Chris - Me thinks Marriott is getting a bit greedy
 

In light of recent posts and subsequent awareness that:

1. The Elite benefit of getting a breakfast coupon Monday through Friday only, if the Marriott, Renaissance of Conference Center is not a resort and does not have a concierge lounge, or it has a concierge lounge but the lounge is closed, then the free breakfast coupon is limited to only the elite status guest and nobody else staying in the room.

2. Explicitly stated in the T&C "No Suite upgrades".

3. I would also venture to GUESS that MAR is probably applying pressure to Hotel management to dish out benefits by the book so as to increase the bottom line.

I love companies that only look at the bottom line and have that as their driving force. It usually results in short sighted decisions that inevitably bring on the demise of a company.

A good example of a past blunder by Marriott:
Marriott started in the food business and branched out into Hotels. They dumped Hot Shoppes, Roy Rogers, Marriott Host International, and within 10 years their hotels had some of the worst food. I complained vehemently, probably along with others, and over the past 5 years I believe Marriott has made a concerted effort to improve its Hotels' food offerings and as a result I have actually enjoyed utilizing room service the past couple years. Not always top notch but a big improvement over previous years.

Now they start dickering with elite benefits and tick off myself and other platinum and gold elites and we will either buy that extra breakfast or two for those in our party who are not elites; or due to the fact that most of us are quite fickle, we will more likely ask *wood to comp us their equivalent elite level and change allegiances. Developing customers like myself who stay at $250-500/night price range resort properties 30-40+ nights a year, plus another 30-40+ nights at $150-300 on business

Obviously Marriott’s half a BILLION in NET profit last year was not adequate enough and it would behoove MAR to tick off its best customers. HELLO Marriott, you are a hotel that is profitable, not an airline that is struggling financially and WE the customers who pay through the nose, KNOW IT!

No wonder *wood is rated more highly than MR as having the best frequent stay program. You can get upgraded to suites on the *wood program if they are available. I also like *woods up to 5 nights at 50% off for 5000 points (that would be comparable to about 20000 MR points). No blackout dates or availability restrictions on free night awards. Only have to stay 50 nights instead of 75. Oh, but they don’t provide the elite member, or his party, with free breakfast. Oops, Marriott doesn’t provide the elite member’s party with free breakfast either only the elite member at Hotels, NOT RESORTS, that do not have a concierge or executive lounge, and only Monday through Friday. A quick question, wouldn’t it help Marriott's the bottom line to restrict this benefit to odd or even days only? See we too, can play the let's save a buck game. Oh hav a better idea, how about we play a different game called, let's keep our current customers happy and steal the competition's customers.

You know traveling is not what it used to be and it is nice when at least one of the providers of travel services doesn’t appear to be adding frustration to your life. The airlines are up a creek without a paddle struggling for their life and with TSA making life oh so fun, it only makes sense to have the Hotels jump on the “Let’s see how much we can frustrate the travelers” band wagon.

Marriott get your butt in gear. It is time to revisit your rewards program and if you want to eliminate something then fine do it, but also improve some things that will make your program more competitive and will make people like myself happy to be a Platinum elite. This will reinforce my loyalty instead of questioning it when I see the slow erosion of benefits as those mentioned at the beginning of this post. It may also result in the competitor's customers starting to take a serious look at Marriott as an alternative.

Oh, and BTW, once you make changes then implement them consistently throughout the Marriott family of properties. Part of the problem here is that expectations have been raised and then are dashed when benefits once perceived as standard are no longer provided.

One thing I do not understand is why not give suite upgrades. It doesn't cost the hotel any more if the suite is going unused, and it provides a wealth of goodwill to the customers who have supported the Hotel with the $100,000s of dollars spent at their properties.

Same observation goes for a breakfast coupon. While it does cost the Hotel in potential lost revenue, the goodwill is excellent and it only applies to a handful of Hotels. Or you could go the other way and restrict lounge access to the elite member and not allow friends, spouses or SOs into the lounge since they do not hold elite status.

Thanks for allowing me to vent.

You guess in regards to point number three is incorrect in that it's far more in the interest of the hotel's owner to dish out the bennys by the book since Marriott Corp. is getting paid either way and if someone gets screwed it's the owner not Marriott.

I think the suite upgrades issue simply comes down to two reasons. One is that you can't impliment this across all brands since more Marriott hotels are suite-less than ones that have suites.
And two most hotels that have suites do not have enough to go around for all the PLT's so that creates a lot of the moaning and groaning that we have seen on this board in the past with regards to upgrades.

Over the past 15 years, I have been at either Silver, Gold or Black elite levels in the Marriott frequent guest program.

Other than bonus points, I have never received any benefits.

I have not bothered trying to achieve any elite level again with Marriott.

In regards to suite upgrades... and more platinums than suites, why not implement a system as to who would get the suite first?

For example, if there are 3 marriot members and 1 suite there could be several viable options:

1) Give the suite to the person who reserved the room the earliest.
2) Give the suite to the person who paid the most money for the suite.
3) Give the suite to the person with the most nights in the given year.
4) Give the suite to the person who most frequents that specific property.

I realize that most Marriott properties do not have many suites, but it would be a nice perk to receive every once in a while.

I don't pick Marriott for the elite benefits for, as a leisure traveller, I'm lucky to give them 10 nights a year it makes Silver (and before they dropped the level from 25, I'd never even get that).

I pick Marriott as their hotels (the actual Marriott-branded properties, not Courtyard or Fairfield Inn or such) are always universally "good". Many are more than that. They all have nicely-sized King rooms with nicely-sized bathrooms and work areas and amenities and I happen to think the best hotel food around when it comes to hotel chains (though Hyatt still makes the best desserts, Marriott is very close there).

I've had great Hilton stays and mediocre ones. In nicely-sized rooms and broom closets.

I have had great Hyatt stays and mediocre ones. In one awesome room (Long Beach, CA) and somewhat smallish ones.

I have never had a mediocre Marriott stay, and have almost always had a great stay.

When it comes time to blow "the big bucks" for San Diego Comic Con (a week in a Suite and lots of room service and bar tabs), the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina always gets my business over the Grand Hyatt Manchester (where I am Platinum and the rate is 35% less per night) and the Hilton Gaslamp (where I am Gold and the rate is half that of the Marriott) because the Marriott has always treated me best as a guest - even a non-status guest.

So I have no complaints, Chris. In my mind, you're doing fine. :D

Or maybe just first to arrive - everyone gets the best available room at checking. That would be a novel (spg) approach.

I see what the OP is getting at, as I've also been annoyed sometimes at what I see as needless penny-pinching at the expense of guest satisfaction and loyalty. The aforementioned breakfast restrictions (why not just give platinums free breakfast for everyone in their room all the time, at every property?) do come to mind. The fine print on the EEO coupons bothers me sometimes, too. And it's been quite some time since I've gotten a nice surprise in the mail like luggage tags or a Club Marquis travel mug.

Overall, though, I agree with SEA_Tigger that Marriott is the best chain all-around, and I'm a very satisfied customer. When I look at the changes to the MR program over the past ten years I've been top-tier, there's been more to praise than complain about. Expanding the program to all properties is nice, a customizable platinum welcome amenity is appreciated, etc.

So I hope that Marriott does not become a short-term gain-focused company that loses sight of what has made them successful. There's always room for improvement, and I hope that the little annoyances will be taken care of over time. All things considered, though, they've got my loyalty and the lion's share of my business, and I applaud their efforts to run fine hotels and a great rewards program.