Lots of bad experiences with upgrade availability
 

So I check into the Baton Rouge Marriott. I checked online before leaving for the hotel and there and general rooms and concierge level rooms available for four nights. I arrive at the hotel and given room 1702. I ask if there are any concierge level rooms available and the Asst. Front Desk Supervisor (AFDS) replies, "No all the concierge level rooms are sold out until Sunday!" :confused:

So I go to check room 1702 out, and it is probably one of the worst rooms in the hotel, as the door to the room opens directly in front of the elavator. I call the general reservation number and verify there a number of concierge level rooms available (I told them I need room for myself and four co-workers and the reservationist confirms they have 5 concierge level rooms available). I go back to the front desk and ask to speak to the manager on duty and I am told he is not available. I then ask the AFDS why he told me there are no concierge level rooms available when the website and the reservations number show plenty of concierge level rooms. The AFDS stutters for a minute and states, "the website and 800 # do not always reflect accurate availability and as I told you there are no concierge level rooms available for upgrade. The only way I could put you into one of those rooms is if I move a paying guest and I don't have authority to do that." I respond, "That does not make any sense."

I then see a guy with a tie and a Marriott name badge and walk over to him. He claims he is the manager on duty (although his name badge says "Bookkeeper") and I explain the situation and tell him I don't like being lied to. He said he would look into the problem and get back to me. About 30 minutes later I get a message in my room from the MOD stating, "Mr. RIP I did look into the problem and the AFDS was correct there are no concierge level rooms available for upgrade for the next four nights. In order to upgrade you we would have to move another guest or not sell those rooms to a walkin guest willing to pay for the concierge level. However, as a goodwill gesture, I am depositing 1000 MR points in your account for the trouble." BFD and ...!

The was the first night of a four month project in Baton Rouge for a team of 4people. SInce I can determine where the team will stay, we will not be staying at the Baton Rouge Marriott. I am calling the General Manager in the morning to tell her why her hotel has lost over 300 nights of business.

Sorry for the long rant!

RIP...

No one expects them to move a paying guest but "not sell those rooms to a walkin guest willing to pay for the concierge level" is exactly what they promise to us.

Although, I'll note the T&C now says "we'll upgrade your room whenever we can at no additional charge. Suites not included."

If the concierge level is full with paying guests, then I don't have a problem not getting an upgrade. But when I can book five rooms on the concierge level for four nights, doing a dummy booking through the general 800 number, I have to question whether this Marriott is just refusing to upgrade platinums.

RIP...

Ive gone thru the samething, in my case I checked only for the arrival night , turns out there was availbilty that night just Not for the next 2. The MOD asked if I wanted the Up for that night and to switch rooms by 11am checkout time the next day, I kept the room they gave me as I didnt want the hassle of having to change rooms especially the next morn when I was gonna be pressed for time.

So I am assuming you checked and found availability for All the nights that your res was for? If not check and see if in fact there is availability for all the nights you will be there.

We posted at the same time, however if Im correct its only the room that the Plat or Gold member will be in that is Upgradable, but finding 6 rooms there, seems a simple case of just another Hotel not wanting to give away what they would rather sell to someone wanting to pay. Thats alright with Me , just let that Hotel Leave Marriott and then they are free to decide what they want to do and not do.

Dont let them get away with it, take it up the ladder as far as you can, these Hotels ahve to learn their lesson. Too bad that Upgardes arent apart of the If you dont get it and its available the Hotel owes you $100, if it was then maybe they wouldnt be playing these games with Us.

NOT just "this" marriott!

I checked into the ATL Marriott tonight. I asked if they had any rooms on the CL floor. As a plat, I was told "NO" and just took what they gave me.


NOW....a gold member associate checks in...20 min AFTER me...pushes the guy who CHECKED ME IN...behind the counter..and GETS A ROOM on the CL floor! :td::td::td:

Oh well..I just booked into the REN ATL for the rest of the stay..will be checking out early tomorrow.

:D:D

I assumed you checked and found out that the 2 Hotels have 2 different owners. Sometimes all you will be doing is changing Hotels, but it wont make any difference if they are owned by the same owners. The only thing you will be doing is instead of putting your $$$ into the left pocket of the pants is to put it into the right pocket, but it will be the same pair of pants.

