Opinion & Feedback on New FT Marriott Concierge
 

It's been several weeks since the new Marriott Concierge made their debut on FT.

Anyone have any first impressions? Complaints? Praises? Experiences they wish to share?

I have not personally interacted with any MC's but I have noticed the turn around time for any response seems to be rather slow or no response at all. Now, I understand it's impossible to expect the MC to have all the answers all the time, but some threads are not even getting an acknowledgment.

Example 1: Recently a FT member started a thread inquiring if the Stay for Breakfast w/ Bonus Buck promotion would return this spring? Over a day has passed without even a "I am not aware ... but I can check with our marketing dept and get back to you"

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=806115

Example 2: Member inquiring about EEO in other languages... over a day now and not even an acknowledgment.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=806117

Example 3: Member inquiring about Marriott Rewards criteria for a status match... over 4 days and no assistance provided.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=804640

In fact between March 20-26 there were no MC replies at all :eek:

I don't know, maybe I've been spoiled all these years by William at SPG and have set the bar too high for Marriott.

Thoughts?

I hope that all those who render a verdict will also explain what his/her expectations were and on what these expectations were based.

I think the response time has been much improved.
With that said however it is still painfully obvious that they are having to check with higher ups for every response that is not on some database in their computers-and these "let me check"responses do take some time.

In the examples noted above did the OP's ask for the concierges help?
In the future perhaps that would be a good signal that an"official"response from MI would be appriciated.

They will never be Starwood Lurkers-but that is because Marriott's culture seems to be different from Starwoods-and not in a good way.

I have had two occasions where one of the Marriott Concierge team (Marie) has stepped in to solve the problem I had where Premium Pounds coupons were applied incorrectly, resulting in the wrong number of points credited. The matter was resolved very quickly and efficiently so a big ^ from me.

I had a proactive PM from Marie. I had posted that I had an ecert for an award in another persons name. she PM'ed me to tell me that Marriot still could not do that and I had better call CS to make sure this was all correctly booked. ^^^

It's quite possible that for some of these Marriott doesn't know yet or doesn't want to comment on non-publicly available info (both examples 1 & 3).

Would you prefer a reply of "we can not comment about future promotions" or "Matching is done on a case-by-case basis"? Nether reply is really that helpful but they'd acknowledge the question. Do you find acknowledgement for acknowledgement's sake helpful?

I don't think a breakfast with BB promo is a trade secret. A simple "I will contact our marketing dept. and see if something might be in the works" will do. If they can't comment on it then say that. Otherwise you'll have people asking the same type of thing all the time.

In my example of EEO's being provided in different languages there's no reply, no acknowledgment that they are looking into it. I don't think that's too much to ask.

I would prefer the MC get a bit more involved in discussions and be more pro-active. Read what members are saying and provide commentary or insight. Don't just reply when a thread starts as:

? for Marriott Concierge,

As I said before maybe the bar has been set so high by SPG its out of reach for MC, then again communication with Marriott has always been rather poor.

Marie has been more responsive than what we had w/ Chris (no offense to Chris), and we have heard from her much more often. I'm willing to cut her some slack & see how things go before doing 'verdicts' so soon after she joined the board. OVMV.

Just a thought - perhaps Marie is on vacation if there were no responses from 3/20-26? And 2 of the threads were started yest; today is a weekend. Neither had time critical issues. Even the esteemed William doesn't get to everything 24/7.

Cheers.

Perhaps, but if you look at the time those threads were started it was in the early AM.

Again, I stress Marriott's communication record is very poor.

Here are some facts:

On the SPG forum William has a "Lurker Out of The Office " thread @:-)

Yesterday William posted 12 replies, the last one at 23:12. Marie posted 1 reply at 08:56

The day before he posted 15 replies, and Marie posted 3.

Now some might say there were no inquiries for her to reply to... Read my first post, I've pointed out 3 and that's only on the first page of the Marriott forum.

I would agree too slow

I'm pretty uncomfortable with a thread to rate the performance of Lurkers who are assigned to help us. I certainly wouldn't find that encouraging if I were them.

I'm pleased with the involvement I've seen from them. They are much more visible and proactive than Marriott has hitherto been. Let's not frighten them away with a public audit.

This thread provides an opportunity for Marriott to understand the needs of it's most loyal guests and what tools they need to provide The Marriott Concierge team in order for them to perform to the best of their ability and potential.

I haven't seen anybody "rate" anyone. Rating to me is 7/10 or 70% that sort of thing..

I really see no difference in someone commenting on the "service" from Marriott Concierge or the "service" of a recent Marriott stay.

I don't think anyone's been harsh either. I myself have provided my opinion along with "facts" in a respectable, diplomatic and constructive manner.

:)

I would like to have a better understanding of what the MC beleive their roles to be on this forum, and also what Marriott corporate believes their roles to be.

..... If they have been directed to answer specific queries, but not to comment on ideas or suggestions put forth by FT'ers - then FT'ers may be looking for interaction that will not exist.

.....I have found them to be quite helpful and timely on most specific queries. I don't find the fact that they need to check on some answers an issue - unless they are Bill Marriott, they cannot make policy or be fluent in every policy of the chain - so the "I need to check and get back with you" is an appropriate response IMO.

.....Is this their full time job? If not, that is going to affect timeliness of responses.

...Are they being PM'd to death? If so, that's time consuming - and involves "invisible" action to which most of us would be unaware. I had an extremely positive interaction via PM this week, which was (as jan_az indicated) initiated by them after reading one of my posts. I was impressed with their PM, and the result of their actions.

...ARE they limited in what they can say? I disagree with imverge (a rare occurence!) on the BB question - I think that could be confidential, and they are unable to respond.

...E-mail styles? I agree with imverge, taking the time to respond to the french eeo comment would be nice - but perhaps they read it, forwarded it - and never thought to comment on doing so. (this occurs to me because I have certainly done it)

If I were them, I would be taking a lot of time here in the beginning just reading the threads and getting a feel for the forum and for the frequent posters within the forum before answering or commenting on threads. WE can say pretty much anything we want - they are not so lucky!

Again, I would like for them to let us know what their roles will be, and the amount of time they can devote to the forum. We would then know what to expect. It does no good to compare them to the *wood lurker if their forum support concept is totally different from his!

without the so called public audit, MC's may think that they are meeting expectations, they may think that they are doing fine

regardless of whether they realized it or not, William (SPG) is the gold standard on FT when it comes to industry rep participation..

all will be judged against william.. and that is what is happening here and rightfully so

No offense taken Sophiegirl :)

Trade secret / confidential or not.. we both agree communication is key. A simple "I'm sorry I am not able to comment or confirm on possible forth coming promotions" is reasonable and acceptable.

You also bring up some very good questions, especially the one is MC FT or PT position? ^