I have been wondering if I should post an interim update, so I guess I should have.

The day of my first post, the Marriott Liaison on the board asked for my MR #. I provided it. I also sent a letter to Mr. Marriott.

I have not heard back from either party yet.

I have now canceled my reservation at the Renaissance Times Square 3 weeks in a row. This lost them about $4,000 in income.

I really do like Marriott, and I do think this was an isolated incident. I also feel badly as all of the employees at the Renaissance are so nice and I have been there pretty much every week since they renovated it.

But I also do not want to give another $ to this company if this is how they handle problems. I plan to use up my points and keep booking with other hotel until I get a fair reply, or I will simply use up my points, and never stay at another Marriott afterwords.

I just got a call from someone who stated she is Mr. Marriott's assistant. She was very nice. However, she stated that Mr. Marriott has forwarded my letter back to the hotel to respond, and she apologizes for the delay as the hotel manger is on vacation, so they have not heard back yet.

She said that Mr. Marriott is saddened that I am upset by my stay, but that He and Marriott corporate do not get involved in disputes. She stated that it is in fact Marriott's officially policy to always leave any dispute up to the hotel to settle, and that whatever the hotel decides is final and that Marriott will not make any additional compensation, and will always side with the hotel's final decision.

She stated that they hope I continue to stay at Marriott and that this was an isolated incident with one hotel and she doesn't want it to reflect badly on he other hotels. She also stated that with over 3,000 privately owned franchises, Marriott simply can not offer any compensation when a customer has a bad experience at a franchise, that its up to the franchise manager.

I explained that I am still out money and points and not made whole. She stated that she is sorry I feel this way, but that my dispute is with this privately owned franchise, not Marriott itself and that there is simply nothing she can do per Mr. Marriott's corporate policies.

She was very nice, friendly, and diplomatic. However, I am simply shocked that a hotel can carry the Marriott name and Marriott will not get involved. I guess I am torn now as I do like the other Marriott's I have stayed at. I have stayed at the Renaissance in Times Square 4 days a week since it was renovated, it feels like home. But do I want to keep staying at a hotel chain that has a policy that the customer is always wrong? I know thats not what they state, but that is how it feels. If they had simply refunded 25,000 more points and 1/3 of the spa cost as well as the discount I was supposed to receive, I would have walked away grumpy , but not have a problem continuing to stay at Marriott.

Wow, that's a shocker. Technically, the hotels are individually owned, but Marriott also has its name on them and manages the majority of them (I'm not sure if Phuket is a managed property.). To wash their hands of the situation is beyond silly.

Look, I have to be perfectly honest: When I've had good experiences at a particular chain and encounter one problem child, I usually just accept it and move on. But in this case, the company wasn't even willing to stand behind its product. If it were me, I'd be giving Starwood a call.

Mike

My exact feelings! Im shocked!!!

I am now thinking if I should proceed and do the other 25 nights to get Plat again, now knowing Marriott wont stick up for me and will let their Hotels do as they please. Or probbaly will simply become a PL person where I wont expect anything beyond the basics and will save alot of $$$ at the same time

However beware *W did nothing in the infamous Maurtius case where they basically said the samething Marriott did, when the owner took over 2 Hotels for his own use leaving a number of people having to pay more for an equivalent Hotel or downgrading

This is an absolutely outrageous response, and doesn't sound like the Marriott culture at all. I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I wonder if this person is not really an "assistant to Mr. Marriott," but rather someone who works with the customer service representative you originally contacted who is trying to cover his you-know-what.

That's not likely, either, I guess, but something about her response -- many of the statements that you are citing -- sure don't seem right. For example, "with over 3,000 privately owned franchises, Marriott simply can not offer any compensation when a customer has a bad experience at a franchise, that its up to the franchise manager" seems like the opposite stance that a company that so prides itself on consistent, predictable experiences would take.

