I have only one recurring complaint that would cost nothing to fix.

The on-line MR account system and reservations system have a section for "reservation preferences." I get my room option (King v. 2 doubles) every time, but the rest of the preferences (crib, pillows, towels, etc.) are ignored more than half the time, even when I draw their attention to the preferences section at check in. It's annoying having to call for something that I already requested twice. Once or twice would be fine, but more than half the time?!?

In my experience, it has nothing to do with how busy the hotel is. Busy hotels sometimes get it right. OTOH, my last stay was at a completely empty but well-staffed hotel, and they still got it wrong.

Bret, your resort sounds like it's actually a welcoming place if the culture is such that you can have a conversation like this and possibly even get some action taken. I tend to completely avoid any Marriott with the word "Resort" in its title because learned that at many properties, that term is used as a tool to take things away from guests. All of my resort business currently goes to Hilton and Starwood, whereas my urban/suburban stays are all Marriott. I wish more "resorts" were like yours.

My take on Internet: I actually don't mind the $9.95 WFB offer - I think that's reasonable. My only request would be a big, strong WiFi signal available throughout the hotel. I'm happy to pay for it if it works and I'm not constantly getting disconnected due to a weak signal.

The biggest area for improvement I'd recommend would be front-desk training on current promotions. I know it's impossible to keep up on everything, but how about the following three:

- Marriott is running a huge systemwide promotion with Hertz for a 3rd night free. It appears to be across all brands, valid for six months - a pretty major global campaign. I've used it several times now, and no one has a clue how to process it. The mechanics are simple. Rent car. Book Marriott with HPR rate. Stay. Get 3rd Night Free. But I always end up having to talk to managers, call Marriott International, etc.

- Premium Pounds, Bonus Bucks, Savvy Savings, Extra Euros, etc. Marriott has injected tens of thousands of these certificates into the market in recent years through a wide variety of means. These certs are everywhere - they all function essentially the same, yet they are processed completely differently by different hotels. Many front desk clerks have never seen them.

- EEO. I think hotels are generally better about these, but I still have to save copies of my EEO and go to the front desk at checkout and have them remove a charge on about half of my EEO stays.

Regarding that early checkin topic, I've never had a big problem with Marriott letting me check into a room early - or at least giving me options. Usually if I arrive in the morning, they'll simply say something like "Here's what's available now - or you can wait until later for the upgraded room we'd planned on giving you." As long as there's somewhere to stash bags (which there always is), I'm not too worried about it. The one time in the past year when a Marriott didn't have my room ready at the posted check-in time, the manager comped us drinks/appetizers while we waited and then brought out keys to the bar when the room was ready.

Overall my Marriott experiences are good. Marriott is consistent. I don't expect them to treat me like a King, but I know they won't treat me badly either. The other chains seem to vary more widely in both quality and service - HH and SPG both have some truly world-class hotels, but also some drab Hiltons and Sheratons. It is very rare that I see either a Marriott or Renaissance that I'd say is a bad hotel. My opinions sour a bit in the CY/FI realm, but Marriott takes very good care of its two main brands.

I'd be happy if the hotel would actually read the reservation they are processing and provide the room and ammenities advertised. There's nothing worse IMO than a customer having to remind a vendor of what is in front of them in black and white.

If the hotel is in an English-speaking country, hire only customer-facing personel with fluent English speaking and reading/writing skills. I'm not an interpreter/translator.

Empower elite customer service to handle all CS-related items on one phone call where the elite CSR stays with the customer throughout the process. I recently had to spend over an hour on the phone with 3 different departments (rewards, reservations and CS) to get one lousy package cert extended and matched to a hotel reservation where the hotel had "crept". IMO, one call and one CSR could've done everything. It's not rocket science.

Though insolent behavior knows no age, I particularly see it in the too many gifts, too much insurance, airbag owning younger generation which has too much "self-esteem". Humility training should be imperative. If not well-received, exit interview is next. There have been a few where I seriously considered some jail time to readjust their priorities. Just speaking plainly here as a blue-collar business owner.

Lastly, consistency. Unlike many posters here, the main reason I've left Marriott is lack of consistency. I came to them a decade ago because of their strong consistent product but have seen it deteriorate. Interestingly, most of my issues have obtained since the hotel business has recovered post-9/11. Perhaps Marriott needs a refresher course in the lean times, which are just around the corner, IMO.

Good luck, welcome to FT and thanks for listening.

Pat

If they know how to complain its only because they have had to do it so much when things werent right.
As for the suggestions, the only problem with my feedback is that I can only fix or attempt to fix these problems at MY RESORT. There is definatly nothing I can do with Marriott worldwide. One thing I am noticing however is that the internet issue is a REALLY BIG ONE. Most resorts outsource their ISP and its tech support. I have noticed that those ISP customer care lines are horrible. Last night I got a call from Wayport (my ISP) who told me half my resort probably wont have internet for at least 2 hours. I flipped (we have 12 top 50 members in house) and they ended up fixing it in about an hour. I'm still working on it though....I promise you that.

