Do you feel "squeezed"?
 

After reviewing the threads on government rate, lack of inventory at certain hotels, the category changes of numerous hotels, etc., are you feeling squeezed?

Are these corporate decisions that mean that much to Marriott regarding profitability?

I'm sensing that these changes are angering a lot of loyal people...and are going to hurt Marriott in the long run...squeeze out an extra buck or two here but lose a hundred or so elsewhere.

I know shareholders demand revenue growth...but at what cost? :td:

The squeeze will come as corporate travel departments start reviewing costs and discovering that Marriott properties are becoming too expensive. They will then direct their business elsewhere.

Of course, I am sure that the major competition (Hilton, Starwood et. al.) are doing the same thing.

I prefer Courtyard and Fairfield properties but this year it seems very acceptable HI's have been running $50 - $75 cheaper per night.

$50-$75 cheaper? If I have to pay much more than that total I don't stay there.

My third chain is Choice, and they provide very acceptable accomodations at quite reasonable prices.

Easy to bang up tons of points, lots of props in US and Europe (and AU/NZ), spend points at Preferred Hotels, etc.

Unless Marriott makes a huge devaluation to their rewards program (50-80 % bump in points needed) and completely messes up their customer service, I will prefer Marriott over Hilton or Starwood. I signed up for a Hilton Amex Card because I want a better credit card rewards program for everyday purchases and for the opportunity to get gold with Hilton. However, I am somewhat jaded about Hilton after reading through the long thread about the Hilton San Francisco's upgrade policy and Hilton's desire to upsell upgrades over rewarding top elite members. The last thing I want to do is get in a major battle with customer service over guaranteed upgrades. I also realize that Marriott's guarantee of concierge lounge access or a free breakfast is a big perk for me. I have stayed at properties where I can get a free breakfast on the weekends (even though it is not guaranteed in the T&Cs).

Point devaluations have occurred across all the major brands. I think Hilton did a good job of creating a new reward category. This gives them the ability to market a group of hotels as exclusive and charge more points for awards. They can bump up category 6 hotels to this new category and selectively devalue without changing the entire category and raising the ire of their customers. Devaluation is a continual process, and it is not going to stop. I cannot reiterate the point made by some that reward accounts are not savings accounts. You have to spend your miles/points knowing that there will probably be at least one significant devaluation every 3-5 years.

Having said that, I am still shocked at the relatively low percentage of guests belonging to Marriott Rewards at FS Marriott properties. I saw the number on a Marriott website for potential hotel owners, and it was around 50 % IIRC. People who do not use reward programs are subsidizing those who do.

I don't think anyone is thrilled to pay more for hotel rooms, but I see no compelling alternative for my travel needs. Again, everyone has different needs and experiences. I am not discounting the bad experiences that some have had with Marriott. For me, it has been a good relationship. I get the upgrades when I stay at the nice properties (so far I have been 2 for 2 in getting a suite upgrade at the Orlando World Center Marriott and have gotten nice rooms at Marriott Philadelphia West and the NYC Marriott Marquis), and I have not had any difficulty getting customer service problems addressed. I see the Hilton credit card more as a way to conserve my Marriott points for additional travel packages and sample the Hilton properties that stand out.

Quite naturally, a high percentage of comments here have to do with what many of us feel are shortcomings in the MR program and in other aspects Marriott operations/policies in that need to be addressed.

I would caution, however, against drawing the wrong conclusion. What frequently gets discussed here are only the "squeaky wheels".

I can only speak for myself, but I think its safe to say that the majority of participants in this forum would agree with me that Marriott is still the best in the business. We understand that the company is not perfect, but the hope is that by expressing our concerns, corrections might be made.

As for me, personally, I feel that Marriott consistently offers a better product and a better price-value relationship by far than any competitor. On top of that....recent major points devealuations notwithstanding....the MR program also is tops in terms of perks and benefits offered.

Room for improvement? Absolutely! Do I feel "squeezed"? Hardly!