Thats why I started checking to make sure the Hotel Im changing over to isnt owned by the same party. I made that mistake once and vowed not to be caught with my pants down a 2nd time.

How do you find out who owns each property?

Trith is the groups that own many Hotels in any number of cities do so sometimes under different names , so that wont help. Either I simply call an dask or there is usually a plague up by the front desk that says the name of the Corp that owns the Hotel.

Its not always easy and to prove it Starwoods owns Hiltons, Marriotts, Super8 etc etc, and some SPG Hotels also. But I was talking about in the same City where alot of the time 1 group will own more then 1 Hotel within the same group. Or as in SAV the Homewood Suites, Fairfield Inn and Residense Inn MidTown are next to each other and owned by the same people

That doesn't really make sense. If the property is franchised, sure, but most full-service Marriotts are managed properties operated by associates whose paychecks come directly from Marriott International. Whatever REIT may own the physical plant is not really relevant to whether you're getting upgraded. Now, as I said, if it's a franchised property the staff is not MI associates, so you're on the right track.

Regarding franchisees who self-manage their Marriott-branded properties, this outfit boasting over 11,500 ("Marriottr") rooms, her's a start:

http://www.columbiasussex.com/cscbybrand.lasso

Check their website for other franchises including SPG, Hilton and several casinos.

More disgusting,disrespectful treatment
 

SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT????

Folks=Marriott International does not give a damn about you-their most important guests.This has been proven time and again.

If they cared they would not let things like the OP's problem occur-they would get involved and act as an advocate for the guest.

Vote with your wallet.And make sure to let Marriott know why they are losing your buisness.

My problem with this whole thing is that the property would rather hold open a Concierge level room for walk-ins for the remote chance they can pull in an extra $10-$20. Just shows how much your Platinum Elite status is appreciated by those properties.

What's truly short-sighted about those properties is that these people fail to understand that it's the MR program that brings many of us to that property in the first place. As hotels go, a FS Hilton isn't going to be terribly different as a property than a FS Marriott.

Grrrr... I had a very similar thing happen last week, and I really wasn't even chasing an upgrade.

I walk into the Renaissance Seattle - a place I've stayed frequently. Two guys checking in in front of me. I overhear one of them telling the clerk that he's Gold, but can't find his Marriott card. He asks for an upgrade. She believed him about simply not having the card - and frankly, I don't have any reason to not believe him - so the clerk assigns him room 1910. Clerks don't usually say the room number out loud, but in this case the guest did...asking if it was a corner room. Yes, it is a corner room.

At this hotel, there are two desirable corners on each floor: xx01 and xx10. The rooms between them (xx02 to xx09) are the most desirable "regular" rooms.

So he walks away, and I walk up to the same clerk. I'm a repeat guest, Platinum number in the reservation, booked the room a week earlier, I just assume that I already have a room that is better than 1910, otherwise she wouldn't have had that room to reassign to a Gold at check-in. But when she hands me the key, it's to 520-something.

Now ordinarily, I don't b*tch a lot about room assignment - especially if it's just me traveling alone to a normal business hotel. But fifth floor, not in the 00-10 range are the absolute worst rooms in the building. Lowest floor, facing an Interstate. If a nonstatus guest Pricelined this hotel, this would be their room assignment.

So having just seen a Gold walk away with 1910, I'm a little cheesed off. The clerk refuses to move me, saying "the hotel is sold out". When I pointed out Mr. 1910, she explained that was the last corner room in the hotel. When I asked how Plats were getting preassigned to the most undesirable rooms in the hotel, and others were able to walk in and ask for better rooms, she had no answer. I make it clear - I don't necessary need a corner, but I would like high floor away from the highway.

So finally a manager comes over and says "I'll get you a corner room." He hands me keys to 1209. In my mind I'm thinking "This isn't a corner room...", but maybe I'm wrong? Maybe the 09's are corners as well... So I go to the room, sure enough it isn't a corner, now I'm really mad. I was flat-out lied to, twice. So I call back downstairs and end up getting a different clerk - one who knows me from prior stays. She apologizes and says "How about 2110? That's available. I'll send someone up with the keys right away."

So I ended up in 2110, a nice corner room, but I felt like I had to be a jerk to get it. If they had just offered me 1209 to begin with, I probably wouldn't have said anything. But the fact that they were playing games really bothered me. Not so much because of my Marriott Rewards status, but because I've been in this hotel about 30 times. I can tell by the availability of my corporate rates whether the hotel is nearly sold out or not. (Ummm, December in Seattle...) I know which rooms suck and which ones don't. It was insulting...

