Has Socrates checked out?
 

It seems like all of his former posts are coming up deleted (or at least all I've seen today, 6-7 at least). Has he quit the forum?

This is not good.

[This message has been edited by longing4piedmont (edited Mar 24, 2004).]

All of Socrates post are gone, they have all been deleted. I don't think there is a system problem.

Oh this is not. Socrates has been extremelly helpful and I really do hope that he/she is not in any sort of trouble with his/her employer.

Deleted

[This message has been edited by longing4piedmont (edited Mar 24, 2004).]

But at 10:18 he (don't know why I assume 'he') posts "I am not gone from flyertalk.com ".

Certainly strange. Wonder if Randy/FT can comment?

I found some of his posts in other forums which weren't deleted but all of the ones in the Marriott forum appear to be gone.

Here's an example of a recent post in another forum which still exists...

posted Mar 17, 2004 10:33 AM
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quote:
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Originally posted by mlk:
Anyone know what they're building next to the DTW B concourse? I've flown CO1089 DTW-EWR a couple times over the past few weeks, and there's this big pit in the ground next to B7. I tried searching the DTW airport web site, but couldn't locate details on the construction.

Just curious if anyone had info...

Thanks,
mlk
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They are redoing that side of the airport...C goes away and is recreated and I think they are adding gates to the B side of it

[This message has been edited by socrates (edited Mar 17, 2004).]

I'm speculating that Marriott is involved...

Pat

UBB cleanup

[This message has been edited by camachinist (edited Mar 23, 2004).]

Although, I don't know the reason why Socrates' posts are gone, I can comment that I know that Marriott takes a very, very dim view of individuals connected to Marriott commenting in this forum.

Unfortunately, I can't be more clear than that. All I can say is that if you were to peruse previous posts and read between the lines, you will understand my drift.

It is obvious to me, that Marriott has unmaksed Socrates' identity and had given him an ultimatum to erase his posts from this forum, or else......

Meanwhile, how many months have we been waiting for Marriott Corporate to follow through on their promise to us and provide us with an authorized "Lurker?"


Sheesh!

Socrates, you will be missed. We truly valued your assistance, and perhaps more importantly, your friendship!

Good luck!

Socrates, I really hope you're ok. Thanks for all your help on FT.com.

All the best!


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Pictures from hotel stays
Basic Hotel stays/nights/points calculator
Short overview: KLM FD, LH M&M

The comment "I am not gone from flyertalk.com" leads me to think socrates may be gone just from the Marriott forum.

If so, first and foremost I hope this means that his job is not in jeopardy.

Socrates has been a tremendous help, and a very strong supporter of his employer. If he can no longer post on the Marriott forum, he'll be sorely missed.

Marriott, if that is the case, THIS IS THE TIME to step up with an official presence, even just a contact point if you choose not to go as far as Starwood has with William.

Otherwise, you DO leave the Marriott faithful around here with many more questions than answers.

Socrates, I personally thank you for all of your assistance in the past, and I wish you the best in the future.

-Lauri

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum97/HTML/000966.html
You might want to post to that thread if you want a Socrates response, as I'm guessing he will no longer will post to Marriott forum. What a loss.

[This message has been edited by ohmark (edited Mar 24, 2004).]

Yes, a loss to the members of the Marriott Rewards program and in a way - a loss to the program itself. I do know that any action on these deletes was not because of any actions or instructions by FlyerTalk. Since I assume that most if not all were examples of great customer service and in the long and short run probably saved Marriott some business as it certainly made them a better program in the public eye of their members here on FT - including members of other programs who may have contemplated a change to Marriott, I'd say that if Marriott is behind this then they have done their members wrong. I can agree with NJUp that Marriott seems to take a very dim view of what customer service looks like these days. While others have embraced newer modes of customer service, Marriott does seem anal on this issue. But they have always been successful in the past with their formula so no complaints here. Funny as it seems, the idea for what I do came about inthe mid-80s when my boss was trying to figure out a Marriott award redemption and was confused as to what their service center had told him. After doing the award redemption for him, I realized that perhaps there might be a business or idea in helping others with their frequent flyer program problems - thus InsideFlyer was born.

Last year I had worked closely with a senior member of the Marriott customer service staff about trying to initiate a progressive view of customer service and even provided research and a copy of the book 'Customer Evangelism' that analyzes how customers are your best selling tools so empower them with customer service. The powers that be apparently didn't want to address that issue and the initiative was shot down.

It's their program and they have been successful with it - even the customer service part. The strange thing to me is how big the Marriott program is (the largest) but yet how the Marriott forum lags behind in other programs for posting activity? Are Rewards members not as talkative? But how can that be? They average only 38% of Hilton HHonors board activity and only 28% of Starwoods posting activity.

But let me thank socrates for the extreme value he has been to the member of Marriott Rewards and hopefully those he has helped will take that knowledge and pass it along to others. His efforts have not been in vain.

Cheers, everyone.

Randy:

Marriott continually is voted a top rewards program, but I am of the opinion because as you have noted, they are the 800 lb. Gorilla out there, and by their sheer presence, and sheer numbers, they have a huge number of votes cast.

