guess i need to get out of the US of A!;)

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I had the minimum 75 nights the year before I made PP. The year I made it I stayed most of the year in a RI at $100/night.

Actual experiences will differ by PP member and location. Rome Flora is one of the good ones.

Meg's experiences are on the extreme to the bad side but I've seen many of the issues she as seen. The one 'defined' benefit is you are supposed to get the 'best' service, which is hard to quantify, but since most PP's have been Plat's for years they know what service they got previously. If the front desk doesn't even know you are PP how can they even try to provide you with the 'best' service?

Still have not got my card, but it all seem the same as reg Plt

Again....no difference...you are correct.......

I really would like to see some changes made...i have sent countless letters and emails to the powers that be.....ah well

Got my new card yesterday! woo hoo:rolleyes: and i LOVE the 3 coupons for a 20% discount on dinner...:eek:

guess i should be nice....and fly to Europe! You would think that for the 5000 or so PPs that are around, the desk would actually LOOK at the little code in the computer and be nice!

ah well

no difference for me either. though it is nice to be recognized (which i appreciate BTW)... there really doesn't seem to be any real advantage to PP over "regular" Plat.

I was Plat with over 200 nights a year for 4 years before they gave me PP.
I noticed....no difference thus far at all. I get upgrades by flirting with the front desk girls, not because of my status. Wish I was kidding.

Maybe they should take Starwood's lead and assign an "ambassador" who calls the hotels and arranges the top level service/upgrades for high-value clients :)

WELL!!! I got recognized.....twice in one day! (he!! is gonna freeze over!)

Long story short...got upgraded to a Jr Suite at the Newport Rhode Island FS, BUT i needed 2 beds as oppposed to a bed and a pull out. something wacky happened....BUT they gave me b-fast coupons, free parking and free internet, plus a wine & cheese try...HOWEVER, it just wasn't working (my mom & i wanted to have a really nice weekend away from home and she didn't want me to sleep on a sofabed--PLUS, i know it's cheap, but WOW...ghost town!....) the asst ops mgr really tried to be nice, and i felt bad leaving.....:o

In any event, we left and moved just outside to an RI. I called to tell them what i needed...the sales mgr said..wow, a PP....you guys walk on water!!! woo hoo...1 hotel out of what, 2000 that said that???!!!:):D

Cool....got what i consider an almost perfect room (2BR, access-just missing a fire place and oven but i can deal!) for $35 bucks LESS (and there is civilization here!)

So.....i guess i am up to 3 or 4 upgrade...one REALLY good upgrade and 5 or 6 recognitions as a PP in, hmm....about 1.5 years??? in over 300 nights worth of stays?? that's what....something between 1 and 2 %?????:rolleyes:

well..according to the Asst Ops Mgr at the Newport RI FS they get a letter letting them know PPs are coming (unless they get a letter when I come since, ok maybe marriott has ticked me off a LOT???) and it said to "take care of this guest" which they tried to do, but wacky stuff happened.....

i agree though.....my profile has accessible double double in it...and for some reason, that went bye bye for this ressie.....THUS i think that the rocket scientists at MRs IT dept need to have some sort of rolling preference thing...IE..if Ms Megtravels needs an access DBDb but the hotel doesnt have it, the next thing should be DBDB instead of NOTHING showing up...so maybe they do need someone to do that...Hmmmmmm Oh BILL........I'll take that job...I can do it from the comfort of my couch!:cool:

absolutely no difference here......
 

I have yet to be recognized as a PP, with simply the phrase being uttered "would you like your points or something from the list" in the 3 longer term stays I have been on. Asked for a late checkout today and was offered a single hour later then the normal 12 noon and they wouldnt budge past that time.

I keep asking myself why I even bother with Marriott much anymore. I am checking out the Wyndham down the street for the next few weeks so MI is definitely losing out on business from me.

--DD73

Ohh...DD, Wyndhams can either be GREAT or REALLY lousy....IMO there is nothing in between.......(but i like their byrequest.....free snack & drink and free internet all the time...all over-i even used it when i technically wasn't a guest over by ORD-i was waiting for a room in the lobby...but i think they permit ByRequest members to have free internet anyway!)

wow a whole extra hour??? I was ALSO told by a GM someplace that SOP Later checkout for PPs is 4 PM! Hmmmm...

I am pleasantly surprised by this Wyndham (RTP in NC) and definitely can't beat the $35/nt PL room I'm in. The MOD even stuck me on the top floor in a corner room so I can wave at the Marriott across the street, was somewhat amusing to me when I told him I was always on that side of the street prior to this.