Should not have happened - I agree you should speak with the GM

It's typically very difficult

I can assure you Starwood, Hilton & Marriott do not own each others hotels (infact MI sued Wyndham years ago when Patriot American bought Wyndham and took their name-no one wants a competitor running their hotel) but what I believe you are referring to is operators - some operators are also owners but some are not

I remember reading where William ( SPG Lurker) even said that Starwood owned different Hotels in different chains. I didnt say SPG did , SPG is the pts program. 1 example is a Clarion Hotel in SFO, someone saw something to that extent and posted about it, William came back and said that the Hotel will Not be joining SPG, but was owned by Starwoods, and it was 1 of many Hotels that were not a part of SPG but owned by Starwoods.

OP, I'm still a bit unclear on the circumstances.

You, as a PLT status member, were not upgraded to a Concierge level floor because that room might, at some point in the next several days, be sold to a walk-in customer? That room is unreserved and open as of right now, when you are checking in? And you didn't get some other sort of "upgrade"?

That seems to be a very clear denial of the clearly-stated benefits of the MR program. I would indeed chat with the GM and contact the MR program about a property not adhering to the T&C of the program.


In your post, you state "I need room for myself and four co-workers and the reservationist confirms they have 5 concierge level rooms available".

Nowhere that I'm aware does the program entitle you to upgrade our project team, friends, family, guy you met in the lobby, etc. Are all 4 of your co-workers GLD or PLT-level MR members too?

I you "needed" rooms for all 5 - as in "I demand you give me 5 upgraded rooms for my team", then you are asking for something to which you are not entitled, IMO.

I believe I remember that thread and it refered to reports such as Marriott acquiring 38 hotels from Starwood.

About Host Marriott

Host Marriott is a Fortune 500 lodging real estate company that currently owns or holds controlling interests in 107 upper upscale and luxury hotel properties primarily operated under premium brands, such as Marriott(R), Ritz- Carlton(R), Hyatt(R), Four Seasons(R), Fairmont(R), Hilton(R) and Westin(R) (*). For further information, please visit the Company's website at http://www.hostmarriott.com/.


Host Marriott <> Marriott. It was original spun-off from Marriott Corporation in 1993. It has since been renamed "Host Hotels" in 2006.

OK-for the Marriott apologist who say I blow things up out of proprotion and insult Marriott employees by calling the chimps who lie-a Marriott specialty well here is a post by a very faithfull Marriott customer who was lied to not only once-but twice and once by a manager.
Shame on you Marriott-clean up your act.

I belive he was actually giving the hotel the benifit of a doubt=if there was one C-level room well ok-maybe they were not lying-but I belive the OP was checking to see just how many C-level rooms were available and had no intention of booking 5 rooms.

This needs to be addressed by the highest level of Marriott management.
Do you really value Marriott Rewards Elite Guests or not?If not then just tell us so so we can move our buisness to a chain that wants our buisness and treats Elites with the respect they deserve.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

Until real time, hotel equivalent of airline "seat maps" are available to guests, FD Agents & Management can lie all they want about what they have and what they don't or are unwilling to give away. They have no way of being caught in the lie except for you getting up at 5 AM and noting where the newspapers are!

I don't know what it is, but a huge percentage just don't want to be cooperative and accommodative beyond what has been pre-blocked before you arrive.

And I'm not just referring to Suite and CL upgrades, often its simple requests like away from elevators, down the hall away from neighbors, away from the parking lot, etc. in obvious dead weeks (like I made before going PLT).

I'm always convenienced that the Standard Operating Procedure is to pre-block people together serially and it becomes a FD effort to undo that now matter what your status or requests. After all, it makes it easier for housekeeping.

Just my experience, certainly not all locations nor limited to Marriott.

Two weeks ago, I was denied a 2hr late checkout at a RI on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I was hoping that my 2 boys could shower after their hockey game before a 5 hour car ride home. "A large group" was coming in that night the FD Agents were trained to say.

Sure, someone is having a large meeting that requires travel on the 2nd busiest night of the year??? In reality, the hotel wanted its housekeepers to finish up and go home ASAP.

Again, its much easier to lie when you can't easily be caught!

