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What constitutes "a daily choice of breakfast"?

What constitutes "a daily choice of breakfast"?

 
Old May 16, 2017, 9:03 am
  #46  
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If this comes to pass then you can thank hockeyinsider, and others, for continuing this quest to get everyone's elite benefits cut just to satisfy themselves of their rightiousness.....

Can't, or won't, follow Ski's advice and for the $5 bump to full breakfast just won't be pacified.

Originally Posted by soy
By far the most realistic outcome here is they update the T&C to specify 'Continental'at all properties globally......followed some time later by enforcement of brand standards which will leave us all worse off.
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Old May 16, 2017, 9:58 am
  #47  
 
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Originally Posted by hockeyinsider
I agree that breakfast spreads do vary from country-to-country. With that said, Marriott is an American hotelier. Even the worst Marriott buffet breakfast or concierge/executive/M Club lounge breakfast has at a minimum oatmeal, eggs, meat, toast, yogurt, milk, juice, water and coffee.
I wish this were true. I've been staying at the Albany Marriott for 17 weeks this year and they have eggs but no breakfast meat. Just hot oatmeal and lukewarm scrambled eggs, which after 17 weeks gets a bit tiring.

They do have 8 or 9 choices of cut fruit, breads (including other than plain bagels) plus whole fruit, 4 choices of cereal, muffins, one type of yogurt, 3 juices, coffee.

Billy
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Old May 16, 2017, 11:24 am
  #48  
 
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Originally Posted by catocony
From my experience, if you're in the restaurant, you get the full boat...
The Asheville Ren closed their lounge for breakfast and only allows Golds and Plats part of the buffet for breakfast. It's not even what's on one table or another, it's a very limited number of items, like bread and fruit. The food and beverage manager explained it was the brand standard and what all Rens were doing, but I questioned him on how many Rens he had visited. That was my last stay at the hotel, and have since stayed at the much nicer but not as well located SHS.
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Old May 16, 2017, 12:51 pm
  #49  
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Originally Posted by hockeyinsider
I agree that breakfast spreads do vary from country-to-country. With that said, Marriott is an American hotelier. Even the worst Marriott buffet breakfast or concierge/executive/M Club lounge breakfast has at a minimum oatmeal, eggs, meat, toast, yogurt, milk, juice, water and coffee.
Assuming you meant Marriott the program, not just Marriott the brand, I've certainly seen cold-only "continental" buffets which had sliced cheese and sliced "cold cuts" meat but no oatmeal and I can't remember if hardboiled eggs or not (certainly no hot eggs). For example, that's what the Courtyard at the west end of Puerto Rico gives as free breakfast to Marriott Plats (not sure about Golds). Now, of course, Courtyard is not listed as one of the properties giving breakfast to elites at all, so there's no description to compare to, but the point is that this is a second example (in addition to the Albany Marriott two posts above) that not all Marriott family properties that give free breakfast to elites give everything you listed as a "minimum".

There is no one minimum list AFAIK, because there might be hot buffets that don't have some of the cold stuff you mentioned, and cold buffets that don't have some of the hot stuff you mentioned.

Oh, and btw, for me, just saying "eggs" is not specific enough a minimum. I want real eggs, or forget it. So hardboiled eggs beat powdered eggs IMHO, and I've seen Marriott brand lounges with real scrambled eggs and then other Marriott lounges with some sort of "fake" scrambled eggs (yuck). I expect "fake" scrambled eggs at a Fairfield, but it's upsetting to find them in a Marriott brand lounge.

Last edited by sdsearch; May 16, 2017 at 1:16 pm
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Old May 16, 2017, 1:30 pm
  #50  
 
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They're not fake eggs, they're either powdered eggs or sometimes large bags of liquid eggs. They dump it in the chafing dish, add water if it's the powdered kind and stir, and heat until congealed.

Powdered eggs taste horrible but they are basically real eggs. Stuff like Egg Beaters, where it's egg whites but with a lot of other ingredients used to replace yolks, are more like fake eggs.
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Old May 16, 2017, 2:49 pm
  #51  
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I think we've basically determined that a cont'l breakfast/brekkie can vary by property, state, city, country. And that Marriott has conflicting T&Cs on whether ROW (aka, outside US/Canada) is cont'l or full.

