What every Plt Member Should Know.
 

Platinum members at Marriott have spent a great deal of time and money, likewise, they should be rewarded accordingly. I would like to provide some insight about that goes on behind the scenes; I would also like to help you make the most of your PLT status.

First off, just so that we're all on the same page, Platinum members are held in very high regard in most respects. Platinum member's requests (smoking/bed-type/location) are always met, this is usually done to avoid penalty. Platinum members are blocked by night-audit into the best available rooms. A list of rooms is given to the housekeeping supervisor the morning of arrival (9am-ish). From there, the Platinum rooms are cleaned first and inspected by the supervisor, white glove style. Then, later in the morning, gifts are delivered to the rooms, placed in a particular spot, the TV-Guide is turned to the prime-time TV schedule of the day and the room is double-checked. Throughout the day, front desk staff continues to check the arrivals list to find 'pop-up' Platinums. If there happen to be pop-ups, the rooms are immedietly blocked, and a request for inspection is noted.

Every front-desk employee/manager is aware of the Platinum guests, and has become somewhat familiar with their name, we know when you're comming. All preparations have been made at the front desk to insure that you spend the least amount of time at the desk as possible. Your keys are pre-programmed and your reg card is filled out. We know that you spend a lot of time on the road, and the last thing you want to do is sit at the desk and wait. We aim to have a 30-45 second checkin time for you. When it comes to problems with the room, your rate, your folio or other concerns we will be more than willing to help you, assuming that you take note of the rules discussed later.

Anyone who has worked front desk operations at a Marriott property is well aware of the attitudes of various guests, including platinum guests; these desk staff will tell you one thing about PLT guests, it's a 50:50 draw. Half of the time, your PLT guests are the greatest people, the other 50% these guests are a nightmare. If you consider the following you will be among the first 50%.

1). You want to be a PLT member? Make sure that we know you are a PLT member.
However you go about booking your rooms, make sure that we have your Marriott Rewards ID. Nine chances out of ten, it's your travel agent who does not put in your Rewards ID.

2). Want to get the best reservation experience? Use the PLT reservations line.

You would not beleive the power that the PLT reservations line has. These people are among the best in reserverationists, they will go to the ends of the earth to get you into the property that you want in the room that you'd like.

3). Want to have a great experience as a PLT guest, don't keep telling us that you are a platinum guest.

All front-desk staff are more than aware that you are PLT and that you work hard, but expecting over and above services every time by reminding staff that you are a PLT guest will get you nowhere, quickly.

4). Platinum status is not a license to be rude.

I understand that you can be having an off day; I can also understand that you're jet-lagged, but we've dealt with a lot of difficult situations and stupid people. If you would like to be treated as the guest that you've earned, be polite. You will be regarded as a great guest who has been loyal, and for operations staff, you are amoung the best of the best. If you abuse your PLT status, you will be found out; people talk, your status as an @sshole will be known throughout the property.

Overall, PLT is a great status for travelers. You as a PLT guest have spent tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars with us and we know this. We will do whatever it takes to make sure that you enjoy your stay. Just please, remember, we have dealt with people ALL day who wish that they were in your shoes. Silver and Gold members that are ENVIOUS of the fact that you get cookies and water on your check-in. After dealing with these people, we actually look forward to seeing you, the PLT guest; mainly because we know that every other PLT guest will help to make our days worth working! ;)

Thanks for the post.. IMHO you have given an excellent summary!! :)

Thanks for the behind-the-desk input.

I guess I must have met most of your points--the Marriott staff wherever I've stayed have been excellent and helpful to a fault.

They even gave me, when I checked out of the Marriott Forrestal Village (now, sadly, another brand) for the last time, a going away party and a staff polo shirt for a present!

Where else you gonna get THAT kind of a relationship????

Is it fair to assume that you are a current/former Marriott hotel frontline employee? I certainly believe that everything you say is true based upon your experiences; you'd have not reason to be less than truthful here. However, is it fair to say that the attitudes of the employees toward PLTs vary from hotel to hotel and, perhaps, from brand to brand? Specifically, do PLTs get the treatment you refer to more frequently in full-service Marriotts, JWs and Rens than they would in Fairfields, Courtyards, Towneplaces and Residence Inns?

My experiences is that many of the "lower end" Marriott properties could give a sh** if you're platinum or a bum off the streets. I seriously question whether night-audit is blocking me the "best room" at the Courtyards I frequent. But I could be wrong, they could just be platinum-heavy hotels.

It also raises the issue that "best room" is somewhat subjective. Is poolside better than parking lot side? Poolside has the potential to be noisier. Is top floor better than first floor, requiring elevator waits? Is a balcony room better than a non-balcony that is larger? Everyone has their own opinions and preferences. I typically use the "comments" section of the web-reservation system to give guidelines to my preferred room: "1st floor pool side preferred" and it is relatively successful. But, I sometimes wonder if they meet my request while leaving the top floor, parking lot side suite empty... that'd I'd prefer if I knew it was available.

It is an interesting paradox though. The main reason I have chosen Marriott as my preferred hotel vendor is their consistency of product. A Courtyard in Baltimore is the same as a Courtyard in Phoenix. Same for RIs, Fairfields, Marriotts, JWs, Towneplaces, Renaissance, etc. But their upgrade policies and general treatment of Plats is, in my experience, quite inconsistent. Some places truly do, figuratively, roll out the red carpet. Others, sadly, barely recognize the status beyond an "elite" key card and a bag of chips.

