I have had THREE bad experiences with Marriott in the past three months! A Renaissance, a Residence Inn and an Autograph! I have been a loyal Marriott Rewards member for years and other than the occasional issue here or there...... no real problems.

Problem #1 July 2013
I had a long layover (like 8 hours) at Heathrow. Rather than hang out at Heathrow overnight, I booked at the Renaissance Heathrow and prepaid. I did not get my "night" credit. It took me no less than 10 emails and phone calls and several departments and different (WRONG!!) answers to finally get the night credited. (AND nothing remotely done for the inconvenience.) One rep even told me prepaid nights don't get night credits?!?!? Another told me foreign stays do not post for 4-6 weeks?!? (I explained that my night credit at other hotels for the same Europe trip had already posted.)

Problem #2 September 2013
I booked a 2 bedroom suite (Residence Inn) for my daughter's birthday in Winchester, VA as part of a special outing. It was me and 4 kids ages 11 and under. That morning they called my home phone number (only) (even though I have an email address on file and a cell number) and left a rather unconcerned message that they were moving me to two King Suites next to each other (not connecting) because of some damage to ONE room at the hotel (flooding). (The message also cheerfully informed me that I would not be charged EXTRA?!?!?) For other reasons, I had called my voice mail at home and received this message. (COME ON!!! How many people booking a hotel are HOME the day of the reservation?!?!?) I called back and got a SUPREME runaround from several incompetent people. They refused to make ANY reasonable accommodation. I cancelled the reservation (online) and FORTUNATELY was able to book somewhere else-- a number of miles away-- but salvaged my daughter's birthday outing. (YES!! I told them it was her birthday!) Well, to add insult to injury, the hotel UNILATERALLY rebooked me and I was going to be charged for the room that could not accommodate my group for the night. It took several phone calls and significant effort (WHILE I WAS AT MY DAUGHTER'S BIRTHDAY OUTING) to rectify.

October 2013

I booked a reservation at the Blue Moon in Miami (part of Autograph) in April for November. I tried to modify my reservation online a couple of days ago to arrive a day later and could not-- I had to call. I called and the agent recited everything back correctly. When I got back to my computer, I see the email confirmation had me arriving a day later AND checking out a day later. When I called to fix it-- they told me the room rate for the last night of my stay had increased from 170/night to 360/night-- so that would be the new rate. WHAT?!?! I explained that it was THEIR fault. The agent told me she contacted the hotel who refused to honor the (old) rate because it was the Autograph reservation line that made the mistake-- not the hotel. It took (again) multiple emails to fix the problem AND over two days?!?!?

I can only imagine how their non-status members are being treated?!?!

I am seriously considering starting to build status in another loyalty program and would love suggestions.

Sorry for your experiences. I'm not sure any hotel loyalty program is going to be perfect. I have always been pleased with the customer service of Hilton even before I had status. However, after the devaluation its not that great for earning stays. People seem to really like Hyatt but its a much smaller footprint and a higher price point. You can check the boards for the other hotel chains, but in the end I think you will see people all have some problem with their loyalty program. It never hurts to reevaluate where you are going to put your stays though (unless working on some sort of lifetime status).

If you are displeased you should stay elsewhere. Don't let the marketers' use of the term "elite" suggest that it means anything. You will find the distractions you've encountered at all of the major chains.

To be clear-- I am not looking for "perfect"--- just good customer service. Mistakes happen. I am actually not complaining about the mistakes happening-- I am VERY dissatisfied with the compounding of the mistakes.

The "elite" status is more than a marketing term-- at least for Marriott. With a rewards credit card for work and some work travel-- I accrue points and annual status fairly quickly with Gold level. I have also made good use of the free breakfast, free internet and Concierge Lounges for Marriott. I am rethinking, though, whether they are still the best use of my "loyalty." I am not a fan of "rewarding" poor customer service which is what we do if we do not "vote with our feet."

Actually, compared to any other business I deal with, Marriott is far, far, far better in customer service than any other company. These days, dealing with an airline, for example is a joke.

Yes, I have been elite on SPG, Hilton and Hyatt in the past. But I'd take a "normal" Marriott experience any day of the week.

Sure, stuff happens, and it's unfortunate you've had three really bad problems.

I've found that they have a lot of trouble crediting nights when you either check in after midnight or check out before midnight of a night you have paid for.

Second, getting the 500 bonus points to post usually takes a phone call. Almost every stay. There should be a $100 guarantee on that!

