I have about 10 stays missing from my Marriott account. All the folios do have my account number properly recorded.

What drives me nuts is that I would need to fax the folios to the Marriott service center. For example if Hyatt Gold Passport misses my stay I just have to give them a call and they can check from their system the folio amount and post the appropriate stay and point credit instantaneously.

Great Point, there is a software issue which could remedy this situation.

When you pull up your account online, it shows reservations and cancellations. It shows your recent stays. It even shows MR Visa point totals if you have one.

When I called regarding one of my missing stays, I asked just look at the most recent stay, I was informed that once the reservation is activated it is basically wiped off their screen.

This fix in the software would solve MANY problems for both the customer and Marriott.

Dash

The hotel owner is ultimately responsible for the costs incurred with their property.

As far as service being less at CY than a full service property: All of the brands strive to provide world class service.

MVCI is geared towards the "ownership's" desired experience, I personally visit a MVCI location yearly for a vacation and know exactly what your talking about, it's different, not good not bad, but it is different from what I expect at a resort (personally I've found MVCI's target to be usually along the lines of what I'm looking for in a vacation but that doesn't mean everyone will agree with me)

Since we own with MVCI and use the Marriott hotel system, there is some background for my questions. I also participate as a shareholder.

What attracted us to Marriott was their exemplary service ethic and corporate culture. It is when I see aberrations of this that I wish to learn more about their (the failure of service) background.

When I speak of a different service ethic at MVCI, I mean the delivery of service rather than the ambience in which that service is served. MVCI properties are condos with some nice locations and bells and whistles. I don't compare them to resorts or hotels. I do feel the one-on-one customer service interactions there should be commensurate with the Marriott service ethic, when they occur. Owners pay a marked premium (over other timeshares) to own with Marriott and with that comes a responsibilty on Marriott's part.

Marriott Rewards and customer reservations has, without fail, treated us in a world-class way, regardless of the issues involved. Extending that culture consistently to the local FFI, SHS, or timeshare is what they need to work on. I try to give feedback to the manager of each property we stay at, both complimentary or otherwise, so they are aware of one customer's perception of their "store". Overwhelmingly, it has been good, but there's always room for improvement ;)

Pat

Being a MVCI owner and a Platinum Emeritus, staying almost exclusively at Marriott locations, what I have noticed being different at MVCI is almost a detached feeling once you check in. "They" (customer service) are there, but you almost don't need them?

Anyone else?

Dash

I would encourage you to continue doing exactly what your doing, if a location doesn't receive feedback then they won't be able to provide the World Class service you've come to expect (I include MVCI's brands in this too)

From my personal experience yes and no, there are the organized activities, concierge services, Kid's activities etc, but if you don't wish to utilitze these you might not even notice them (the location we visit has multi-pools with extensive grounds so we're able to avoid the areas we wish to avoid...hopefully this makes sense)

The children we take with us are getting too old to take advantage of the programs and because we return to the same location each year we know the area extremely well so we find that we're using less and less of the services/programs and hardly notice them.....so I guess I do agree :D

Yes, that's to be considered normal, IMO, as the timeshare properties (save for the ones which actually include resorts, like MDS in Palm Desert) aren't staffed in the numbers to provide service commensurate with a full-service hotel. If they were, we owners would be paying a lot more in MF's. I look to quality rather than quantity when assessing MVCI, and this includes sales staff as well as site staff. They all contribute to the bottom line, and site staff and their managers are ultimately responsible to the owners paying their freight.

Pat

As camachinist notes, not all Marriotts are corporate owned, and there are variances as to how some properties credit and post stays. It's not a conspiracy or an effort to steal one's points -- it's just part of how such a large system like Marriott functions. It's always a good idea to check your reservations on line to be sure that your record locator is in the system before your stay.

On the whole, Marriott does an excellent job of crediting points & stays ( and the same is true of the Marriott Rewards VISA which reflects the bank ). Ultimately it's incumbant upon you to keep track of your stays and to see that you are properly credited.

If something turns up missing, Marriott is eager to set things right. That's been my own experience on those rare occassions that a stay does not post.

Actually Marriott has improved the customer experience with e-mail reminders some 7 days in advance of a stay confirming your reservation and dates.

Barry

Annecdotally, our last "big" issue at a select service property, where they charged us for an award stay (even though our checkout folios said zero), took two months and 3 phone calls, both to elite guest services and the corporate accounting department, to rectify. I ended up having to dispute the charges with Chase (MR VISA) just so I didn't have to pay the amount (about 360.00) that we didn't owe. One can imagine what interesting comments I shared on that one. Dealing with award stays has been the most problematical by far, especially at select service properties.

As mentioned, corporate was very eager to make things right; it was the hotel which screwed up and then drug their feet through the cow poop. That tells me someone needs more training. Hopefully, they got it.

Pat

I have about 2-4 stays per year that do not post. I wait the two weeks, and then fax in my receipt to Marriott and it generally posts the next day.

When it does not post for another week, I fax it in again, and write in BIG letters--Faxed in for the 2nd time.

I have not had a problem after that.

Usually, Marriott is very good at posting rewards. I do pay attention, however.

I stay at the Heathrow Marriott quite often (probably around 25 nights this year), and the points never, ever post automatically. I have to wait the obligitory 10 days, and then fax my receipts off to the London customer service centre.

I also stayed at the Renaissance at LHR a couple of weeks ago. That didn't post either.

Cheers,
Rick

I completed two stays booked on Marriott.com recently. One at the Wardman Park Marriott in DC, then another consecutive stay at the Renaissance Montura at LAX. Both were booked on the website while logged in with my Rewards number. The receipts for both stays also had the last four digits of my number at the bottom. I always verify this before departure.

Still, NEITHER stay had posted to my account as of two days ago after a week. I called the Gold Rewards # and got a very UNhelpful gentlman who basically argued with me that it could take weeks for the property to submit the stays and there was nothing he could do about it! He told me to fax in the statements. When I said I didn't have a fax machine he said I could go to a Kinkos and fax it from there!! :td: :td:

After further discussion he somehow discovered that the reservations were completed in his system (whatever that means) and that the points for some reason hadn't posted yet. He said that he would take care of it and they would post within 24-48 hours.

Yesterday the stay at LAX posted, but still not the first stay in DC. I waited until today and then called the # again. The person I spoke with today was more helpful. She put me on hold and called the hotel to verify. She came back on and said that the points had now been submitted by the hotel and would post within 24-48 hours.

My concern is why couldn't the first person I talked to do this in the beginning without arguing with a customer??? I would hate to see what non-elite members have to deal with if this is the "elite" service...

I agree, isn't that is what customer service is for????

Instead of backtracking and calling the hotel directly yourself; and/or faxing in your receipt. If Customer Service could just make the call for you and verify....all would be good.

Unless, there are soooo many unrecorded stays, then hey I undertstand....but then; if that is the case, then there is a real problem!

Pat -- good points and well stated. We also are MVCI owners and very frequent Marriott guests at other properties. We try to compliment more than criticize and criticize constructively if needed.

Over twenty years as Marriott guests our experience is a consistent high quality of service including the accuracy of their records at Marriott corporate. The one most noticed exception being MVCI corporate where they have tremendous challenges at delivering world class serivce.

I honestly can not remember having errors in recording stays at Marriott properties, which is why I posted as I did earlier.