my two cents is that this 3 day a thing and standardization is a negative

the standard it appears is to go with chips.. not seeming heavier to me

I have had a totally different experience at the RI I'm staying at in Woodbridge, VA for the past few months. When I arrived, they often did salads and things like that. Late Dec, they switched and now they have theme nights. Tuesdays are BBQ nights where they grill things (yes, they actually have somebody go out to the grill and do it right before) such as chicken breast, hot dogs and hambugers (a few other things too). Thursday night is TV night where they put in more seating in lounge TV viewing area and then offer more items oriented to TV snacking (Things like Soft Prezels and Cheese, Nachose, and Candy.... all the same night, not different nights). I don't recall the other nights offhand, but it has been a nice change.

My experience is some RI's are much better than others. I do agree that cutting back to 3 nights is not a good thing, and I feel it is sadly another negative that is starting to become a trend at Marriott properties.

I don't regard cutting back 1 night as a positive; that's spin.

Cheers.

I can assure you the human capital expense was not reduced by this change, actual food cost did increase some

Why bother with a social hour at all if you have it only three evenings a week? :confused: :confused:

But during the summer season, school holiday season (spring break) & holidays (Turkey Day, Xmas), families are staying during the week & not just on weekends.

I'm sure they're not going to be thrilled when they discover that the social hour that they might depend on to offset costs, especially in high ticket areas such as the Disneyland & Disneyworld, San Diego, etc) is now shortened by 1 day.

I wonder if Marriott's updated its website to reflect the change in policy?

Cheers.

I do hope this is not the start of a Marriott brand trend. The 2 FS CL's I've been in this year appeared to cut way back on their offerings in 2008.

I think people like the notion of "getting something for free" and that goes a long way towards cementing loyality even if its a bowl of chips and the cost is really buried in the room rates (as it should be).

This might be penny wise and pound foolish?

Example:
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/trave...on-sugar-land/

Note no mention of the days of "an evening reception" but the notation of "hour".

I noted this and other RI's using "<deluxe> continental HomeTouch" breakfast daily, <in marked contrast to conflicting verbage on the same page>.

Draw your own conclusions ;)

Pat

nobody has found an offical policy/announcement.
more than likely will just vary by location.

I never could understand staying at an RI as a status member. You only get 5 points per dollar and the food in conceirge lounges at FS marriots is usually better. To cut it back to 3 nites a week and call it an "enhancement" sounds suspiously like Gordon Bethune has moved over from CO:td:

I would hazard a guess that those who are staying at RIs don't necessarily have the budgets (corp or personal) for FS Marriotts.

I know when I stayed at an RI in San Diego last summer during a convention it was because the FS was astronomical. Heck, even the RI wasn't cheap because of it being the summer high season in SD & the convention. The social hour came in handy to offset food costs a bit, although it wasn't like it was a full-blown meal.

Cutting back & saying enhancement is an oxymoron. OVMV.

Cheers.

sorry but it is an official policy change (I do have the memo but it is confidential)

Again the number of hours the "social hour" is provided hasn't changed, the food offerings have increased

Ah, so the "hour" is longer, but on fewer nights, and food offerings have increased.

Let's hope, based on the sample I provided above, that verbage can be adjusted to make things more readily clear for non-FT, non frequent stayers to better comprehend exactly what they are paying for. If I didn't understand Marriott double-speak so well, I'd be :confused:

Wait..... :D

Pat