Changing reservations - if I did call and make changes over the phone (which I'm not likely to do) I would immediately verify online. I'm paranoid about dates, because I know I can make mistakes - why would I not expect someone else to?

Billy

First, Welcome to Flyertalk!

I'm sorry you had 3 bad experiences. If you've been a regular member of Marriott for years with no real problems, I'm not sure 3 unfortunate experiences is a 'sharp decline'.

Re: #1. Another FTer had a problem w/ an int'l property (not LHR Ren) that didn't credit the nights/points on a prepaid reservation. My take away from his & your experiences is to charge something, even if it's a $1, to generate a folio or get the hotel to issue a folio at check-in showing the prepaid. Probably helps to bring along the ressie showing it's been prepaid. He ended up getting the go-around & finally got an agent to contact the property directly re: the folio & then credited it appropriately.

Re: #2. That one really sucks & there's no excuse for it.

Re: #3. That could go either way. The reason you probably weren't able to make the change online is that it triggered a rate change when you changed the date. Every hotel chain (not exclusive to Marriott) has that verbiage in the reservation confirmation (ie, a change in the reservation can change the rate) So even if the agent had just changed the arrival by a day later & not the check-out date (ie, done it correctly), your rate could have changed to a higher one.

If, for the most part, you've been happy with Marriott I'd stick with it. However, if you want to use the bad experiences as a reason to try out different chains, go for it. Just know that there is no perfect hotel chain w/ 100% great customer service every single time.

Cheers.

Your 3 experiences and lack of follow-up had nothing to do with being "elite". I would be thrilled if the waters parted, one call fixed all and they took one's word for everything when you mention you're Platinum, but it simply does not.

What happened to you shouldn't happen to a one night a year stayer and being elite should NOT matter in the basic treatment of guest and resulting issues.

I'd be content if they simply delivered most of the time on the "elite" promises of upgrades, a decent lounge, full breakfast and PAG...

Sounds like ur pretty high maintanence.......ritz Carlton might be better for u

I didn't get high-maintenance re: the OP at all. There were 3 unfortunate situations that took a lot of the OP's time to get sorted & caused some serious hassles. It's a legitimate complaint. Whether those 3 incidents are enough to bail from Marriott is up for debate.

Cheers.

I don't get high-maintenance from the OP either - all 3 complaints are quite legitimate IMO. The second is very hotel-specific, but the other 2 involve Marriott CS. I would probably try to send a message to someone higher up in the food chain to express my dissatisfaction with the service received. If nothing else, it would make me feel better.

The grass ain't greener at other comparable brands. If OP, as she says she does, likes the freebies such as Internet and breakfast, she might as well stick with what she's got.

Marriott counts on losing a few customers here and there and knows that it's a revolving door with just as many coming in from Hilton as headed out.

Of these 3 encounters, #2 (failing to honor a room configuration for a group in 1 large suite, which includes children) - is inexcusable. A much larger group, multiple rooms and some kind of requirement they ALL be connected can fold the stay plan if one or more of the rooms is down for repairs. Hard to accommodate that large group but knowing your small group had minors - they should have had a better solution.

#1 (stay credit) happens from time to time but unless the points are critical for a Reward stay or something, it's just annoying.

#3 (the dreaded rate change) has been an issue for me, but not in core Marriott properties in the US because I expected it. When I've straggled a stay on a long trip 2 more days to relax over the weekend, then decide to leave early Monday, the rate often changes and that's made clear.

OTOH my last stay for business during the week in the FRA Marriott had to be moved up 2 weeks, but I had the same rate. The added 2 days (Sa/Su nonrefundable) took some doing to change to leaving on Monday. On checkout the staff gave me a rate break credit that applied for those 2 days because their current offering, even leaving on the start of a business week was cheaper. So it works both ways sometimes1.

If the Autograph staff made a mistake - it's a mistake. If it was fixed, let it go. If they had not taken care of it & you had to eat the higher last day rate at least one more one option exists: If you billed on AMEX, particularly GLD or PLT, they are pretty good about crediting part or all of disputed charges for a miscommunication by one of its merchants. Some other cards may do this too, but AMEX is very responsive.

+1

This has to do with companies not empowering their front line employees with the authority to fix customer service issues.

The US properties seem to be normal. The Asian properties are much better today than a few years ago and do recall the repeat stays , both on check-in and with the room welcome cards for Plats.

Exactly. And it's cases like the OP above that the separate the good managers from the rest of the crowd in the case of the suite issue. Often times this stuff can be sorted out in advance rather than just "dealing with it at check in".