, my disappointment doesn't rest with the individual property, but rather with MI/MR.

I for one is fine with that rule. If they don't want to provide free breakfast on the weekends or lounge access, that's fine no big deal. However, what I would like Marriott to start doing is improving the breakfast and lounge service they do currently provide during the week. While some properties have an amazing lounge and offer a very nice buffet spread (most international properties and a number of domestic ones); others are really a joke. Some lounges are really old and falling apart and what they call "breakfast" is pathetic. Maybe they should fix first and then consider changing the M-F rule.

Just my opinion.

For me, I'll look for properties that provide breakfast for elites during weekends - if there are no properties around me that give me weekend breakfast then I'll go for a non-FS or even another chain.

A good reason to stay at brands that give breakfast to everyone, on weekends in the US & Canada (if you're not being reimbursed for your meals, of course). Marriott has plenty of those: Fairfield, Springhill, TownPlace, and others. For me, I find it simpler to see if a decent property in one of those brands is around, rather than having to go through the extra research to see if a FS property (which is more likely to alos charge for parking even on weekends) has breakfast for elites on weekends.

Especially since in many places there are more properties in the "free breakfast for everyone" brands than in FS brands, and the ones that give free breakfast to everyone are also usually cheaper than the FS brands!

(And if you balk at paying for breakfast, why would you want to pay for a more expensive hotel than the one that gives free breakfast?)