I'd rather have a food plate or great amenity rather than a mediocre bottle of wine. It's all relative...and personal.

My Ambassador knows I'm a serious foodie and major wine/whisky aficionado. I often get a nice food/cheese platter when the food service is very good. I rarely get any wine since she knows I'm likely to think it subpar and/or amateurish. But a big surprise was the whisky cocktail that was set up for me in my upgraded suite at the W Bogota in February--one of their bartender's specialties that I most appreciated trying.

The personalization is such that my Ambasaador knows what I appreciate and sets it up most often (not always) for my stays. She most often sets these things up when I'm at luxury level accommodation or traveling with my husband or for leisure, as is my preference. But even the Westin Charlotte, LM Arlington, and LM Philadelphia stays last week for business had me upgraded to a suite or junior suite at least with appetizer plates and extra bottled water for me...and one small bottle of Makers. And all my rooms but one were preset to 68 F as I like. No notes from the GM...because I could care less about those.

I for one hope Marriott doesn't make their concierge service as simple as achieving 100 nights though. For many of Marriott's guest, 100 nights is extremely easy to achieve. Hopefully they opt to keep it exclusive, deliver some real benefits, and truly make it for their top customers. Their current model of PP is just a plain slap in the face.

I already have 126 actual nights this year, and with rollover and credit card at 373 already for the year.

I agree. I'm sure Marriott will adjust the criteria for elite concierge for the combined Marriott-SPG programs. For SPG, with only 1400 properties and most being upper upscale and luxury, 100 nights seems a very appropriate threshold. For Marriott, I'm sure the threshold will be higher...either for more nights and/or for minimal revenue like the airlines now are doing.

Marriott will want to offer elite concierge service only to its top 0.5-1.0 or maybe even top 2% of customers. They will adjust the criteria to get that.

I'd assume it also will offer the elite concierge status to most SPG Ambassador Platinums for 2017 for the 2018 year since those are the customers Marriott most covets.

How do you see ahead of time that you've been upgraded? I never know until I land at the front desk, and they tell me I've been "upgraded" (which usually means there's a refrigerator in the room, or a balcony for the cold wintery night, etc) -- I can count the suites on 1 hand over the last 15 years, even as a PP most of those.

Look to see if the room description has changed in your reservation on the website.

Just looked, I've had around nine suite upgrades this year. I asked for a couple of them but most were given to me without asking. About 1/3 of them were upgraded before I got there and I could see it in my res. Not sure what the magic is although I'm a regular at three of the nine.

Then again, there is the "we've upgraded you to a deluxe king..."

re bhrubin's quotes of marriott, i recall marriott saying a lot more along those lines

from starwood >

Or a "higher floor with concierge lounge access".

Noooooo.... nothing beats my upgrade from a king bed to 2 double beds in New York. When I declined the "upgrade," they gave me a queen bed and said the website had an error and they don't offer king beds in NY hotels. Little did she know that I have stayed at the hotel before and had a king bed in the "corner king suite."

Had a GREAT interaction today with my concierge. Sheryl did a great job!! Fairly complicated reservation: multiple rooms, short notice, long stay, combination of points and miles. I called her and walked her through what I wanted. She actually found a more efficient way to make the booking, called the property directly two times, and pulled a few strings and made it so the entire stay was on points and no cash out of pocket. She even got an upgrade.

Could I have done it myself? Possibly. Could the Platinum Premiere line have helped? I'm sure. But this was so easy and pleasant it made the entire program worth it.

Well Done Sheryl!!

So the new Elite Concierge Service is able to get upgrades for their clients in advance of arrival? That's disappointing as Marriott has never offered to do that for their PP guests, nor do we even get upgrades upon arrival when suites are available.

Im not disappointed in the least. I am hoping this is one of the benefits that they can provided if its available. This could be what sets the service apart.

The problem is that they're not doing it as a PP benefit. The current version has the impact of favoring some Plats over PPs and maybe some Golds too, although I can't recall whether there have been reports of Golds being offered the Elite Concierge Services. Another aspect is that it's currently just for IIRC USA residents, so that they're now getting upgrades over those with foreign addresses who might have higher status with Marriott or the particular property.

One slight correction. You mean 'you' haven't gotten upgrades (and I don't mean that snarky). There are other PPs who have reported upgrades including suites before arrival & upon arrival, so it's not 'we'. Same w/ Plats.

Also, while it's nice the ECS has gotten suite upgrades for some when asked I don't think all the ECS have done that, as someone posted up thread they hadn't gotten a reply on something 3 days after an email to the ECS.

Just curious - genuine question. Are SPG's ambassadors for US-based elites only or are they int'l as well? I realize you might not know the answer & the question might be better asked in the SPG forum. If they are US only, then Marriott/SPG would be equivalent on that. Or perhaps Marriott is starting w/ US & will then roll-out to int'l.

FWIW - I don't think Marriott should have ever created the PP level since they weren't willing to do much to distinguish it from regular Plat. That's a total disservice to you & other PPs, and I've always felt that way. In the old days of PP there were more bennies than now, but they basically disappeared to you all now getting some small gift once/year & nothing else.

Cheers.

Of course SPG offers Ambassadors to ALL Plat100s, regardless of residence. It's a published benefit. IIRC it was international from the very beginning.