Ditto; my profile indicates refrigerator, but not always provided. I do open doors in case it's hidden. :D

I don't think they live up to the requests enough for me to even expect them. In my travels I would say I have a fridge 30% of the time unless in a suite or residence inn etc.
The high floor is usually acknowledged. Oddly enough my smoking preference was smoker for a while after the ban - maybe a heads up to staff to sniff my room to see if I broke the rules.

I've never stayed there, but isn't it "Le Merigot, a Marriott Resort and Spa"? That gets them out of the lounge benefit right there.

Also, I wholeheartedly agree that I like lounges that are either open as normal on the weekend or at least accessible on the weekend for lounging and/or water and soft drinks.

I don't see the LeMerigot listed as a Marriott resort here . Also, the hotel website actually says "Le Merigot, A JW Marriott Beach Hotel & Spa, Santa Monica". No mention of it being a resort.

Right or wrong (and most of us think it's wrong), Le Merigot is considered a resort & exempt. It's a hotel on a beach; no resort about it. There's a long thread on Le Merigot in this forum.

LHR Ren is open 24/7 w/ room key. As others have stated re: some other properties, only soda, coffee, tea available during the weekend, and after hours during the week, but it is nice to have access to the lounge (and at that property the free i-net terminal).

Hadn't thought about it much, but I like the idea of lounges being open 24/7 with room key. Everything's usually locked up - and in the case of Grosvenor House all the booze is removed from the lounge each night before lock-up.

Cheers.

please look closely at the link you provided

http://www.marriott.com/resorts/directory.mi

I know I'm being really dense here and I'm sure everyone is correct in that Marriott considers this a Resort hotel, but I just don't see it stated anywhere on the Marriott website. The closest I was able to find the Le Merigot was to go up to the destinations link and look under the Spa listings, not under the resorts.

BTW, I went back to the hotel website and searched for the word "resort" and didn't find it. I guess this begs the question, how does Marriott flag a Resort property? I have always thought they put the tag "Resort" in the name if the hotel is deemed a resort property.

I'm not really all that worried about the Le Merigot specifically. What has caught my attention is that I'm not seeing where Marriott lists it as a resort. Either the website spells it out and I'm just missing it (a definite possibility) or its not there. Its that second option that worries me. This means Marriott can, at its discretion and without any notice claim any and all hotels to be a "resort". This is important as elite benefits are different at resorts than at non-resort hotels. So the question is if the hotel doesn't have "Resort" in its title, it is not listed in Marriott's Resort Directory, and the hotel description on Marriott's website doesn't state "Resort" anywhere, how is an elite member supposed to know? Are we expected to call each and every hotel before we stay? Not very consumer friendly. And since there is no customer notification, Marriott could change the designation at any time, so we would have to call every time we go.

When is a Hotel a Resort?
 

@:-) I thought they put in a SPA of sorts to label the hotel a Resort and were able to increase the prices of the rooms!
Many Spas are not really all that! Confirmed when I learned that employees are used duel roles, and can be called on to give massages, etc, in addition to their regular jobs of being a maid or something. This explains the mediocre massages or even facials. They do not hire outside Spa services to manage and staff the SPA. It is an inside operation with less then qualified staff. This is true of other hotel chains, as well. So I prefer to use an outside Spa service, and even ask the Management, who they recommend. Many services will come to the hotel upon request.

:(:(

I thought about that as well. But if that is the case, then what is the difference between a hotel that Marriott labels "Resort and Spa" versus one with only the Spa label?

Resort and/or SPA?
 

My imagination says they add Resort, when it is near a beach, water (lake or ocean) or even ski slopes.
Spa is added when they have a seperate area with several massage or facial services. An example is Bangkok with two Marriotts. The Riverside BKK Marriott added Resort & Spa, when they added the Spa services. If I am recalling correctly. Resort (recreational facilities) & Spa is obvious the Hotel has both.

I have researched the European Hotel/Spa facilities connected to spring mineral waters throughout Europe with serious Spa services and treatments often with official Medical care. The Hotels serve excellent foods in addition for improved well-being. If you have never taken advantage of these services, I would highly recommend it even for a few day. My favorite is a Sports hotel in Austria with radioactive spring mineral waters from the Hofgastein area. Excellent massage and food with peaceful surroundings. The village has a Hotel school, and the students give perfect service in the dining rooms along with excellent cuisine. A few day prove to be very invigorating unlike anything in the U.S.

I don't think a Hotel should add SPA to their name if they do NOT have real healing natural spring mineral waters as you find throughout East Cental and Western Europe!
City water just does not do the job of natural Sping water with many healing minerals in it.

Seems most major US Hotel chains were busy adding Spa services to meet the marketing demands created by SPA magazine. Notice how each Hotel chain has it's own exclusive line of cosmetics or Spa skin care products for up sales or add on sales!

I like the Spa services when they have well trained technicians contracted by outside corporations like the cruise ships offer. I understand that there are special college degrees in England in Spa services. Or even the Eastern Europeans have better training of skin care, then most Americans can offer. Especially facials and advanced forms of massage like Shiatsu, Deep tissue, Acupressure, Sports massage and Thai!

Of course, if any Hotels chains have excellent advanced Spa services, I would like to know about them. There must be some exceptions for discerning guests/clients.

The next question then becomes how does Marriott decide to add the 'Spa' label? I recently stayed at the Wuhan Ren (which is a very nice property by the way.) They have a beautful indoor pool area and their own Spa facilities, but 'Spa' is not in the name anywhere. BTW, the prices for a Spa there are great. I had a few 50 minute foot massages for the equivalent of about $12 USD and it was very relaxing and enjoyable. I can't comment on the rest of their massages though as I didn't have anything else.

I agree with you but there are some on this very thread that would find this outrageous and completely out of line