Concierge Lounge Downgrades/Limits
 

Tonight I am staying at one of my regular locations in Northern California. I choose this location due to their excellent Concierge Lounge, even though it is an extra 10 miles to my office. In the morning they have traditionally offered Oatmeal, a waffle machine and Bacon/Sausage/Potatoes in addition to the normal fare. In the evening there was always salad and two hot entrees in addition to the cheese, vegies, etc.

The last two weeks all of the extras have been gone. I assumed that this was due to their normal lower occupancy during the holidays. However, I just learned that this was all a Marriott corporate directive to not let lounges offer "extras". Booo.

I have done a lot of soul searching lately about the changes in the reward program. I had really decided that I will take better and more concierge lounges with Marriott over suite upgrades with Starwood. I am platinum with Starwood and Marriott. There are two good Starwood options closer, and I just may move my business.. But really I am just sad that this (and I assume other special lounge properties such as the Marriott Marquis, Sydney Harbor Marriott, etc) will be downgrading their offerings.

Marriott Concierge, what can you tell us about this sad development?

I've been in the Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa lounge every day this week. They have certainly not downgraded anything.

I, too, have noticed that more and more FS Marriotts no longer will offer a hot egg dish for breakfast in the CL nd the evening dessert offering will be little more than cookies.

The last 2 or 3 Marriott properties I have stayed at over the last 2 weeks have been missing oatmeal, and I'm getting worried....

SHS Chicago O'Hare
FS Marriott Hunt Valley, MD

Is this the Fremont Marriott by chance? I have found service there to have dropped considerably over the past couple of times I have stayed there...

Now that's an upgrade.:)

There was a post in another thread about a Marriott corporate communique to properties concerning cutting costs in difficult economic times. The point of the post was that these were suggestions of actions properties could take, rather than new guidelines which must be employed. If that's true, then it sounds like what you were told is the variety of excuse one hears from a property that has decided to lower some benefit (like "we decided to discontinue the weekend breakfast coupons we've been giving for the past 10 years because Marriott has ordered no more coupons" etc.)

But this is a topic that cries out for a response here from our Marriott Concierge reps. What new guidelines or rules has Marriott corporate sent to the properties about operation of concierge lounges?

Was at the Long Beach Renaissance in California on Friday/Saturday. They had a full spread Friday night and Saturday morning. It has been a long time since I have seen a lounge open at those times!

I am not aware of any directive to our hotels mandating them to stop offering "extras” in their concierge lounges. If I learn of something I will let you know. During these challenging financial times I am sure all of you have noticed hotels across the board looking for ways to reduce their cost to preserve their bottom line. I assure you that our hotels are doing their best to reduce their cost in non customer facing ways first.

Thanks for your response. I hope properties also understand that when they cutback in the wrong areas, it may hurt the bottom line. For example, the wonderful Mayflower has been one of my favorite properties. They've now eliminated the platinum perk they have provided for years of comped weekend breakfast for platinums. I haven't stayed there since. I'm guessing others have done the same.

Marriott Marquis Atlanta has downsized its breakfast offerings as of this week. I heard some woman asking one of the CL staff if it was permanent, and he said yes.

Eggs, Hot Biscuits were eliminated, but grits and oatmeal were available. Individual serving cereal tubs have been replaced with large containers you scoop from.

Not enough to really affect me as I usually am running late in the morning anyway, and grab a water/coffee

Why even bother with a concierge lounge with such pathetic offering?

well, so far the worst cutback is those lounges which are Closed on Sunday nights (i.e. Irvine California Marriott).

I find this really tacky, and it should be in violation of Marriott standard (with the exception of the holidays - i.e. Dec. 20 - Jan. 3 of course).

Gently point out the "Spirit to Serve " which is given to ALL associates and is in the rooms in FS hotels....Karl Kilburgm when he was an F&B director I think, took oatmeal off the menu as the hotel didn't see it. Mr Marriott senior said "Oatmeal is NOT negotiable"....I really should carry a copy of this book with me, but i pointed it out to a hotel when they ran out with 2 hours of breakfast to go (select service hotel...) they said it takes too long to make..i said too bad. Went to the manager, quoted the book and had oatmeal 5 minutes later.....

BTW the SHS O'Scare is just WEIRD!!!! Close to the El and O'Scare, but...WEIRD (ok so it was an office..) i didn't love it....spent most of my time in THAT part of town at the Suites, Courtyard or RI.

With all due respect, the Concierge Lounge is the last place in the hotel where these "cost reductions" should be taking place. The frequent guests using these lounges spend tens of thousands of dollars a year (if not more) with the company. Please cut back elsewhere. Thank you.

I observed this at the Renaissance Suites ORD this past week - I was definitely disappointed to find it closed when I got there.. even though the sign said it was open on Sunday nights, it was locked up and the front desk confirmed that it was closed on Sunday nights.

Trim costs..fine, but does it have to be so obvious????? And whatever happened to consistency?? Oh that's right...there isn't any!!!

Sounds precisely the same as a Days Inn or Econolodge breakfast.