As I am looking to use the last of my gift certificates I am finding many Marriott properties to be pricing themselves at least 20% higher this year.Many are a little more-I have not found any with lower prices than last year.I think the price jump in the limited service properties to be absolutely jawdropping!$220 for a Courtyard in Palm Springs next weekend!Last year this same property was $175.
So I am definately feeling squeezed.
My solution is simple.I am simply not going to pay those rates!I am already planning not to requalify for Gold next year as I am putting my $$$ into a chain(or two)where I can qualify for top tier for the same $$$ that it would take to requalify for mid-tier(Gold)in MR.

Cyberdad wrote"I can only speak for myself, but I think its safe to say that the majority of participants in this forum would agree with me that Marriott is still the best in the business. We understand that the company is not perfect, but the hope is that by expressing our concerns, corrections might be made.

As for me, personally, I feel that Marriott consistently offers a better product and a better price-value relationship by far than any competitor. On top of that....recent major points devealuations notwithstanding....the MR program also is tops in terms of perks and benefits offered. "
I am one of the ones who strongly disagre with this statement.I have seen such a rapid loss of respect on Marriotts part towards its customer base that I did not vote Marriott in any single catagory of the freddies.In the 2006 voting I voted them a "10"in almost every single hotel catagory.
I hope for the sake of the Marriott Loyalist that the program does improve-quickly!But the lack of respect,the disinterest from the head office regarding the Marriotts rewards program,the decline in the benifits themselves,and the woeful lack of training in so many areas have driven this once loyal Marriott supporter into the arms of other chains.

I ran into an article the other day (from a year or two ago) where Mr. Marriott was speaking of the new beds and the new laundering proceedures. He expected to be able to get about $30 more each night after the changes were implemented. I think we are seeing the price change now. Personally I love the clean comforters - thats worth a lot to me, but on a couple of occasions we have opted for a CY over a full service where we would have NEVER done that in the past.
Edit: We have nothing to do with gov. rates. I was just responding that a $30 increase was announced ages ago as expected to go along with the better bed thing - I would guess that amount (or some percentage of it) is added to all rates as the hotels complete their redo's.

Although I am a relative newcomer on Flyertalk, one of the reasons that I enjoy these board(s) is because most persons posting here are sensible and passionate about their loyalty to Marriott...but the other half of that coin is the passion I sense when I hear some of those same people list their complaints.

I don't understand why Marriott would alienate government contractors, I am not personally affected but it seems a to be a very bad business decision to me.

As a loyal customer, when I join a rewards program it is because I expect to be rewarded for my loyalty. I don't expect to have my hard earned points devalued or for a large number of potential hotels that I may wish to spend my hard earned points to stay at to categorized upward to fleece me of more points. I don't like to be taken for a "sap".

I am sensing that a lot of people posting here are feeling the same way.

Does Marriott do a lot right? Of course or I wouldn't be a Rewards Member. But don't cross the "sap" line too far or I am stupid enough to take my business elsewhere because it's going to make me feel better. :(

I checked into a TPS recently after booking 6 weeks of weeknights at a "mistake" rate - the hotel loaded weekend rates for weeknights and honored the rate.

As I checked in the second week, the manager noted the rate and pointed out that he was honoring it... and was particularly pleased that I was doing 6 weeks there - made him feel a lot better. I told him I'd book another 4 weeks if he'd give me the same rate... he wouldn't go for that, but he noted that the rate was going to rise $30/night at the end of the month. Best he would do is offer a $159/night rate. There is a CY - and another TPS - that offer $120/night rates ($40 less than the best he would do), both are as far out from the primary city as is the TPS in question. I informed him of that, and he said that they were probably just over the county lines (true) where the Gov't pre-diem was lower... thus their rates were lower.

I like the various Marriott products, but they're not always the best value relative to Holiday Inn and others. OTOH, they do, generally, beat Hilton properties hands-down... you can't even search Hilton website by rate.