When ownership changes hands it typically will remain with the current brand for a short period of time while it might be managed by a new organization, all major brands today require their hotels to be managed by an "approved" management company - I would find it extremely difficult to believe Hilton, MI, Starwood would approve each other to manage one of their brands (again I know MI wont allow it even if an approved management company is purchased by another brand)

Correct, Host Hotels is a REIT which was formerly known as Marriott Corporation, one of MC's spunoffs was Marriott International, Inc. however the companies are completely seperate today (and have been since 1993-note: Bill's brother Richard is non executive Chairman of Host and was on MI's board and Bill was on HM's board - both resigned their seats on the others boards 5 or 6 years ago)

Difficult -yes; impossible (in the absence of a sign or wall plaque) - not always.

I've noticed during check-in (or at other times I"ve stopped by for various and sundry reasons), sometimes, on the front I'll see a manager's (FD manager or FD assistant manager) which contain their email addresses. If the domain name is other than marriott there's a possibility that it's the franchisee's (if they manage the properties they own.)

That's how I found out the Columbia Sussex URL I posted earlier and that they own a Marriott-flagged property I've stayed at many times.

I called the Marriott general 800 number and asked if they had rooms available starting Dec 10 for 4 nights for myself and four co-workers (5 rooms total). I did not identify myself as a MR Platinum or ask for upgrades, just said I was there on business looking for rooms. I was told 5 rooms were available for four nights at the corporate of $159 or on the concierge level for four nights at $179 per night. I asked the reservationist if she was seeing the same information the hotel had, because I did not want any problems once we arrive at the hotel only to find the rooms are not available. She said she has "real time room availability information, so there won't be any problem."

What made me angry is that there was no effort by this hotel to upgrade a platimun. I could care less about the concierge level, the rooms are no different (just add a robe, mouthwash, cotton balls and two bottles of water). Its the principle! When the hotel is not sold out and concierge level rooms are available, I should be offered one of those rooms or something better. I should not be lied to and have to beg and fight to get a benefit I am entitled because of my loyalty to Marriott.

RIP...

I agree with this 1000% and ran into this not Only at Marriott but at SPG and Hiltons also.

I will admitt a couple of times I was told there were rooms by the res people as I was gonna do a walk-in res, I was gonna arrive after Cancelation time and was driving and was still a few hrs away, in case I decided I need to stop driving I didnt want to pay for 2 Hotels and sleep in 1.

Well I called up 1/2 hr before getting there to be told what I was before. Great, I go up to the FD , present my CC and Elite card and ask for a room only to be told they are Sold-out. I said that cant be true I want a room you have rooms available. Long story short I called back the 800# and had them book it for me as they had all sorts of rooms available.

I went back to the FD and again presented my CC and ID and was told "I told you we are Sold-out", I said I have a res heres the #, they checked and didnt see it, I got them to call the 800# and they confirmed I indeed just made a res. The end of it I was Walked, seems the Hotels computer for whatever reason wasnt talking to the res computer so the res computer didnt know that in fact they were sold-out.

although that could be the case with the OP I doubt it very highly. Just wanted to say not every time is the res computers up to date with what the Reality is at a Hotel.

I also really hate this- unfortunately it seems rather uniform across MR,SPG, and HH... not that fun

Sorry to hear about your experience
All hotel companies have cooperating compliant properties and some where management is hostile toward elite members and not cooperative. There are a multitude of reasons at work here.
But frequently I hear how much some hate supporting the costs of these programs.
Its a bad frame of mind to begin with.
Especially as they would be out of business without the program.
Some of these folks are frequntlty operational and do not understand the power of loyalty or satisfied guests.They see these guests as a guarantee of a revenue stream.And they see no need or importance in taking care of the customer.
Usually the same culture transcends in the behavior of those working at the property too.

My question to you is why stay with the hotel or the brand if poor recognition outweighs the good on average?Unless it is clearly isolated incidents which I also can experience in any given brand.
I don’t know of a perfect program without bumps but I do know that statistically I have seen greater performance and consistency at most brands but Marriott over the years where I once was Platinum. They have too many members IMO and widely high criteria to reach the top tier to get very little in return.
My worst encounters were with Marriot Rewards where surprisingly the guest pays for the call to speak with the contact center with very inflexible agents that lack empowerment more then any other program I have particpated in
Hopefully they have an 800 number by now :o

The best part of my Marriott experience was with the brand and guest assurance
I had fair trust if something went wrong with my stay the company would step in if the hotel didn’t.