One complaint on the Wayport is that the wireless doesn't allow you to charge to your room or use a wayport membership... I think it should be easy to verify your last name/room number,etc.. to charge to room. Some other properties required call for a code...

But I know Wayport is not the best in customer service.. and it is not this location's issue only, I have had this at multiple locations (ie Sheraton Crescent in Phoenix too).

Wonderbret,

I would say the one thing you can do is ensure that these ideas / gripes get passed through the internal channels to the folks who may be able to make the changes brand wide. That would go a long way for customer satisfaction scores in my opinion.

Again, thanks for taking the time to listen to us and at least try to make your part of the Marriott world better.

--DD73

P.S. I would be interested in a PM to let me know which resort you are working with. May make a detour through Arizona if we get the chance.

Just to add to the list - I would only ask two things:

1) Free Internet at every hotel, and
2) Free breakfast for Platinum members at Courtyards.

Both would make my life (and expenses) that much easier.

I know Wonderbret won't be able to address this one, but I too find it odd that CY is the one Marriott brand where Golds/Plats don't receive some sort of breakfast option. (Since we've already covered the "resort" no-breakfast issue, I won't go there again - I'm talking about a *whole* brand.)

They don't even credit points on incidentals. It feels like they're saying "Not only are we not giving you breakfast, we don't even want you to buy it from us. Go down the street and get it elsewhere!"

Personally it doesn't affect me a lot. If I know of a nice CY, I'll stay there on business. I can grab breakfast at a coffeeshop and expense it. If I'm doing a personal stay in a suburban location where CY's are common, I'm probably booking a Residence Inn anyway. (We do a couple of these a year - visits to see family.)

But I still don't quite get it. Either give the breakfast to elites, or at least add CY to the list of brands where incidentals qualify for points. Newer CY's have restaurants open for dinner and lobby bars. I know it's a bit silly - we're talking about 12% of the cost of a beer - but subconsciously I think it causes me to visit the bar at CY a lot less than I do at Marriott/Renaissance.

Oops...I segued from free breakfast to earning points on incidentals at CY pretty quickly. Of the two issues, I'd rather have the points on incidentals.

Wonderbret....

First of all, welcome to FT, and a big THANKS for taking the time to listen to some of Marriott's best customers.

I agree with many of the suggestions that have been made here, but not all of them. For example, I think the TV services and the TVs for the most part are just fine, as are (most of) the towels in the pools, the price of drinks in the CL (admittedly these can be on the steep side, but lets not forget all the other free stuff that's also there....including non-alcoholic choices). I also have to say, Marriott properties are typically more than fair and helpful when it comes to handling upgrade requests.

So, for whatever it might be worth, let me "second" a few of the comments...

1.) Free web. At least for your best customers. This has been discussed ad nauseum, but I particularly agree that FS hotels should be able to find a way to include this when room rates are rising more quickly than the overall rate of inflation. (And yes, I realize the higher rates also include a number of improvements that have been made to the product....most notably the new bedding package).

2.) Plat overrides for reward stays: I understand this may not be quite as easy as it sounds given possible revenue losses. But it would certainly be nice to see some system devised where at least a few rooms could be converted from "stay anytime" to "standard reward". At minimum, I'd like to see something done for elites about this business of some hotels blocking off months at a time outside of peak seasons (such as a couple of Europe hotels I recently wrote about showing only "stay anytime" for virtually all of March, April, & May). I have no problem with this practice during peak seasons at popular properties. But during "off" or "shoulder" season??? Months in advance (when virtually every room type shows as availble)??? For your best customers??? C'mon! Maybe its not feasable for whatever reason to match competitors exactly when it comes to overrides for elites, but we deserve something better than this!

Down through the years, the program has been very good. The best out there. But virtually every printed or online promotional items I've gotten from Marriott regarding the rewards program shows some fabulous high-end property at a highly desirable location. IMHO, the company is asking for big trouble with customers....if not legally...if a situation ever develops where what's being promoted becomes increasingly difficult or impossible to obtain. Especially true if they're going to start turning the screws for extended periods during non-peak seasons.

3.) Redeeming bonus bucks, and other promo offers. I think this is a significant problem and one that reflectis badly on Marriott. All too often the person at the front desk is absolutely clueless. Even when that's not the case, more than half the time, IME, credit is not properly applied at check out. Marriott allways makes things right, but why put your customers through the hassle in the first place. This is very out of character for Marriott, and I don't think it would be all that tough to fix this.

4.) Policies at Resorts: This one doesn't affect me very much. But it would be nice if elite guests could be given, if not a full CL, perhaps a complimentary basic breakfast offering along with perhaps complimentary soft drinks, bottled water, etc. Something that offers the same type of "thank you" that we get when taking our busines to other FS properties.

All of this notwithistanding, I still consider Marriott to be the best in the business by a wide, wide margin. That goes for all brands. Keep up the great work, fix the annoying little glitches, and keep listening to your customers!