So with service like this on a PL rate I can only imagine what else they will do for me in the weeks to come.

And yes, sadly the RI I just left down the road would only give me a single hour of "overtime" in my room before sending the maid up to knock on the door a few minutes prior to the 1pm checkout I was given. If 4PM is the defacto standard for PPs, something is definitely wrong with this picture.

--DD73

Could PP be the New Plat?
 

Please forgive me for starting this thread; I think many of you know by now that my brain works in mysterious ways and I sometimes come here to bounce ideas off fellow frequent travelers. Sometimes (like my last idea as to why Marriott might intentionally be shedding low-revenue, low-loyalty guests) you all roast me over an open spit. We'll see what happens this time.

Anyway, I noticed as the year began that a LOT more people here happily chimed in that they'd been granted Platinum Premier status. While the FT population of course is skewed toward the frequent traveler, I also have to think that only a fraction of the actual PP's come and post here, leading me to believe that the requirements have been loosened up and the ranks of PP are swelling.

At some point, hotels are going to change from the current situation (where most either don't know what PP is or bend over backwards because it's so rare to have one checking in) to seeing enough PP's that it will become more routine. And assuming the best upgrades, treatment, etc. go to the PP's, at some point your basic platinum guests are going to be seen as second-tier citizens.

I watched this exact thing happen at United--when they first introduced the secret "Global Services" program it truly offered service a notch above even their 1K program (which was pretty special at the time, too). Now there are at least a few GS on every flight, and 1K benefits and treatment have suffered in favor of the new, REAL top-tier fliers.

Is Marriott starting down this road? And isn't that dangerous, considering it takes 75 nights a year just to qualify for plat? It seems to me that they need to be VERY careful to limit the total number of PPs in order to maintain the aura (and reality) of exclusivity, and so as not to make it seem in anyone's mind that a platinum member is a second-tier elite.

Its a Marriott decision, if they work out (in the current climate) that 75 nights a year is no longer enough to rate you as their best customers then fair enough. All they have to do is clarify to the world at large what a Platinum Premier is, and what you need to do to get it. After all, until I started reading flyertalk I never realised there was a higher level, and none of my colleagues was aware too (and still probably most aren't, even though many of them have stayed in Marriott's for many more years than me)

At the end of the day, what more could Marriott officially offer to someone if they said '125 nights a year for platinum plus'... a slightly higher chance of an upgrade (very unquantifiable), more bonus points etc....

Plus, is it dangerous, at the end of the day it is Marriott's choice if they wish to do this, but, bearing in mind that most people here choose to get 75 nights and then 'share the love' and to get an equivilent status at Hilton you only need 28 nights (if you do 1 night stays) then what extra would it offer...

As someone who normally does ~150 nights/yr but isn't a plat premier I haven't ever thought that my treatment is worse because of the plat premiers... and I'd expect that if they made this an official status they would probably just put a number of nights on it (as people will want to know how to reach it, an informal bar changing number of 'top 3% customers' won't hold it for most people) and then I'd be happy as I could probably then make that bar - but I'd expect more points or similar, rather than something unquantifiable like 'maybe treat you a bit better')

Now lets be cruel... and Marriott isn't that stupid as it would lose too many customers and revenue I guess... but Marriott made this new super level at 100 nights, and said only 75+ nights gets you lounge acccess... would it matter, I think the key benefits to a plat are;
1 - more bonus points
2 - lounge access
3 - 48 hour room gaurentee (at least for me as I like to stay at Marriott's and appreciate this benefit as I use it quite a bit)

The room upgrades are nice, but really as there is no gaurentee it isn't expected, plus, if only staying in a Marriott for 1/2 nights and that may be the only time you stay at that hotel then you never truely know if your room was one of the best, or one of the worst, in that particular hotel (unless it is a suite)!

PS: Haven't Marriott had the premiers for a long long time anyway... but due to their strange criteria (i.e. you don't lose it easily) it may explain a gradual increase in numbers.

As Marriott has the highest top tier qualification already and many folks(such as littlevoices) have stays well over the required number of nights and yet do not achieve P.Premier status I am not sure that this would be a viable business plan.

I am pretty sure Marriott sets a dollar amount of what it is willing to spend per elite guest.That has to be set in a cost/benefit model and the cost of providing a special lounge and set of rooms strictly for PP's just would not make a lot of sense.

And I think really high revenue guest do not stay at Marriott unless there is no better option-the luxury market has much more suitable lodging for these guests..