I figured I'd check out the afternoon offerings at the Atlanta Marroitt Marquis. IMO, they cut back much more on the afternoon offering than the morning offering

For those who have never been to the Marquis, there are usually 4 countertops in use for the CL at the Marquis. The far one contains coffee, tea, and a refrigerator for cold drinks. The counter across from that has two hot plates and a large cold plate. Then there are two additional counter tops: one with another two hot plates and another cold plate, and then one, closest to the entrance, used to just hold room temperature items.

For the past year, the lounge always used all 4 countertops and contained:
coffee, tea, soda, water
4 different hot options
2-3 cold options (salad, pita & hummus etc)
Fresh mozzerella and tomato with Garlic Crostini
Fruit
selection of rolls, crackers, cheese and meats.

Last night:
coffee, tea, soda, water
1 hot item on two different hot plates
crackers and 2 large Blocks of Cheese

Two of the countertops were not in use for items, and the honor bar was set up on one of them instead of being on a separate cart

Just a report, but there is definitely cost cutting in progress at the lounges.

I noticed this at the Houston Marriott last week. They only offered cheese, crackers and veggies and dip in the evening. The dessert only consisted of oatmeal raisin cookies (they used to have some type of cake and two or three different types of cookies). The breakfast in the morning did not include eggs or the usual deli meats and cheeses, just hot oatmeal, cereal, a few bagels, but no muffins or pastries. They also did not have any OJ. When I asked the attendant if they had any orange juice she said they were no longer offering it in the concierge lounge :td:, but she would be happy to call room service and have them bring some up (I assumed I would have to pay so I declined). I spoke to the front desk manager and he said they were cutting back on freebies in the CL lounge to help reduce overall costs at the hotel, so they eliminated the most expensive items served there. When I asked what other changes would be made, he said free soft drinks may be eliminated as well and the hours the CL is open would be reduced. When I asked if this was just his hotel, he said, "We all take our directions from Mr. Marriott in Washington, so you should see similar cuts at other Marriotts. "

Marriott made similar changes to the Residence Inn breakfast and evening offerings earlier this year which they said was to improve consistency, but they also cut the quality and quantity of items offered and reduced the hours food was available.

One of the main reasons I give my business to Marriott is for access to the concierge lounge so I can grab a soft drink or something to munch on when I am too busy working. If Marriott takes away or reduces this benefit, I will stay else where.

RIP...

FWIW, me too.

Definitely seeing the cutbacks. Its hard to justify paying and staying at a FS if this continues. I've even seen access to the refrigerator holding the waters and sodas go behind the scenes and you have to (usually) ask for a one.

Just penny wise and pound foolish IMO.

Thanks for the responses. I understand that cuts will need to be made, and even that I won't like some of them. This wouldn't be the one that I chose, as it is a major differentiator (but I wouldn't have made the rewards program changes either). For some reason, it is better from my angle if local hotels are making the decisions instead of a corporate directive.

Greg

Oh, and it was the Santa Clara Marriott.

So, it appears now that Marriott and Ren concierge lounge breakfasts = Fairfield Inn breakfasts (except that at Fairfield you can make waffles and sometimes you get Jimmy Dean sandwiches).

Thanks. If you don't mind me asking, which Houston Marriott is this? When you look at all of the cutbacks here in total - its a pretty significant amount. I want to be sure to avoid thisproperty. Also, I find it hard to believe that orange juice has now been eliminated from morning service in CL - this may come as a shock to someone at that hotel, yet many drink oj instead of coffee.

This really is becoming a bit much.

Very well stated. I totally agree. As a Platinum Premier, I really don't appreciate all of these cutbacks.

Correct about the
 

...RI changes. This year was my first year experiencing the Marriott properties. I had been very used to the Homewood Suites as that was the property that I stayed at most w/the Hilton chain. So when I walked into my first RI, I couldn't believe how much it had resembled Homewood Suites. I thought if I had blindfolders on, I wouldn't know the difference. Well, that was not true. The "spread" was night/day. Then on top of that, the new policy came down that a light meal would only be served Monday through Wednesday (no more Thursdays) and some RIs even had one of those 3 nights as a "Sports Night." What this meant was pretzels, fake cheese and nachos. Not every property, I'm sure. One night we went in and there was this crockpot and it had Chef Boyardee Ravioli in it.....that's it. Nothing else, no cheese, no crackers, nodda.

I learned EARLY on that there is a HUGE difference between the Homewood Suites and the RI, even if the rooms are basically identical. There is a world of difference in the food they serve. Homewood Suites goes above and beyond in that category in most cases.

Dawn

Wow, that is a major difference from what the Marriott Atlanta Marquis CL used to serve. Major downgrade, IMO.

Downtown Hartford marriott is not offering oatmeal. Nor eggs, for that matter. This is the first Marriott CL in years I've come across that did not have oatmeal.

