hockeyinsider

Does anyone know the current standards -- aka minimums -- for the various Marriott brands? What I mean by that is:

- For Marriott hotels, most properties have Thann toiletries. Some international properties have other brands, like Floris at the Marriott County Hall in London. It used to be almost every hotel provided one bar of soap in the shower/bathtub, one bar of soap at the sink, one bottle of shampoo, one bottle of conditioner, one bottle of body wash, and one bottle of lotion. Now, the second bar of soap has increasingly vanished. Also, most properties have a bottle of hand wash. Mouthwash, vanity kits and dental kits are almost never provided, but are almost always available upon request. Bathrobes and slippers, particularly at North American properties, are rare, even in suites. Almost every property has two small bottles of still water in each room. Turndown service is almost non-existent. A few years ago, it seemed like every Marriott served Starbucks coffee (generally in the lobby restaurant or the lounge). I don't notice as many Starbucks signs now. Some properties like the Marriott Stanton in South Beach serve Seattle's Best while the Marriott Georgetown in Washington, D.C., serves Illy.

- For Renaissance, it's basically the same as Marriott although in my experience, at least anecdotally, it seems more properties have a bathrobe and slippers. In North America, the toiletries seem to be brand standard Aveda. Internationally, Tokyo Milk toiletries seem to be the standard. Some Renaissance properties offer turndown service.

- For J.W. Marriott, most properties domestically and internationally have Aromatherapy Associates toiletries, but Bulgari toiletries are also found in rooms, particularly suites. Most J.W. Marriott hotels provide two sets of toiletries; one at the sink and one in the shower/bathtub. Dental kit, vanity kit, mouthwash, sewing kit, and nail kit are almost always provided. Bathrobe and slippers are standard. Turndown service is offered. Many properties have a capsule coffeemaker from Nespresso or Illy.

Across all the Marriott brands, Pepsi products are standard but many J.W. Marriott properties and most Ritz-Carlton properties have Coke available upon request. The Renaissance in Aruba serves only Coke products -- no Pepsi.

hockeyinsider

This is interesting.

CPRich

Is this a question, a rant, a complaint, a bunch of observations....?

Yes, I'm sure many employees know the current brand standards. There are dozens, if not hundreds, across the two chains. But I'm pretty sure they are IP and won't be shared with your freely on the internet.

C17PSGR

Your question is hard to answer. There are a million and one brand standards at a Marriott alone.

TV sizes, mattresses, bedding, electrical outlets, toiletries, bibles/BOM, recycling, food in the lounge, elite recognition, bars, room service, doormen, and the list goes on.

As to the toiletries, domestic Marriott's have Thann, Ren's have Aveda, and JW's have Aromatherapy. Rooms on the concierge floors have more toiletries than rooms on regular floors. Sometimes they have soap, sometimes they have bottles of hand wash or body wash.

For 2017 YTD, I'm at 95 actual nights in legacy Marriott properties and 27 nights in legacy Starwood properties (that doesn't include any rollover nights/etc). I'll notice inconsistencies (particularly on elite recognition at both Marriott and Starwood) but toiletries seem to be fairly consistent in most hotels. Often, I can immediately recognize that something doesn't meet brand standard or when it exceeds the standard.

And Seattle's Best -- embarrassing! Of course, I'll note that I was at a Westin property recently with a lounge and they had a Folger's machine!!!

hockeyinsider

Doesn't Westin have a Starbucks contract? I suppose the machine isn't necessarily indicative of the coffee brand.

hockeyinsider

I think it was fairly obvious that I was asking fellow Flyer Talk members if anyone had a copy or could speak to the current standards and how they compare to my observations.

sdsearch

I think you're confusing standards with partners.

I doubt there's a permanent standard that Marriott must have Thann. I bet the standard actually says it must have something that has this quality, etc, etc, and Thann is the current partner that meets that.

Pepsi vs a competitor is again not a standard, it's just a partner.

Standards are like what is the minimum that a Marirott can have in a lounge if it has a lounge, not what brands it has.

Standards are like what is the mimimum wifi speed and reliablity that a Courtyard can have, not what brand of routers it uses.

