Please be careful what you ask for... SOP according to T&Cs is that on weekends CLs are closed and no free breakfast for elites, and no breakfast at resorts. Frankly, in addition to minor savings on the hotel's part, it appears that Marriott corporate is trying to get all hotels to comply with elite offerings to the letter and no more in order to make things uniform from hotel to hotel. This would actually result is less of a guessing game. Hence the disdain by many of us on Marriott's urging/insistence that hotels not over achieve. We have all gotten used to hotels going above and beyond, and many of us choose hotels based on that and are not to excited about the current direction being orchestrated by Marriott corporate.

Well I know a couple properties that are going to have some angry guests in September. AMS Marriott & AMS Renaissance.

During the IBC show, all hotels in AMS raise their rates (not just Marriott). But Marriott is 455E & Ren is 395E. The weekend following the show the weekend rate is 179E, so as you can see a bit of a difference! In years past, the lounge being open on the weekend helped make up for a bit of the pain on the rate being jacked so high. Both closed the lounge on the weekend one year (after a few years of it being open) & there were so many complaints that the next year they went back to being open.

And insult to injury - during the show, besides the price being really high and the lounge being closed, the rate rules show that the stay is prepaid, non-refundable, no changes immediately upon reservation. That's for all 3 properties btw - including the CY. Last year, CY had a DOA cancel, Marriott was prepaid 2 weeks before arrival date, & Ren had the draconian cancel rate. Now all 3 have gone to it.

I'm hoping to get my room at the Marriott through the convention housing bureau, where the rate is 269E. It's showing sold out, but I faxed a letter. If it doesn't open at that rate, I'll be staying at the Amsterdam Hilton which is 279 - and has the lounge open on the weekend (bringing this back on topic).

And if I do manage to get the Marriott, I'm going to contact the GM & gently suggest that Marriott policy is one thing, but that there's a line in there re: extraordinary circumstances/GM discretion, and with rates of 455E to the gen public, the property might want to consider opening it that one weekend only. There's policy & then there's common sense ;)

BTW - if anyone will be in AMS in September, I highly recommend you avoid Sept 10th-16th.

Cheers.

That assumes you get a room on the CL, correct? I thought it was you that broke the news to us a while back that Hilton restricts CL access to only those elites who are lucky enough to get upgraded to rooms on the CL or pay for CL rooms. I don't speak Hilton, so I only hear what is reported in passing here on the Marriott Rewards forum.

Copley Boston has gone downa notch or two. Breakfast is hot eggs, muffins, yoghurt - no oatmeal. It disappears at exactly 9 am, which is quicker than the last time i stayed here last year. Cocktail time is swiss cheese the size of playing dice and some rolled, small taco thingy with mystery meat and corn. Dessert is cookies.

it is something but not impressive, especially after my stay at Grosvenor Square last month. That was pretty good IMHO

Well, you're missing the bigger point, but that rate does give me access - and unlike Marriott, Hilton's lounge will actually be open & serving food/drink. Those who are paying the 455E exec level rate at Marriott are being charged that, even though the exec lounge will be closed for 2 days. They're not getting a discount for those 2 days. Hence, I think the 2 Marriott properties are going to have some mighty unhappy guests if they keep the lounge closed.

Given the delta in pricing btwn IBC/non-IBC time, the hotel could send up some bkfst & evening offerings & still make a huge profit, and keep customer goodwill at the same time. It's only 1 weekend out of 52 that they do the citywide event (which could also be their rationale to HQ). I'm still hoping that I can get the Marriott at the housing rate, as I've stayed there for 10 years and gotten to know the staff, and I'll certainly be in contact w/ the GM re: the lounge being open if I stay there. If I don't get it, then over to the Hilton I will go.

BTW - the jacked up rate for Hilton not via the convention housing is similar to Marriott's, 'round the 400Euro mark. But unlike Marriott, Hilton only requires a single night deposit, which is refundable up to 28 days in advance. Not a prepaid, nonrefundable for the entire stay the second you book it at 8 months out. However, that's not totally relevant to this thread, which is about food/drink/bkfst certs.

But again, anyone going to Amsterdam avoid Sept 10th-16th!

Cheers.

i may be missing the point here but on the marriott website you can see when the CL is open. if it says it is open on the weekend i don't think it is unrealistic as a consumer to expect to be able to use it.

LOL - don't be logical ;).

BTW - it would be interesting to see how many hotels have updated their websites. If they haven't, then I think any guest who has access based on website or their confirmation, to e.l. has a case on either it being open, getting a cert for brekkie, or a discount. I would certainly fight that one. It is NOT the guest's problem if Marriott changed a policy, communicated it to the hotels to the point that they instituted that policy, and then the hotel said oops.

And not elite-based but exec floor/lounged base example, if the rate for the e.l. on the weekend is higher & the e.l. isn't open, what's that all about? Does the guest (forget us FTers) have a right to complain? And if so, should they get for that timeframe, the none e.l. rate?

Something to think about. Cheers.

Cambridge, MA...also downgraded
 

I stayed at the Cambridge, MA Marriott 40 - 50 nights each of the last two years. No more. The lounge service has taken a huge beating and the wonderful hot breakfasts have disappeared.

When I wrote a letter of complaint to the manager, here's the reply that I received:

"Thank you for your note regarding the concierge lounge offerings here at Cambridge. I very much appreciate the opportunity to respond to you so that you may understand the rationale used in the difficult decision to alter the products and services here during the morning.

As you travel with Marriott to other locations, you may have detected that almost all other full-service Marriott do not offer cooked-to-order eggs in the morning. In fact, my hotel has offered this service for many years despite the variation against the brand standard. So, in order to eliminate confusion for our guests and to have consistency across all North American full-service Marriott, we needed to make the change. The timing is, in part, driven by the softening economy and attendant lower demand for my hotel, but it would have been necessary to make this change early in 2009, in any case.

Mr.---------, as a long term Platinum member and enormously loyal guest here at Cambridge, I want you to know that we sincerely value your business. In the conversation that you overheard, you may have learned that we will continue to offer a variety of protein items in the concierge lounge each morning. It is my hope that those items will at least partially meet your needs for a solid, quick breakfast, and I'll welcome your comments there, both positive and negative, as we implement that process.

Thank you again for your letter, and I look forward to continuing our wonderful relationship into 2009."

although I have seldom had ANYTHING good to say about Marriott any more, I give them credit for what seems to be a personalized letter rather than the form crap letters that they usually send

But the content in these letters are pretty much the same as in a form letter, we've made a negative decision that affects you, here's our lame excuse(s), we are sorry, but so what. Just sugar coated.

FYI: the chocolate covered strawberries and champagne were flowing at London Grovesnor House in Jan 2009 no worries.

:D

Sharon is going to envious.

Also, I can attest that the champagne served was a very pleasant, mid-level French selection.

Definitely overachieving which Marriott needs to crack down on. Maybe they could transfer whoever is in charge of the ruination of the Heritage Lounge in Dublin to London, to take care of this egregious violation. ;)

Well I was hoping no one would mention GH's lounge being open in case the GM gets his head handed to him on a plate for 'over-achieving' ;) Given some of the upscale clientele of the property (not FTers LOL) it doesn't totally suprise me it's still open. And if the GM can keep within his budget #s, then it should be left up to him to do so. Of course that isn't consistent with the new, scaled-back consistency plan.

Cheers.