I have made it to lifetime platinum - achieved (with the exception of two nights at a Spokane Fairfield) on short "pleasure trips" almost exclusively at full service Marriotts and Renaissances. I'm fairly low maintenance - to the point of sometimes passing offered suites to unsuspecting golds or silvers (always figured it was good PR for Marriott to do so). I concluded that the recent changes weren't that bad in light of the ease of earning tons of bonus and promotion points. Marriott might have simply chosen to keep the redemption rates current and base points simply on actual revenue spent. I am, however, a little bit distressed by this change. I do try to dine at most of the properties I stay in. Still, I have always had my day considerably brightened to stumble across a lounge that goes above and beyond the norm. It is the occasional offering of crab cakes, eggs benedict or the like which I make a point of telling my friends about (even though I don't eat eggs, its kinda nice to see them offered gratis.) If this is a new corporate directive, I guess its a matter of lowering expectations. The Courtyards and Fairfield Inns I've stayed at recently always seem to offer freshly baked cookies in the evening. This trumps cold oatmeal raisin cookies sometimes found in the lounges. It just seems that the full service property offerings should be better than what you find at a Fairfield - and from the discussion above, nothing now available at a full service Marriott matches the sausage in a pancake found at the Tuscaloosa Fairfield.

Count me as another one who stopped staying at a FS (Tampa Westshore) once they pulled the scrambled eggs from the breakfast in the CL. There are just too many other hotels, both Marriott run and other chains, that still offer the full breakfast to every guest, to stay in a hotel where you only get a partial breakfast and are supposed to smile and say thank you.

Especially now that the Hilton Garden Inn has opened close to the airport and, as is typical, offers Diamond members a free cooked to order breakfast.

What an awesome lounge!

This location is across the street from my house!

I stayed at the GSP Marriott on December 17. This was my first time here, so I don't have any point of reference in regarding downgrades at the Concierge Lounge at this property, but the food/drink offerings seemed to be pretty good. A hot dish with usual accompaniments at dinner, plus a nice dessert selection. In the AM there were fresh scrambled eggs along with bacon and sauasge, along with the expected offerings.

If Marriott really wanted to cut down on CL expenses and improve the guest experience for those who were entitled to be there, it would eliminate the freeloading, like the group of seven people who walked in around 8:00 PM for dessert. Although I can't say it definitively, these folks gave me the distinct impression that they had never seen the inside of a CL before this particular night. At a minimum the lounge attendant should ask everyone to sign in, as this might be a way to cull the herd.

Funny, I have cut back my Marriott stays the second half of the year to get my SPG and HH status.

I took a vacation last week to San Juan. The lounge was nice, even though they STRICTLY enforced the no food removed from lounge rule.

They had scrambled eggs in the morning, but they were DEFINITELY powdered. It looked like tofu cubes. There was NO resemblance to true eggs.

Marriott is having some extremely tough times right now. There was just a corporate mandated salary cut at each property. I know at one particular property 3 full time salaried employees lost their jobs this week... 2 of them had been with the company over 10 years.

I ALSO know that any time you want something that isn't in the concierge lounge you should let the attendant know. If you're unhappy let the MOD (manager on duty) know of your displeasure. This type of stuff can't be rectified without CLEAR communication.

The Marriott moto has been and always will be that they know no bounds when it comes to satisfying guests. ESPECIALLY platinum and gold guests. I know the argument can be made that people shouldn't HAVE to ask. but ask yourself this... if you make an entire crock of oatmeal and only 1 person eats it 5 out of 7 days a week do you continue to throw away money by making oatmeal that gets tossed?

I've been told that business has, at some properties, fallen below the post 9-11 period. At a hotel I often frequent, the occupancy rate was hovering around twenty percent. One morning, they didn't open the breakfast buffet -(the fantastic one in the dining room) - simply couldn't justify it on a cost basis. Servers, some who I've known at the property for years, have had their hours cut back to one or two shifts a week. No, I agree, this isn't the best time to be so critical - hopefully, we can still survive without our oatmeal and scrambled eggs. When better times return, I hope that those employees who are just barely getting by get their hours restored before we see the missing food items restored. There is such a thing as priorities. Parenthetically, we seem to be getting megabonus after megabonus. Doesn't a couple hundred thousand points in megabonuses mean anything to the folks who are so concerned over the devaluation of the points? For myself, I seem to get more points in bonuses and promotions than for the pure "revenue" kind. While the lounge breakfasts may not be quite as good and though it may take some more points to get to some places, I still believe that Marriott rewards is a great program.

I recently stayed at the Hollywood Renaissance, and although breakfast in the lounge was good, there was nothing in the evenings except for nuts and some sort of sweet cakes. Very disapointing.

Do the Homewood Suites offer separate bedrooms? That is one of the only reasosns that I stay with Marriott. With 2 small kids, I like the ability to redeem points and stay at a Residence Inn with at least one separate bedroom.
I thought Homewood Suites did not offer this. If they do, in the light of recent program changes, it is good bye Marriott.

I'm fairly certain that HS only has 1 and 2 bedroom suites available, no studios. But this could be based on my limited experience and aging memory. Go to the sites and check it out, I think each hotel puts a out floor map.