Standards are like what are the minimum items that a Fairfield has to serve at breakfast, not what brands they are.

So if you want to know what brands are present at properties, that's different than what the standards are. So which is that you're asking about?

I'll tell you one standard I do know about, because it was announced in press releases. Fairfields now have to have"'freshly scrambled" eggs. That's very cleverly phrased, because it doesn't mean the eggs are fresh (no, they're usually powdered, and you'd wish they'd at least be EggBeaters), it's just that the powdered eggs were scrambled that morning and so they're "freshly scrambled" . I hate powdered eggs, so the other Fairfield brand standard, which I haven't seen in print but always so far in practice, is hard boiled eggs too ^.)

Btw, I can tell you that the brand standard does not require fresh eggs to be used for the scrambled eggs at a Marriott FS lounge. (I wish it were.)

hockeyinsider

So, Marriott's standard could be something like, "Each bathroom shall have a minimum of X toiletries, consisting of X, X, and X. The partner brand that meets the minimum standard is Thann."

C17PSGR

I suspect the brand standards are very lengthy. I don't think, however, the operator has the ability to change toiletry brands in the US. Bliss for W, Aromatherapy for JW, Thann for Marriott, Aveda for Ren. I've never seen anything different at a domestic property.

DJ_Iceman

Don't ask me to name the brands, but I remember over the past few years a mix of them at standard FS Marriotts. Thann is becoming more and more common, but I seem to others too. Then again, I could just be wrong and remembering incorrectly!

hockeyinsider

It's been Thann in North America and Asia and Acca Kappa in Europe since 2013, but some properties (like the Marriott County Hall in London) stock other brands. I believe the Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe used Bulgari when my friend stayed there a couple years ago. So based on this, I think there's nothing keeping a hotel from exceeding the minimum, as Bulgari tends to be common in suites.

For what it's worth, Marriott seems to buy all of its toiletries from Sysco, which is listed in small print on each bottle. I found this Sysco catalog (flip to page 636 of the PDF for toiletries from Bulgari, Acca Kappa, etc.): http://read.uberflip.com/i/231450-20...roduct-guide/7.

I'm sure Marriott gets even better prices, but the public price is $0.55 per bottle of shampoo for Aromatherapy Associates. I couldn't find the Bulgari price through Sysco, but a survey of Singapore housekeepers from 2002 put the price of a Bulgari bottle of shampoo at $3.47, which seems high.

Fyd

I'm not sure if you are nit-picking on the definition of "standard", but this is not correct.
A friend of mine used to work for Marriott procurment and the brand guidelines/standards/requirements DO specify the brands that have to be supplied, not only for toiletries, but for coffee and even jams!
Marriott has very tight brand standards and enforcement, which is why you can pretty much rely on finding the same stuff at different properties, at least in the US. I did notice some regional/international differences - not sure if that's different guidelines or enforcement...

hockeyinsider

Perhaps it's because a higher percentage of international properties are managed by Marriott whereas many, if not most, of the domestic properties are franchised and run by a third-party management company. So the domestic brand standard is the lowest common denominator whereas overseas properties, where Marriott is seen as more upscale and luxurious than at home, can and often exceed the minimum. Look at coffee.

sdsearch

Where it's listed in the standard, yes, but that doesn't mean that every brand choice you happen to see at a hotel is due to a standard.

Or it could be due to indirect standard, such as "only buy supplies from WhoeverCorp", and WhoeverCorp only carries brand X.

The OP mentioned Pepsi here and Coke there, and is there really a standard that says one or the other, or just a standard that says "any of the following brands of soft drinks, in the basic version" or something like that?

At any rate, there are way more types of standards than just what brand toiletries to use. Like, for starters, which toiletries are mandatory for a room, and then which are optional. LIke do they have to places in a particular pattern?

Anyway, that's the easy stuff to make standard. How about room key types (swipe vs contact), that's certainly not standard. How about room lighting, that's certainly not always standard (it's hard to be standard on that except if it's new builds that are all built the same way, like some Courtyards).

hockeyinsider

Most hotels have the worst lighting, even completely renovated or brand-new hotels. Why they don't install central overhead lighting is beyond me. Many of the lights are very yellow too.