I have found far greater consistency in elite recognition
In the following programs.
• InterContinental Royal Ambassador/Priority club (Outstanding)
• SPG (Above average)
• Hilton (Above average) (sometimes they need a nudge but usually come through)
• Hyatt (Above average)

Marriott really needs to reign in some properties especially the franchise ones :mad:

Of all the frequent guest programs I belong to, Marriott has to be the worst in the way they treat their Elites. If you have a better room available do the right thing and reward your most loyal guests.

I have to say of all my 78 nights with Marriott my upgrade success has been about 60%
With my 54 nights with Starwood it's close to 90% which includes suites ^

I Spoke with the GM and...
 

She basically supported her front desk staff. She told me that central reservations must not have real time data because the concierge level was not available last night and is sold out for the remainder of the week. According to her, if I was staying just one night an upgrade would not be a problem, but because I was staying for 4 nights they could not offer an upgrade. When I explained that I called central reservations and was told that Concierge Level Rooms were available for 4 nights for 5 people at the rate of $179, she said, "I don't know where the problem is, but that is not correct and I will have to call Marriott HQ and have them figure out what is going on between our system and central reservations."

I have a real hard time believing central reservations would be able to sell 5 rooms for 4 nights when they are not available.

RIP...

Thats exactly the problem I said I ran into where the Hotels computer wasnt talking with the res computer.

You can call the front desk from a non hotel phone and see if you can make a res for 1 CL room, dont go with the 5 since they might put 1 & 1 together and get You. See what they say .

OP want not call them on it

Make a res for the CL make sure you can cancel it, then show up since youre a Plat if they dont have it and the GM said they didnt then they owe you $100. If they do have it you Got them.

Of cause you have to be able to cancel out the res you have now w/o any penalties. either way you Win

It is possible the information was incorrect....however it is the hotels responsibility to ensure that it is correct (there are hiccups at times between the interfaces)

I don't travel a great deal but when I do I have been faithful to Marriott wherever possible because of the expected quality of my stay and the expectation of "rewards" for said loyalty. I got the Marriott Visa to boot.

The recent deterioration of the point redemptions and this thread is causing me to re-think my choice of Marriott. I think its time to take my business elsewhere.

This sort of thing really makes me question the integrity of Marriott Rewards.

Marriott should be ensuring that each hotel worldwide is living up to it's end of the deal with the Marriott Rewards program. I have heard all too often that "Marriott does not own the hotel we are a franchise" :rolleyes:

Don't play the franchise card when it's convenient. I don't care if you are a franchise hotel, if you have the Marriott sign mounted on the building remember that is the only reason I'm a guest at your hotel in the first place.

It's up to MI to ensure that franchisees live up to brand standards and their franchise agreements. When the franchisee has contracted with MI for management I would think that thres' less chance of a snafu, that compliance with Ts and Cs (like those in MR pertaining to Elites) are nnot only more likely to be adhered to, but also that in the event they weren't that corrective action would be more prompt.

But the key is that MI, not guests are responsible for both the policing as well as holding offending parties accountable.

I don't remember exactly when "Virtual Concierge" (though it had to have been over a two years ago) was introduced but I can state, for a fact that I can name at least one property that doesn't include a link to it in their "reminder emails." (And I don't even want to get into the subject of providing what preferences are part of a guest's MR profile or for that matter, the difficulty a guest canl experience in the administration of promotions such as BBs and EEOs).

Few corrections 1) just because MI doesn't own a building doesn't mean it's a franchise, actually the opposite is true if it's operated by Marriott Hotel Services Inc. 2) All operators of MI brands must be managed by preferred management companies, Interstate has been one of the largest operators of MHR (outside of MI) for many decades and has won numerious awards over the years from MI 3) the only difference on who actually owns the building is who the asset manager is 4) as a % both Starwood and Hilton have a higher % of franchised full service hotels than MI however MI is catching up (as is Hyatt)

As I have said on numerous occasions - if you have a bad stay I would encourage you to complete the Guest Satisfaction Survey if you receive one in addition to contacting the appropriate person to make them aware of your displeasure as all operators of MI brands including Marriott Hotel Services Inc are held to the stand standards