I have made a number of posts here that may appear to be negative to Marriott Rewards program.

Or that I am slamming their rewards program. I just wish to clarify my mission.

I LIKE marriott hotels, I would prefer to use them all the time however their are loyality programs out there that REWARD the frequent Business travler with a little more attention.

I sleep in hotel rooms more than I do in my own bed. A ratio of about 70% hotel and 30% home. I am not staying on vacation when I am at lesiure, rather I am working and it is a place to sleep where It is clean and people are friendly.

I do not expect to be pampered (although it is nice when it actually happens) when I am on business.

However, when it is my turn for R&R with my family, I wish they would be more accomodating to the travelers like me.

So I just want Marriott to wake up and realize that high use travlers are different than the occassional business traveler.

We hassle, at airports, hotels and taxis every week and to find a corporation that understands, cares and caters to those is somethign that does not go unnoticed.

So I hope you will join me in my mission and request that Marriott either change their Rewards program or die like all the other dinosaurs.

The word will get out....you cannot hide...your freddie awards will go away...

MN,

I think that scientists are increasingly of the opinion that birds evolved from a branch of the dinosaurs, so in that sense, dinosaurs are still alive and kicking today ( well, actually, they're flying ). So too is the Marriott rewards program.

I've read your other threads, and it seems that you're unhappy because you could not consistently book awards travel with your points during a last minute family trip. You feel that because you are a frequent business traveler ( and you are indeed on the road a great deal ) that Marriott should be ready to accomodate you without question. Yet curiously, you also say that you prefer Hilton.

I simply do not see how this makes the MR program a dog ( or is it a barking brontosaurus ? ).

It's just my own opinion, but I think that the Platinum program is Marriott's attempt to do someting for the frequent travel client, while Marriott Rewards is a program that serves many different types of travel folk, and it is as flexible as it gets.

Sorry, MN, but I just don't see your point.

Regards,

Barry

Barry;

Just to redirect, as I am afraid you missed the point.

Simply stated is that Marriott rewards does NOT differentiate levels of travlers. If you are a silver or a platinum you have essetially the same reward opportunities (excepts for % bonus of points).

That is indeed not bad at all if you are at the silver level. However, frequent travelers (I suspect you are not one of those, but I may be wrong) expect deserve just a little bit more.

If I am on an airline, you may think being upgraded to 1st class is a big deal if you never have. Trust me, the level of service (I have found) is just about the same as in coach and the food is still airplane food.

What it does do is remove a bit of hassel from the travel rountine. I am sitting now in a hotel on a Sunday and have not seen my family in 3 weeks.
I am not crying about that as it is part of my job, but a hotel is still a hotel.

What counts to me is when I am with my family and ready to cash in on some of the priviliges of the shared pain (theirs and mine) of travel.

That is when I count on my friends (Marriott, Hilton, airlines, etc) to come through and be loyal to me. Isn't that what loyality programs are about? going both ways? Or am I missing something?

Yes, you are.

You are mixing apples with oranges. The Hilton program has its benefits and drawbacks, especially for non-Diamond tier members. No, as a Platinum or a Gold or a Silver or a non-elite -- there are no blackouts on awards -- unlike Hilton. You want the room and the inventory is exhausted? Pay more points -- it is that simple. Not so with Hilton, unless you are Diamond -- you are nothing. No rewards rooms, period, unless you contact the hotel and they relent. So, you have a choice -- pay more points with Marriott or stay at a Hilton, period.

Hilton does not guarrantee you a suite on reward reservations -- show me where in the rules that is stated. That you may get a suite -- as a courtesy -- has more to do with your Diamond status and your yearly room revenue, than anything else. In all likelihood, you would have been given a suite at the RI, as well, again based on your Platinum status. Sorry to say, but your statements are quite erroneous.

Until you can provide me a clear and concise statement from Hilton's rules that they provide automatic suite upgrades, your comments are just anecdotal, and they certainly do not qualify as the ironclad guarrantee that you present them as.

You are coming quite late to this argument about suite upgrades. I suggest you do a search and re-read the approximately 17 threads that deal with this subject since the first of the year.

You don't like the Marriott rewards program and you want it to be more like Hilton's? Fine, that is your perogative. But, your theory of extinction is very sadly misplaced. Marriott and Marriott Rewards are nowhere near in such danger, indeed, they are probably the healthiest of the bunch. That is why they can take the position that they do as compared to the rest of the hotel programs.

I do not endorse every aspect of their program -- far from it -- and, I believe their shee size and numbers allow them to get away with certain things that other programs could only dream about.

You do not need to educate most of us on this board about the relative merits of the various programs for very heavy users of hotel services -- more than the average road warrior. What you need to do, is convert the vast numbers of Marriott Rewards members who don't know much about the program, or any other program, to get things changed. They probably do not frequent this board all that often, so your comments are probably not providing the intended effect you had hoped.

By the way, your knowing a little more about the hotel business would not hurt, either. Whereas Marriott is generally a franchisor of a propery -- and, therefore, gets paid whether or not a property is making money, Hilton, often owns its own properties. Therefore, they could and should be more responsive to a high revenue generator such as yourself.

