I received mine in the mail-box today, so this Silver booked tonight at the SEA Fairfield Inn since I am departing on a six-night stay at the San Diego Marriott and Marina tomorrow and no way am I going to toss 20,000 extra points! *

- I plan to spend ~$2000 so at (now) 20 points per dollar, that's 40K plus the 25% Silver bonus (5000 points) will net me 45K total

I always find it ironic that everytime I have a long assignment where Marriott is the choice of hotels there are never promotions I can sign-up for. Marriott rarely targets its Platinum members for Platinum only promotions. Why make happy the people who make you the most money. But it is all good, because Starwood and Hilton don't target their highest level either.

You're ALREADY happy, right? That's why you're giving them 75+ nights a year. What they're trying to encourage here are those folks (like the ones complaining in the other thread that Marriott should lower the gold threshold) who haven't thrown their complete loyalty behind Marriott to give them just a little more business.

Besides, didn't you get the Mega-Bonus earlier this year? That was adequately targeted at all levels of customer frequency as I recall!

This is my first post, so please be gentle.

I sent the following message to [email protected]

I urge everyone else who is concerned with this promotion to do the same.

To whom it may concern,

I recently learned that Marriott is offering a double-point promotion for Silver elite members only. I would like to formally express my dissatisfaction with this program, and urge you to reconsider this promotion.

I am a business traveler who spends upwards of 150 nights per year in hotels. Over half of these nights are spent at Marriott properties. Being a Gold elite member, I am disappointed to hear that this promotion is targeted at Silver members only. Marriott�s elite levels are already ranked lower than competitors like Starwood, mostly due to the disproportionate number of nights needed to achieve Gold and Platinum level. I am afraid that this new unfair promotion will only aggravate this situation. Most business travelers have a choice of hotel chain in most locations across the world, and the rapidly spreading word of this inequitable promotion will no doubt affect my future hotel selection, as well as the selection of my fellow frequent travelers. I�m sure you realize that gaining the business of a Silver member for a few nights pales in comparison to losing the business of a Gold or Platinum member.

I am sure I am not the first to complain about this offer, but hope my complaint will be taken into account and hopefully impact your choice of promotion in the future.

Uhm, who decided it's for Silver members only? Is it just because no Gold and Platinum have reported here that they got it? Not everyone posts here, you know...

As a silver member I didn't get the offer either..

I sent mine in. Thanks for the form letter.

Lets see if we get any response.

To answer pitflyer's comment, I am attaching the following, received from Marriott in response to my letter. I think this confirms that the promotion is targeted to Silver members only. It does not confirm that ALL Silver members are eligible, but it definitely comfirms that NO Gold or Platinum are eligible.

Dear XXX,

The "Silver Elite Double Points" promotion is a promotion sent out by our Corporate offices. I apologize that our office has been advised that no Platinum or Gold members are eligible for this promotion. Corporate is trying to get our least frequent stayers to make more stays with this promotion.

We will have future promotions that benefit you, our most loyal members.

We appreciate your continued loyalty to Marriott and look forward to serving you again soon.

Sincerely,

Niki Hovanes
Marriott Rewards

Interesting coincidence in that I just received an email from Marriott inviting me (Lifetime Plat) to partipate in an opinion survey on the subject of "Marriott Rewards
Elite Exclusive Offers."

I plan to take it as soon as I get access.

The link to the survey contained in the email sent me to an error message screen. That screen requested that I report the error ("PID" - whatever that means) to the marketing research outfit that's conducting the survey for Marriott.

I know you asked us to be gentle, but you've already blown your credibility. Over half of 150 nights is more than 75 nights, which would make you a Marriott platinum.

You're totally justified in expressing your displeasure, but exaggerating only makes you look like a blowhard whiner. Tell the truth, plainly, and they might pay you more attention!

Marriott should never assume that those 75+ nights/year repeat in perpetuity: they could very well be 0 nights next year. Also, quite a few of posters here easily hit more than double of that in a year. Those extra nights could be spent at a Marriott property if the proper incentives are put in place.

I think the fact that Marriott doesn't seem to target promos at their top-tier (e.g. I don't even receive the EEO) is more a factor of the fact that their competitors don't seem to do this as well (as 777RJ points out) e.g. HH doesn't do anything for me either. But it doesn't have to be this way.

I received this back:

Dear Xxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx:

The "Silver Elite Double Points" promotion is a promotion sent out by our Corporate offices. I apologize that our office has been advised that no Platinum or Gold members are eligible for this promotion. Corporate is trying to get our least frequent stayers to make more stays with this promotion.

We will have future promotions that benefit you, our most loyal members, for example: The "MegaBonus" promotion, where you earned 20,000 points after qualifying, when most Silver members only earned 10,000 points.

We appreciate your continued loyalty to Marriott and look forward to serving you again soon.

Sincerely,

Xxxxx Xxxx
Marriott Rewards

Just a thought. How many silvers (10's of thousands?) as opposed to Gold or Platinum(thousands)?I am sure Marriott did the math and have a reason for potential numbers of nights.
A game of numbers.Am not upset at a business looking to grow their business.
I am treated well by Marriott.Am more disappointed that revenue does not play more into the math than nights at all Marriott brand hotels.

Two e-mail responses I recieved from Elite Services that clarify the rules of this promotion.

As a silver I recieved mine in the mail today. It says that I do not have to register and that I will get double points 4 to 6 weeks after 9/15. I have recently changed about 10 nights over to Marriott for the Bonus Buck promo and recieved a Summer Double bonus on the Marriott stay that has posted so far. Just checked out of the second one today so I will wait and see if that posts also. I think they are two different promos, since my CY stay did not post a double Summer promo and Marriott did. This new Siler promo includes all chains.

I will say that the promos are the ONLY thing that got me to book marriott. $100 off every two night weekend stay (5 in the period) and double points and maybe even double more the second time. Yes, it got this lowly silver to requalify silver, but not anywhere near enough to move up to Gold.

I think Marriott is being very wise here. They are giving points to those of us that don't generally use Marriott. 10 nights a year! Come on, that is not loyalty! I have probably spent 60 nights in hotels and 5 had been at marriotts. They will profit from the promotion from this silver. Most Golds and Plats they would just be giving you more points on stays they would already get the money from. Or they would take a loss.

I think hotel chains know that very few people only stay with one chain, so they are after the incrimental revenue they can grab from other chains for those of us un-loyal, loyalists.

OK, obviously it is only a Silver elite promo. so for once being not so elite paid off. I asked Marriott via email to enroll me. Got an interesting response. They can't enroll me anymore, however, their supervisor will manually look at my account around Sept 15 and give me the double points I would be due if I actually had enrolled.

I do appreciate the gesture, and converted a future stay from Hilton to Marriott because of it, so at least in my case it won them some business.