In my experience its a mixed bag. Doesn't matter if its a full service Renaissance, Marriott, Courtyard or FI. It all depends on how the staff have been trained to treat platinum elites. :mad: The white glove treatment wasn't evident during my stay last week in the Tidewater area, as I was treated quite poorly by the Courtyard Chesapeake. My non-smoking king stunk of cigarette smoke and had an ashtray in the room (so much for best available and my preferences) the front desk still insisted I was in a non-smoking room even after I bought the ashtray to them. I also get into a disagreement over the rate and was treated so poorly, I checked out and went to the newly opened Fairfield Inn Oceanfront in VA Beach where I was treated like a Platinum should be. No attitude, no indifference. A sincere thank you for giving us your business Mr. Platinum member, a minor problem with the room resolved right away, etc. I will go back to the FFI VA Beach Oceanfront long before I go back to the Courtyard Chesapeake, even though my commute to the job site goes from 5 minutes at the CY to 25 at the FFI.

I think the difference in attitude can be explained quite simply: company owned properties (consistent treatment) vs franchises (mixed bag). Am I wrong?

Since, IIRC, there are only about 9 company owned Marriott's, I think you're probably off-base here. However, there are about 5 or 6 major owners that account for over 90% of the properties (excluding Fairfields), so there may be some differences from owner to owner.... But Marriott manages all of them, and the owners don't have a lot of input (point of contention between Marriotts and Owners), so that's unlikely as well.

Just to clarify a few things. Marriott does not manage all of the Marriott hotels and that is where a lot of the inconsistencies that people on this board complain about come from.
As you have said Marriott owns next to none of the hotels and a good deal of hotels particularly the select service brands are franchise owned and franchise managed.
Depending upon the area of contention the owner has a lot of say. For example with RI if you are a Marriott managed hotel and the company says do X you pretty much must do X. But in certain instances if you are franchise managed Marriott will inform you that X is a "best practice", meaning they strongly suggest you do it but if the owner or GM does not want to then it will not happen.

You are correct in that the attitude of employees does vary from brand to brand and hotel to hotel.
I think that what Perdue Dood is referring to is what happens more at full-service Marriott than select service.
Not to say that the auditor at the RI in Salem, OR is not doing it the same way as the one in Sarasota, FL but a lot of times the real issue is training.

At most select service hotels training particulary at the FD is not always the greatest and the reasons are varied but I think the biggest is Marriott constantly wanting hotels to do more and more but the hotel is not permitted to spend the funds to hire the bodies needed to properly staff itself so you get a thinly staffed hotel where there is no time to train and people are just "thrown to the wolves". So a lot of people who are checking you in may not even know what you're eligible for as a PLT.

For the majority most employees do give a sh** but after a night where you have 30-40 check ins and your the only person at the FD from say 5-11 and you have people wanting towels, tissues, toilets unclogged and there is no one but that same one person to do it all it may lead to a less than great check-in process for the PLT or anyone else.

Go Boilers!
 

First off, welcome to FlyerTalk! We need more Boilermakers on board :D

I was a Plat (now Gold), I've had nothing but good experiences. Even on award stays, the staff treated me very well. I wish it was easier to get Plat status (working to renew Gold right now).

My experiences my differ since I stay mailny at FFI :(

It certainly varies with the property, even within the same select service line. I've had several stays at FFI recently, some better than others on the (fairly minimal) Platinum recognition. Had a great experience at the Fairfield Inn in Idaho Falls a few weeks ago: 1 night free stay - they had a very nice Executive Junior Suite (or some such name) pre-assigned (welcome gift already in the room). Great FD staff - welcoming and helpful with local info.

I actually find my best service at the lower end Marriotts. They often park me in a room with a Platinum Gift (I'm a Silver) in a nice location in the property and I imagine it's partly because I'm friendly and polite when I check-in.

On the other hand, at the full-service Marriotts while my rooms are "standard", the hotel staff really make my stays pleasant, which is why even though it's hard for me to maintain Silver status, I'd rather be a Silver at a Marriott then a Gold at a Hilton or Platinum at a Hyatt (GH SEA, excepted - they're awesome).

FYI...you're kinda correct....we only own a few (lost count but pretty much right on) but we don't manage all of them....there are quite a few different operators out there but it is safe to say we manage the majority of the rooms with our flag on them (we do manage all the Ritz-Carlton's and Bulgari hotels but only 1 Fairfield Inn to give you some perspective)...as for the point of contention I'll just refer you to the article in Forbes (or was it Fortune) a few months back

I stay at Marriott's quite often, I have always had exceptional service from Marriott managed properties. The same can not be said about their franchise partners. The easiest way to tell who is managed hotel and who isn't is by the employees email address-----grab a business card off the desk when you check in. If the email ends in marriott.com, 99% of the time it is Marriott managed. Franchise hotels will end in csmcorp.com, or whitelodging.com, etc. Many franchises do not adhere to the same standards as the rest of the hotels. Just a suggestion :)

Actually quite a few of our franchise partners use our email system, but as you point out all do not