In any event, the notion that "He and Marriott corporate do not get involved in disputes" and "will always side with the hotel's final decision" is a red herring. There is nothing preventing Marriott from compensating you for the poor service that their franchise property provided. It needn't cost the owner of the hotel in Thailand one penny.

The logical conclusion of their argument is that the Marriott brand is a meaningless concept (except, perhaps at the handful of hotels that they operate themselves). You could make a reasonable argument that, in this case, you don't feel like the brand standards you come to expect at Marriott will be honored, so you could take your 200+ nights somewhere else.

Of course we are only hearing one side of the story by the OP!

Ok lets say the OP was at fault as well. That doesnt detrack from Marriott saying they will side with their Franchises no matter what. I could understand if MR said before saying anything or giving anything we need to hear the Hotels side

What MR did say was no matter what the Hotel says even if the OP was 100% correct, that MR wont be offering any further compensation or asking/making the Hotel to that STINKS!

I thought that the JW's were either Marriott owned or managed and not franchised.
Even if not, the JW is supposed to be the flagship of the Marriott brand. corporate should stand behind their product and address issues, particulary with the JW brand. Hiding behind the franchise and saying it is up to the individual hotel to decide is not an acceptable response. That basically removes Marriott of any involvement and means we the customer could get screwed whenever hotel management doesn't want to compensate for inferior service.

Let me see if I can possibly explain it a little differently

If you contact Mr. Marriott's office (regardless of communication method) the issue is always sent directly to the hotel GM's office for response within 48 hours and all responses from the GM's office must be cc'd back to Mr. Marriott's office. In rare situations Mr. Marriott's Office will resolve the issue directly however only after the hotel has attempted to resolve it but it should be noted the hotels are able to satisfactory resolve nearly all of the situations brought to the GM's attention (regardless of who is managing the hotel)

The rational for this method is the GM will be able to handle the situation in a much quicker manner.

With all of this said if you dont feel you were treated fairly by the GM once they do respond I would recommend you contacting Consumer Affairs again (aka Mr. Marriott's Office) however I feel there is a better than 50% chance the issue will be resolved in a manner that you will feel good about

I can assure you MI doesn't stand behind their franchises 100%...they do the right thing more often than not

A long time ago that was correct (no franchise JW's) but that change quite a while ago

I think it's time to move on and get over this incident. I've experienced far worse incidents in my 25+ years with Marriott and not put up this much of a fuss. I really think the OP needs to fold his hand on this one. If he chooses to abandon Marriott, I am not convinced that another brand will meet his expectations and respond to his concerns 100 percent of the time.

We stayed at the Phuket Beach Club June 11-14. Really piss poor service and the worst bed I've ever slept on in my life. And what's up with the pools closing at 7pm (or was is 6pm)? I'm not at all surprised with the OP's problems based on my interactions with the front desk. I couldn't believe I was in the Land of Smiles on this part of our trip.

51%?

Perhaps I don't understand how the relationship between Marriott and the hotel owners. Why would Marriott choose not to just give emanon256 an extra 25K points to make him whole (other than the meals) or even a few more miles to compensate for the meals? Suppose he transfers $50K in business to other hotels (there are one or two in NY, for example). Wouldn't that cost them more than 50K points?

The only explanation I can think of is that the management is disputing what he says (strange since at least for some he has documentation of his claims). If he had previously had issues or demanded compensation in other incidents, they might discount his side of the "he said, they said" dispute. But, it doesn't sound like that is the case.

I once had a dispute with Amazon in which they were technically correct in not choosing to honor one of their policies (but it was a bit of a technical loophole) and seemed ethically problematic. We buy lots of books from Amazon to distribute at seminars as well as other stuff (remarkably, we actually get a lower price from Amazon than as authors from the publisher). I told them I could accept their stance but disagreed with it. I estimated their margins from selling books and told them that I would send all of our business to other vendors until they had forgone in margin what we had lost as a result of the questionable transaction at Amazon. That day I received an email changing their stance and refunding the money and I have given them lots of business ever since.