Where's the value?
 

All of these posts regarding the degradation of the Concierge level leads me to ask the following question. All of us that are elite members get to stay on the CL floor when available and gain access to the lounge, but why would any revenue paying customer actually pay more to stay on the level if there is really no longer an advantage? Room amenities have or are disappearing and the food offerings in the lounge are down to bare minimums.

At many of the FS Marriott's that I stay, a room on the CL can cost an extra $50/nt. Why would somebody actually pay for it?

One advantage of the CL floor at many FSM is the security aspect since you need to use your key to have access to the CL floor. However, that being said, if people have to pay for the upgrade it does not keep people from choosing to stay at Hilton or other properties who offer the same service except with better amenities and CL food.

i, too have been in (at least) 3 FS where the lounge offerings were equal to or better than previous stays. I did compliment the hotel, but am concerned about posting the locations on FT as they might get their hands slapped for "over acheivement"...in fact. one manger specifically asked me NOT to let anyone know as he was concerned that corporate would find out!

How sad....

Yeah, I have the same concern and also feeling.

Cheers.

I find it hard to believe many people would be staying on a MR club level just for security

I used to. I still do at certain properties.

Agree. I don't want any manager getting into trouble for meeting/exceeding our expectations!

This is so sad that it is not even funny :(

I would love to say a good word or hear a good word about the property and property manager shouldn't be afraid (neither penalized) for delivering more then minimum.

its not going to be too hard for the Marriott Monkeys to figure out which properties are over achieving.

Either employee stays can identifiy this, an audit could identify this or mystery shoppers

I would say that 8 out of 10 FS hotels in which i've stayed do NOT have key access to the lounge.....

and i have NO good answer for WHY people would PAY for CL access/rooms...just sarcastic ones!:D

It's ridiculous! Used to be people wanted to be recognized for being nice! Now...we have to keep stuff a secret....agreed...what a shame!

Good advice. I will no longer post any info on FT regarding Marriott properties that go "extra".

Actually same goes for other hotel chains as well. I do privately exchange the information about the hotels that go for extra but no longer post that information here on FT.

This is just plain awful that we have to resort to this. I have noted to Marriott Concierge that this bothers me (as well as the loss of some special regional treats at residence Inns across the country) - that pressure would be put on properties to offer less to their guests. I know some sort of cutbacks will have to occur (with all our money and jobs being sucked away these days), but in my opinion this is the kind of policy that is going to cost Marriott more than it saves them.

From here on out, maybe our SOP when referring to our recent stays should be to just leave out the weekend offerings (if any) or out of the norm weekday offerings in our posts and say that folks should just PM us for more information?

The criticism of Marriott is approaching a new level of intensity when hotels have to be protected by guests from their corporate masters. I can only image the discussions in business schools about the way Marriott corporate has been handling the downgrade of CLs.

This thread is now at about 10,000 views of mostly criticism by some of Marriott's more lucrative guests. How much longer is Marriott going to let all this criticism go on without providing some substantial response here or on their website to these many complaints?

At this point I'd like to know a few things from Marriott Concierge or anyone at Marriott who is in a position to respond:

Is Marriott going to continue sticking to its apparent corporate policy of admonishing hotels who provide "extra" benefits for guests?

If a hotel is mentioned here as providing "extras" will it be told to reduce its services? What actually happens to hotels identified as providing extras?

Is Marriott corporate rethinking cutbacks in CL quality and their enforcement of lounge hours and otherwise reducing benefits to rewards members? If yes, when might we know their decisions?

Others who post here may have some more questions. I'd like to see some answers from Marriott.