It's just me, but I'm really not that fussed about whether we get cont'l or full. Is the latter better? Sure. Will 99% of us starve if we only get cont'l? No.

FWIW & speaking only for myself - I'd rather direct my energies to things like getting all spend at all brands to count (which directly impacts our point balances), than bang on about cont'l vs. full. If we're going to do a concerted complaint/fix this, that would be on the top of my list.

Cheers.
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Old May 16, 2017, 2:58 pm
  #52  
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Originally Posted by SkiAdcock
FWIW & speaking only for myself - I'd rather direct my energies to things like getting all spend at all brands to count (which directly impacts our point balances), than bang on about cont'l vs. full. If we're going to do a concerted complaint/fix this, that would be on the top of my list.
My pecking order of things to bang on about would probably be:

(1) Elite benefits at "resorts"
(2) Elite benefits at Courtyard
(3) Spend at all brands counts - and remove the Residence Inn penalty (Execustay penalty...not my battle anymore)
(4) Get rid of that list of hotels that opt-out of elite benefits on weekends (regular Marriotts, mainly)

And I'll concede that they probably *meant* continental breakfast everywhere and wrote it poorly in this one place.

If Marriott fixed 1 and 2 in the members' favor, they'd immediately gain an extra 25-30 business nights per year from me. My incentive to maintain HH Diamond and a decent point balance there for our 1 resort week every 2 year or so would dissipate. I'd happily give those stays to Marriott to fast-track my next Travel Package.

Since Starwood doesn't have those exceptions - you get benefits at resorts and they don't have a weird middle-brand exception to their status perks - it's *possible* this could happen by next year. Not that I'm all that hopeful.
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Old May 16, 2017, 3:27 pm
  #53  
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We should probably start a separate thread for what we'd like to see incorporated. My #1 would be to get points for all spend at all brands. It's ridiculous that someone spending big bucks at a RC only gets points for the room, not any incidental. That's also true of CYs, SHS, ACs, etc.

But to me, fussing about a cont'l vs. full brekkie isn't at the top of the list. You & I are in agreement in that they probably meant cont'l worldwide, w/ the understanding that individual properties can go above & beyond.

Heck, if we're going to fuss on lounges & offerings, I lose out more than others. I use the lounge more in the evening than in the morning. So while others get cont'l or full breakfast, I lose out on evening apps/drinks if a lounge is closed on a weekend. Not everyone who's traveling on a weekend is a leisure traveler. But that's a topic for another thread.

Cheers.
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Old May 16, 2017, 6:58 pm
  #54  
 
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Originally Posted by catocony
...
I also vote to ban the use of "brekkie". I had never heard of the term before FlyerTalk and it's an annoying one.
Annoying, not bannable - but not the least bit cute, either.
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Old May 16, 2017, 7:48 pm
  #55  
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I'm astounded that so many care whether I type breakfast or brekkie on threads.

And yes I know Brits and Aussies who use the phrase. I've spent a lot of time in the UK w/ UK clients/friends/colleagues over the years & have had Australia clients/friends/colleagues for years. Where did you think I picked it up? Out of thin air? No.

One would think that the info provided would be more important than the spelling As I mentioned above, I tend to use either breakfast or brekkie or both when I post on threads & when I update the exec lounge sticky. No rhyme nor reason. Habit on some of it. It's not going to change, so those who get cranky about it will just have to deal.

And yes, the exec lounge sticky does come up on search when typing breakfast, as does it when one searches on brekkie, so let's put that aside I can't speak for other FTers, but when I want to know anything about a property I read the property thread & either find the info (whether it be brekkie or upgrades) or ask the question.