This is the dilemma that I face. A great deal of my travel is to the Silicon Valley and it is now a rare occasion that I can find ANY Marriott property with a rate that meets the guidelines of my company- short of commuting from Oakland. Unfortunately, it may be time to look into a status match with other chains.

First of all, try checking out the TPS in Newark. There used to be some "bargains" there to go with a reasonably short commute to SJ, Sunnyvale, Mtn. View, etc. Alternatively, I usually use the FI SJC Airport....where IME rates have gone up nearly 40% in the past year, but are still relatively low for the area. (I think I was paying $143+ tax when I was there in January).

Unfortunately, high weekday rates in Silicon Valley have been a grim fact of life for a number of years. (Gone are the days in the early 90s when I used to be able to get the SJ Fairmont downtown for $99, and then get upgraded to a suite!)

Anyway, you might want to get into a conversation with whomever is setting your corporate travel policies and explain that "one size fits all" isn't realistic for Silicon Valley. And there's always the matter of seeing if you can negotiate a rate with the hotels in exchange for guaranteeing a certain number of nights. This may be a tough one, given that most of the hotels seem to have no problem selling out their entire weeknight inventory at whatever rate they want to charge.

I can only compare Hilton, Hyatt, InterContinental, and Marriott programs having spent more than 300+ nights at these chains last year. Of those 300+ nights less than a handful was non FS properties.

As I have iterated before the Marriott Rewards is the least rewarding program of these four that comes to earning and redeeming points and what upgrades the Platinum status gives you compared to Hyatt Diamond, Hilton Diamond, or InterContinental Royal Ambassador.

Also the customer service is almost non existent. If there is a problem with a stay posting the Hyatt Goldpassport can fix it while on the phone, Hilton and InterContinental can get it fixed with a simple email. For Marriott it takes two to three months and only after getting Mr. Marriott's office involved they finally got their act together.

The only thing that Marriott has going for me are EEO's and PP's/BB's.

I am getting ready to check out of the Courtyard Orlando Ocoee. This has been the first stay at a CY for me in a while. This property is about 15 miles north/northwest of Disney World and the tourist areas. I was able to get a platinum override for $119 with breakfast included. The platinum welcome gift is a bit bigger than at other CYs (two 25 ounce water bottles instead of 1/2 liter and half a pound of Fig Newtons versus a small bag of cookies). I almost did not get a late checkout until they noted that I am a platinum (due to large request for late checkouts today).

For me, I would happy if every CY treated platinums this way. This CY has the new layout, and it is fine for what it is. The only warning is that they have no HBO (although they have about 70 channels in total, the most I have ever seen at a limited service Marriott property).

The "squeeze" is simply the current state of the economy. Hotels are full and able to command higher rates. As that happens, the basic things we like about award programs - free rooms, upgrades, etc. - become scarce.

To Marriott's credit, the "squeeze" has been less here than at Hilton or Starwood. Starwood recently implemented a devaluation that raised the redemption rate on hundreds of properties by anywhere from 20 to 133 percent - with a bunch of fairly "vanilla" properties jumping 33 to 43 percent. Hilton has stripped benefits from their elite levels at certain properties - including major hotels in SF and NY.

Marriott's squeeze, so far, has simply been higher rates and an anecdotal (but unproven) discussion about a future tightening of standard award availability. Since the higher rates are in line with market forces, unlike Starwood's massive devaluation, I can't really complain about that too much.

On the plus side, last year Marriott added 2 points per dollar to those of us in the U.S. (with access to the Chase Visa). Marriott continues to publish BB's, PP's, and EEO's. They added a Free Night every time you pay your credit card annual fee. (Well, maybe Chase is technically "paying" for that, but still...) The beds are better. They still continue to send me crazy-good offers if I'm willing to endure a 90-minute timeshare pitch. (Right now, I'm not, but still...)

My (relatively minor) issues with Marriott are the same as they were 3 years ago: front desk training and poor treatment at properties they have deemed to be a "resort". But those are unrelated to any bull-market-driven "squeeze."