I just read a great comment from a reader on Loyalty Lobby.........so true and made me laugh for a change with this nonsense.

It said.....
Marriott bought a loyal client base in SPG that was used to a “Nordstrom” level of client service and provided them with “Sears”.

So true!!

Count how many of the Starwood properties were mediocre (U.S.) Four Points and beaten-up Sheratons. The level of hubris here is breathtaking.

I'm no MBA candidate, but my view is that Marriott purchased a greatly expanded footprint - the bricks and mortar kind, not the loyalty kind. They never intended to live up to SPGers expectations, and as far as I can tell, they never attempted to telegraph any kind of serious deception on that front (naturally they engaged in the typical sort of platitudes expected of any large corporate marketing department, but really just the stock variety pulled from a shelf in the back of the marketing warehouse of "ideas").

To be certain, SPG brought plenty of subpar properties to the expanded portfolio. No doubt what OP is referring to, though, has more to do with the culture of the rewards program, which I believe most with experience across the two would likely agree that SPG was, well, more rewarding. This extends to the general approach to customer service as well, which in the case of Marriott in recent years I'd be hard-pressed to confer on them anything so lofty as Sears-level status. K-mart, perhaps.

Marriott bought owners, brands and a loyalty program, likely valued in that order.

Don't forget how this has been for the Marriott-loyal people like myself. Over the past two years, Marriott's customer service and website have gotten worse with each "improvement". No more plat line, etc.

Understood completely. I've yet to ever publicly share the story of how I came to break with Marriott as my go-to and move over to SPG a couple of years back. I can assure you that the evidence would be pretty embarrassing to Marriott were I ever to air it. On a personal note, quite some years ago (before I ever knew her) my wife worked for Corporate, and was personally close with some of the family - there isn't any doubt it was the best professional experience of her life even to this day, which she speaks of longingly still.

On the bright side, setting broader loyalty programs, centralized customer service, and IT integration issues aside, hotels themselves are still made up mostly of the front-line people who operate them, and there are still plenty of gems out there (as I was recently reminded of). I remain hopeful.

Is there anything below K-Mart service levels we can liken it to? I would actually say there is NO Customer Service at all right now from my own personal experience. Putting callers on hold for over an hour when they call in for a simple task (that should be doable on a website) and having a full email mailbox is simply inexcusable...even if their IT is having bigger issues with the integration than expected.

Their management has to be so far in denial at this point that it's ridiculous!

I think it is pretty funny to equate shabby, archaic, '70s-vibe Sheratons with "Nordstrom" and Marriott properties with "Sears." Marriott has got its problems but a plethora of properties that look/feel like time travel back to the Ford Administration is not one of them.

I stayed in a pretty threadbare, neglected Four Points in Kansas City last year where the (nonetheless very pleasant) staff readily told me Marriott was requiring the owner to sink X-million dollars into the place to bring it into the 21st century or risk being deflagged, and the reluctant owner was considering his options. I haven't been back but the place is probably a Ramada now.

Even though your point has nothing to do with the OP's point...I have done 800+ nights in Starwood, only one of those nights has been in a 4P and have had very few in Sheratons generally (and the OUS ones have been very good). It worked quite well for me and many others.

And most of us would be happy to continue staying at JUST those Sheratons (and an occasional 4Pts.) if we could have the "old" Starwood back!

I believe that post was referring to service not properties.

Here are the new Cat 8 properties. I see a few RCs in there that offer no benefits. You should check out the other properties.

Al Maha, a Luxury Collection Desert Resort & Spa, Dubai
Blue Palace, a Luxury Collection Resort and Spa, Crete
Cristallo, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, Cortina d'Ampezzo
Domes of Elounda, Autograph Collection
Giardino Ascona, A Member Of Design Hotels
Giardino Mountain, a Member of Design Hotels
Gramercy Park Hotel, New York, a Member of Design Hotels™
G-Rough, Rome, a Member of Design Hotels
Hotel Cala di Volpe, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Costa Smeralda
Hotel Danieli, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Venice
Hôtel de Berri, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Paris
Hotel Pitrizza, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Costa Smeralda
Hotel President Wilson, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Geneva
Hotel Romazzino, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Costa Smeralda
Kenoa Exclusive Beach Spa & Resort, Barra de Sao Miguel, a Member of Design Hotels
Le Méridien Bora Bora
Mystique, A Luxury Collection Resort, Santorini
PalazzinaG, Venice, a Member of Design Hotels
Parklane, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, Limassol
Phoenician Residences, a Luxury Collection Residence Club, Scottsdale
Prince de Galles, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Paris
Santa Marina, a Luxury Collection Resort, Mykonos
Schloss Fuschl, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, Fuschlsee-Salzburg
Sir Joan Hotel, Ibiza City, a Member of Design Hotels
Suiran, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Kyoto
The Canyon Suites at The Phoenician, a Luxury Collection Resort, Scottsdale
The Chatwal, a Luxury Collection Hotel, New York City
The Gritti Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Venice
The Miami Beach EDITION
The Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho, a Luxury Collection Hotel
The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami
The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park
The Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch
The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman
The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong
The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto
The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe
The Ritz-Carlton, Naples
The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas
The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo
The St. Regis Aspen Resort
The St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort, Puerto Rico
The St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort
The St. Regis Bali Resort
The St. Regis Bora Bora Resort
The St. Regis Deer Valley
The St. Regis Florence
The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
The St. Regis Mardavall Mallorca Resort
The St. Regis New York
The St. Regis Osaka
The St. Regis Princeville Resort
The St. Regis Punta Mita Resort
The St. Regis Rome
The Wellesley Knightsbridge, a Luxury Collection Hotel, London
The Westin Golf Resort & Spa, Playa Conchal
Vana Belle, a Luxury Collection Resort, Koh Samui
W Koh Samui
W Maldives
W South Beach
W Verbier

This list summarises well why this integration has nothing positive to offer for us spgers.

To be fair, that's not fair either. As a huge SPG booster, I have to say I do enjoy that I now have hotels in many of the small towns/lower tier cities I travel to for work. But as far as the properties I want to stay at in major cities and when I go on vacation, there's generally no question I'm still going with legacy SPG hotels.

To be on topic, I agree with the sentiment that we (SPGers) were used to a higher level of service than we now receive or expect.

For me, the stark difference was this summer when two hotels (Legacy Marriott) I was due to stay at suddenly left the program - one with 3 weeks before my stay, one with 2 weeks before my stay. I got a form email letting me know they were leaving, that the hotels would not honor my points reservation, and I was on my own to find alternate arrangements. (There's a whole thread on my saga in the Legacy Marriott forum.)

The few times this happened with SPG they always found a way to take care of me, I was contacted personally and given a personal contact to keep in touch with, and SPG got me a room even if it meant SPG paid for a room at a non-SPG hotel when the original hotel wouldn't honor my res.