As others (and I) have noted before, it takes a LOT of time to update almost 900 properties. On the US/Canada properties I call them on the phone directly. To update just 6 properties takes 30 minutes. Some states have over 60 properties. As you can imagine, it takes a lot of time! And I'm girding my loins because some of the states haven't had an update in a while, so it will take a lot of time to contact them. Even on the int'l properties it takes a while & I just check their websites. The last time I updated the int'l properties, it took me 8 hours to do the updates going through every website & also checking it against any FT updates. (Luckily I had tv shows recorded on the dvr that weekend or I would have gone nuts!).

Someone suggested we make the sticky a wiki, as though that will get more updates. Let me tell you, based on 7 years of updating the sticky it won't help much. Most of the updates come from my pro-actively contacting properties, depending on FTers to post an update in the exec lounge sticky (hence, my comment the wiki won't get updated much, although I truly appreciate those who actually take the time to do an update), & then combing through property threads in case someone mentioned the breakfast situation in a specific thread.

I appreciate all the FTers who do update the exec lounge sticky or at least post an update in the property threads.

You know what you all could do to make things better? Instead of kvetching about whether I type breakfast or brekkie , start posting updates in the exec lounge weekend sticky. THAT would help your fellow FTers.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/13849211-post1.html

And it must be the subject, because even though it's dinnertime I'm craving breakfast/brekkie

Cheers.
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Old May 24, 2017, 3:27 pm
  #56  
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So, a couple of points.

1. I stayed at the aforesaid hotel. The breakfast in the brasserie -- no longer a "breakfast room" -- included a small-ish buffet of cheese, self-serve juice, eggs, bread and other carbs, non-descript yogurt, fruit jam, honey, and the like. The hot menu is an additional charge. Water is by request (stupid). No newspapers, either for what it's worth. Espresso lattes and cappuccinos are included.

2. You also, as a Marriott platinum, get one free drink, alcoholic or non-alcoholic, per stay at the hotel bar, which is a weird, windowless space in a corridor.

On the whole, the Glasshouse is not worth it, either on points or cash. Turndown service amounts to closing your blinds and taking off the decorative pillow from the bed. No newspapers whatsoever. I didn't see a bellman or a concierge. They don't even offer valet parking. The brasserie is pretty much a breakfast room doing double service as a restaurant. I instead ordered room service pizza, which was good and reasonably priced.

You get a much better bargain staying a half-block away at the new-ish Courtyard, which is less points. Basically, the Glasshouse in Edinburgh is a much-hyped limited-service hotel.

As for the continental v. breakfast dispute, I raised the issue and received 20,000 points.
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Old May 24, 2017, 3:50 pm
  #57  
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Your post should probably go in the actual property thread where more might see it who are interested in staying at the property

It sounds like it was a typical European continental, even if it didn't rise to your standards. Not all Autographs provide a drink coupon so that's a plus. BTW - restaurants - including hotels - worldwide don't automatically offer water anymore, but have you request it. Helps not to waste water. The hotel has zero parking (it's all off-site, which is mentioned on the hotel website), so a bit confused on the valet parking comment.

I have no doubt you fought for the 20K/received it. Given all the fuss you put up beforehand I assumed this was going to be a hassle/the property would lose (or pay you off ) We had someone today who had a bigger (legit) issue than your breakfast & received less.

BTW - a FTer stayed at the property after it opened/got a junior suite w/ a balcony. Video review here:

https://www.youtube.com/user/LoyaltyLobby

Cheers.
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Old May 24, 2017, 8:36 pm
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Wow 20k points for the difference between full and continental breakfast?? Must've been some impressive complaining done
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Old May 25, 2017, 7:09 am
  #59  
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Originally Posted by GoPhils
Wow 20k points for the difference between full and continental breakfast?? Must've been some impressive complaining done
I'm guessing (1) the hotel didn't want to pay out $100, (2) risk corporate forcing them to change their breakfast, or (3) just recognized my status (100 nights in a Marriott already in 2017).
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Old May 25, 2017, 8:18 am
  #60  
 
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Originally Posted by hockeyinsider
I'm guessing (1) the hotel didn't want to pay out $100, (2) risk corporate forcing them to change their breakfast, or (3) just recognized my status (100 nights in a Marriott already in 2017).
or (4) the hotel gave you points to go away and quit your incessant complaining
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