Again, it is apples and oranges. You like Hilton more in the way it rewards your loyalty. Fine. But stop your bellyaching about Marriott, and its business model, as they are very different from that of Hilton. What you should really do is convince your boss that you and your team would be happier and more productive employees if he were able to book you more often than not at Hilton family hotels, because of the perceived perks that you would receive away from the job. Complaining about the issues that you do on this board is spitting in the wind. Marriott has considered the issue of guarranteed suite upgrades, and it is no.

Want the guarrantee, switch to Starwood.

I can only offer you my opinion based upon my personal experience, as they say, YMMV.

I have only once in almost twenty years not been able to book the hotel I wanted, when I wanted. In several of those successes, I did have to do a little extra work on my end. Let me relate two to you.

My wife joined me on a recent business trip to San Juan over Memorial Day weekend and the week after. I wanted to use points to pay for the weekend rather than pay cash or expense it to my company. This was three weeks before a weekend in which the hotel was sold out. I made a call to the property and asked for the reservation manager and explained my situation. Although the web showed no award availability, the manager immediately asked me to hold for a minute and came back with my reservation number. In all fairness, I'm a PLT and have stayed at this hotel before.

Last summer we wanted to go to Seattle for our 25th anniversary. We wanted to stay at the new waterfront property downtown, which was also very close to being sold out. We booked a room using points at the REN up the hill and then I called the PLT line and explained that we would prefer the waterfront property and I explained why. I was placed on hold for about 10 minutes while they called the property for me and not only did I get a room, but also a junior suite.

My points are this. As a PLT I know for a fact that I am treated differently than a GM or a SM. There is a difference whether I'm on an award or just staying for business. Two, sometimes you do have to make a little extra effort to get what you want. Do I mind doing this? No, because I think I know how the system works and I'm willing to use it my advantage, and I am treated very well as a PLT every Marriott stay. So what if I have to make one extra phone call.

Every program has it advantages over all the others, and most of us here have come to conclusion that Marriott works for us. Many of us in fact become quiet defensive when some one comes here (especially a newbie), and using at times harsh words is critical of the program, as you have already found out. I'm not taking you to task here. Only pointing out that without body language and voice inflection, the written words here can often be taken to have meaning, not originally intended.

With that in mind, there are two individuals who post here who we are particularly protective of. One is Socrates, who as an employee answers questions and provides invaluable insight into the Marriott culture on his own time. He does this at some risk should Marriott ever find out who he is. The one sure way to raise the ire of posters in this forum is to appear to be in anyway disrespectful of him/her. The other is Chris (Marriott Concierge). As an official representative of the company, Chris is here to help us with questions and the occasional problems. He does not set policy, he is only the messenger. We also tend to be protective of him as well.

BTW, welcome to FT and the Marriott Forum.

Thank you for the information.

I am guess I am just frstrated at the program and the changes that have occured since I bacame a member a number of years ago.

I just feel less valued than I have in the past. You say put in the extra effort, I guess that is just the point, I have little time, I am international and the effort is not so little. From Missing stays to booking rooms...I just experience a substansial downgrade in service.

And that saddens me as I always preferred Marriott.

I will take your advice and only say nice things about Marriott from now on...I certainly don't wish to offend anyone to by having them think there is room for improvemnt...Things are just fine...all is great...

When Marriott Rewards could stand some improvement, I make my feelings known... No one ever accused me of being a shrinking violet.

Nevertheless, one should accept that not all the program benefits are going to fit into your plans as well as others do.

Do I personally think that Marriott ought to change the program to suit individuals similarly situated to you -- YES.

Do I think that will happen anytime soon, inasmuch as they just made a pronouncement re suite upgrades are not to be considered as an automatic perk regardless of your Plat status? Nope.

Will Marriott miss your buisiness. Probably somewhat, but they are a behemoth, and you are but a fly on the wall in the scheme of things for them to make a BLANKET CHANGE to their policy. Might they do so for you on a personal, ad hoc, basis -- Quite possibly.

Furthermore, you have admitted that you are not the one who makes all the decisions re your lodging choices, so something must generate interest in Marriott for you supervisor to make this decision.

Could it be the negotiated room rate your supervisor obtains?

Marriott is not perfect, and neither is Marriott Rewards. However, they should be called on something that they promise to deliver, and do not -- See my post re the Bonus Bucks promotion, not something that they have clearly stated they have no intention of doing.

As I clearly wrote to Socrates last month, the suite upgrade issue and the like will not die without further disapproval by the readerhsip herein, and I told hime to mark my words to see if I was prescient.

I guess I am, as this could now constitute the 16th or 17th thread discussing this matter, up 2-3 from my count of 14, a little while ago.

Please don't take what I wrote in the wrong way. (See I guess I have done it too) We are critical of Marriott here, and you should feel welcome to address the negatives here as well as the positives. It seems sometimes we all get carried away with the adjectives, and those tend to inflame the forum at times. Once you have posted here, And I hope you continue for a long time, we will get to know you better and will be willing to over look the rants. We have just gone through a period of time in this forum when some harsh words were posted and calls for a moderator were issued. We are a little more sensitive to the tone of posts as a result. The fact that we are all anonymous lends to the fact that we often post in a tone which we would not use to Bill Jr�s face.

I can only hope you learn as much as I have in the 18 months I have been active here and feel free to contribute back to the community as well.