I am not saying that the program is bad for those who frequent this forum and who are Platinum and knows its pluses and minuses. It works for them, and kudos for them.

However, Marriott -- like everyone else -- has a link to the balloting on their website, and I would speculate that a large number of votes come from those who are just not aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the other programs, but blindly vote for Marriott because they know nothing else.

IMHO, Marriott Rewards is fair at best, and as compared to Starwood or Hyatt, it does not even service its top tier elite very well.

For the rest of the unwashed masses, I think that its elite levels are a joke, because they are not attainable.

IMHO, Marriott is coasting on its reputation and its program has been outclassed by its competitors. It is just that the Freddies voting will not demonstate this fact, because of the huge number of votes I believe Marriott will get.

NJUPINTHEAIR

The demise of Socrates ability to post in the Marriott forum is just one more customer relations fiasco among so many in the past year for Marriott. Among those: a new website riddled with problems from the get-go; with some significant problems, almost unbelievably not resolved months later; a top tier elite program that is significantly more difficult to obtain than others but that has fallen significantly behind, seemingly without concern within Marriott (sorry, but offering me a tiny bag of cookies and a small bottle of water at a Courtyard, doesn't make up for the lack of suite upgrades at Marriott, when SPG and Hilton are only too glad to offer one up); the apparent offer of a platinum elite suite upgrade for years in the rules of the program ("finest available accomodation"), only to have a secret rule (not published to the members) that excluded suite upgrades from the program; a change in the written rules of the program this year to exclude suites from upgrades (and thus officially put Marriott behind its competitors in this regard), but leaving the wording unchanged in the even newer website elite terms and conditions. And this list doesn't even include one item that seemingly rankles virtually all Marriott elites here, even those who don't care about a bug-free website or upgrades, and that is the failure of Marriott to provide an official lurker here, in the face of all the goodwill generated by the Starwood Lurker. Adding insult to this injury is Socrates' demise. It seems so senseless, and as the above postings indicate, it also seems like there is a layer of management in Marriott Rewards that has fallen out of touch with their members and the competitive nature of the field. There is much to like about Marriott. But not this.

If only there were a way to substantiate the Freddie award nominations with write-in comments for their online voting.

In any case, Socrates, thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge regarding the MR program, albeit in an unofficial capacity.

This could be the push I need to evaluate another chain/program. I am thinking *wood.

What a shame!
Socrates was always a voice of reason, his unwavering loyalty to MR is commendable.

I may have to take another look at *wood and HH over the next few months.

Good luck Socrates, and thanks!!

Socrates - you will be soooo missed. Personally I have always looked to you for the voice of truth on this forum. Misinformation and confusion reigns on the Internet - and while most people here do a great job of trying - we are all guilty of mistakes. But I always knew when socrates said it - it would be accurate and fair.

Recently, I posted something nice about the MSP City Center Marriott. socrates read it and posted the GM's email and suggested a note to him. I sent the nice note, a link to www.flyertalk.com and my compliments. I got a immediate kind reply back. If socrates had not suggested it - I probably wouldn't have written - and their kindness at MSPCC would have gone unreported.

kudo's to socrates for his hard work and honestly good intentions. As a Plainum member, I am very upset at this apparent disregard for the members of this forum - from Marriott corporate. WHY don't we have a official lurker? Clearly - we aren't all "flakes" lying about our status. Marriott links to the Freddies.. they obviously know about this forum and the influence it has. You have a large group of well travelled elite flyers and hotel guests - actually interested in service and most of us in total control of where we spend our hotel dollars (avg $100/nt x 85 nights - $8500 each) - isn't this a prime group of people to influence!?

Is common sense and logic not part of "The Marriott Way?"

I can't think of one reason socrates would delete all his posts in the Marriott forum & not others except that he was given an 'or else...' from Marriott.

Marriott, shame on you! socrates benefited marriott in this forum in many ways, & shutting him down is an example of how you are not willing to meet your customers needs. if you are going to take him out of this forum, then step up to the plate & provide your own official contact, as *wood does w/ william.

You may be the biggest program out there, but that doesn't mean you can take your customers for granted. If you do, they'll take their revenue elsewhere.

socrates, your insight & helpfulness was greatly appreciated by all of us on this forum & we wish you the best. personally i think marriott should give you a raise, not an 'or else'.

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Sharon

I hope that Marriott recognizes that Socrates' contributions to FT created enormous goodwill towards MR and enhanced their revenues by retaining the loyalty of their best customers. I cannot think of a single instance where Socrates provided information that was harmful to Marriott (i.e. "secret" discount codes, ways to game the system, etc.) Quite to the contrary.

To Socrates, an overdue "thank you" for all of your postings.

[remainder edited as no longer inapplicable]

Did you bother to read Socrates' response on the above-linked thread? You might be taking this a little bit too far! Appearntly this is not a decision that Marriott made. Far be it for me to put words in his mouth, but his commitment and loyalty to the company would indicate that he wouldn't want his decision to impact your willingness to stay at Marriott properties. Socrates, thanks for all of your help.

I think that members have been answered the question of socrates and his posting (he's still very much a part of this community). I hereby declare this thread closed.

As for Marriott - I'm still working toward my million-point goal with them, and I'll get there.