Sharon..thanks, and I agree 100%...

If you achieve status with Marriott or any program, and one of the benefits of the status is an upgrade or whatever, then you should not have to hound the hotel. The Rooms Controller or whomever pre-blocks elites needs to know the rules and do their job.

Now...if I can get my correct package sent I will be even happier....

I'm going to guess that most of your travels are domestic. Starwood has much better choices in Europe than Marriott. I've had some very memorable stays at great European Starwood properties.
If you do a lot of travels in Europe in the future, I highly recommend that you give Starwood a close look.

Edit: I just checked Starwood's website. Their hotel directory lists 1187 hotels. They're not as common as Marriott in the US, but they do a much better job for international travel.

Property: Marriott Desert Ridge Resort and Spa
Length of stay (repeat stays?): 3 nights (2 years in a row) - Reward Stay
Greeting:Greeted as Plat, amenity gift
Room upgrade: No
Suite upgrade: No
Special requests filled:
Other: First time anyone at the resort had seen the new black PP card; Inquired in advance email about upgrades - none received:(

That's my core complaint. I didn't have to call ahead at FS Starwoods to get treated well.
Case in point. Several years ago, my wife and I were driving cross country and I decided to call Starwood last minute to book a room at the Pittsburgh Westin. It was a weekend night and we got a dirt cheap rate. Check in was no problem as it was late at night; they upgraded us to a nice room. My wife and I had a great night and called for room service. When it was delivered, it didn't have any salt. I called down and asked if they could bring up some salt, as they forgot it. A couple of minutes later, the hotel manager was at our door with salt and pepper shakers and the newspaper in hand, profusely apologizing for the oversight. I thanked him and told him no worries, mistakes happen. That kind of special treatment at Westins was the norm for us - but I spent 200+ days a year in Starwoods so I was a big revenue source.

Marriott is great about ensuring that all hotel rooms meet a minimum standard (I know there are some exceptions). The lack of standardized product was a reason why I ditched Starwood; it was rolling the bones on every Four Points stay - the product varied from great hotel to fleabag roach motel (Newark Airport 4 Points was my breaking point).

Marriott's lifetime status is also a huge advantage that they have over all hotel chains (except Hyatt). In exchange for lifetime status, we give up suite upgrades. Now that I'm staying at FS properties more often, I am really starting to understand exactly what I gave up.
Here's Marriott's upgrade policy for plats: "When you check in, we’ll upgrade you to our best-available guest room at no additional charge. Not available for suites and Marriott Vacation Club International."
Here's Starwood's upgrade policy for plats: "Upgrades to the best room at Participating Properties at time of check-in, based upon room availability for your entire stay, including Select Standard Suites, except at Aloft and Element properties. Specialty Suites such as, but not limited to, premium view, Presidential, Honeymoon, and multiple bedroom suites are excluded."
However, as a Starwood plat, I've had several upgrades to the nicest suites in the hotel. That happened to me once with Marriott, at the Westfields Marriott Washington Dulles (great property).

Marriott also has the highest hurdle to obtain top (platinum) elite status - 75 nights. Even with 15 nights from the MR Visa, 60 nights is more than any other chain requires to reach their top elite tier. I'm not going to even mention PP, as that's a lot like United Global Service tier. However, if one were to look at Marriott's revenue profiles, I suspect that you'd find that PPs, 3% of all plats, generate ~10% of all Marriott revenues. When I was at United, they briefed us that the top 5% of customers generated 20% of revenues. And as an ex-employee and former 1K, I can say that United is pretty good about treating their elites like they're special.

The weak chink in Marriott's armor is the treatment of elites. Unfortunately, it is not standardized across the chain. I've had great treatment (kudos to the Sonoma Rennaissance) and I've gotten the same treatment as if I booked at Priceline rates.
I've noticed that European hotels are better at recognizing status than US hotels. I suspect that this is due to a poor training program of hotel staff. That is an area where Marriott really needs to do some work.

I suspect that a part of this problem - failure to give recognition to elites - has to do with Marriott's business model. Rather than own individual hotels, Marriott is a franchise structure.

Property: Anaheim Marriott
Length of stay (repeat stays?): 2 nights, 2nd stay in 2 years
Greeting: Thank you for being a platinum premier member and lifetime platinum--boy, you spend a lot of time in Marriotts! (First time I've ever been thanked for lifetime...)
Room upgrade: Yes, executive king
Suite upgrade: No
Special requests filled: Yes, all virtual concierge items delivered as requested
Other: This is the first time that I've really wanted a suite upgrade and not gotten one. I was with my family celebrating my wife's birthday so the extra space would have been nice. I requested an upgrade when making the reservation, through the virtual concierge, and by calling the hotel's rooms controller directly. She apologized but said that all their suites were spoken for. I can't vouch for that either way, but know that we didn't get one.

Yet I get suites fairly often. Yes, I do ask for them, oh well.

Good question. I do wonder how Marriott quantifies priority "in class." For example, 10 upgrades available, but with 15 Plats checking in, how do they decide which 10 get them, and which 5 do not?

While I agree with everything in your post and share your concerns, Marriott is not largely a franchise. The vast majority of full-service properties are managed by Marriott and employees get their checks from Marriott. A smaller number are true franchises, managed by and employees paid by a third-party. I agree that those tend to be the most problematic in service quality. The entity that owns the physical structure is not typically a factor in service quality.

I understand how you're trying to differentiate between how Marriott franchises and the traditional (fast food restaurant) franchisee. However, even Marriott's website refers to the owners as 'owners and franchisees'. Here's from one of Marriott's pages: " Today, approximately 300,000 Marriott associates are serving guests in Marriott managed and franchised properties throughout the world."
Link: http://www.marriott.com/corporateinf...WMarriottJR.mi

Here's another link that is geared toward prospective franchisees: http://www.marriottdevelopment.com/


So even though the properties are managed by Marriott, they are still considered franchises. If the owner of the property is not a factor in service quality, then it must be due to something else. I've noticed that some properties are very much attuned to the elite guest and in others, most of the staff doesn't know what it means to be an elite guest. This is something that Marriott should address in employee training.

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet"

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it could be a dragon doing a duck impersonation, but I really doubt it, it is probably a darn duck!

If it looks like a franchise, and acts like a franchise, and 90% of consumers think that it is a franchise, guess what? IT'S A FRANCHISE!

Aren't we getting a little far from the topic, which is: "Plat Premier - a bit too much of a carrot w/o any taste". Personally I think the question has already been answered. Other than the 20% off on the food & golf, there's not any additional formal bennies that I've read about.

Whether a property is a franchise or not is irrelevant to the topic, other than the hopes that the staff at both Marriott-owned & franchises would be trained to recognize & provide stated benefits to elites, whether Gold, Plat or PP.

Just my own opinion, but time to move on from the carrot thread as not sure much more can be added, unless someone knows a specific bennie the PPs get that hasn't been listed.

Cheers.

i agree..maybe this needs to be closed....

Property: Dallas Marriott Suites
Length of stay: 4 Days
Greeting: None (to be fair she did say hello)
Room upgrade: No
Suite upgrade: No
Special requests filled: Pillows were in the room
Other: Asked for the CL level, she initially said yes, then when I got my keys I was on the floor below. When I asked again she said there were no rooms on that floor ... She was a bit confused but then again I could hardly understand her english. I just smiled and went to my room.

I just call and ask, because I do not assume that person or persons in the rooms control position, which is the function of making room assignments, is necessarily paying attention to either status or preferences, or that they necessarily always even know what Silver, Gold, Platinum, or Platinum Premier actually mean, and what benefits each of those tiers are entitled to, if available. So, I follow the old premise, if you do not ask, you might not get what you are entitled to.

Property: JW Marriott Washington DC
Length of stay: 3 days (2nd stay this year, and a couple over the previous several)
Greeting: "Thank you for your loyalty as a platinum member." When I said that hopefully the system showed PP, she said, "Yes, that's right, but I just said platinum for short."
Room upgrade: Yes, quiet room on the concierge floor as requested
Suite upgrade: No
Special requests filled: N/A
Other: Tried to go to the CL this evening and couldn't even get in the door, it was so packed. Hopefully breakfast tomorrow and evening snacks the next couple of nights will be more sane.