howtofreetravel

At the Sheraton sopot complained about no hot appetizers + even the cold options were no good. I was told Marriott told them to lower down to the brand standard (they were above it before or so he said).Could it be that Marriott is already cutting cost... on the plus side properties below the brand standard might be force to make positive changes.

writerguyfl

Unless this hotel is owned and/or operated by Marriott (highly unlikely since it's a Starwood hotel), skimping on hor d'oeuvres does nothing to enrich Marriott Corporate. Those food costs are borne by the hotel.

mahasamatman

Sounds like the hotel's looking for a scapegoat.

Kacee

I don't think Marriott could lower the Sheraton "brand standard" if they tried.

And kidding aside, this makes no sense at all. If the lounge offerings have been cut, blame the property owner.

howtofreetravel

It could make sense, if there was another Marriott nearby no?

craigthemif

Food offered in lounges is 100% at the discretion of hotel management.

Any explanation to the contrary is an attempt to deflect blame elsewhere. Marriott corporate has exactly ZERO incentive to actively debase the value of a brand it just purchased. And the owner of the Sheraton would go ballistic if he/she was ordered to make their hotel worse, so that the wealthier guests move over to the Marriott.

ucfjoe

no not really. If it was owned by the same group then maybe but to the extent that they are trying collude would only work if there was a third much worse option that travelers would never consider. . Most all of these hotels have different owners and ultimately each one wants to maximize revenues by achieving the highest occupancy while sure trying to keep costs low. So if I were that Sheraton manager, yah blame Marriott so you think it's their fault and presumably you're even less likely to stay at the Courtyard...I can notice major differences under the same flags with different owners (some are really hands on) to the extent that if I have a really good or really bad stay I may try and look up the ownership group and see what other properties they have to either target or avoid. This is sometimes really easy and other times a real pita.

stargold

If there was a brand standard for lounge food, I'm pretty sure Marriott would be significantly higher than Sheraton.

yurtripper

OP: You were the recipient of what is known as 'deflection' (that's the most polite way of expressing it). You can keep looking for rationales but you won't find one beyond that.

TerryK

+1. ^ There is no such thing as brand standard for lounge food. Just look at huge variance between current lounge offerings between Sheraton Hotels. That's just within one brand. A true brand standard for lounge food will need to regulate size of shrimps they serve.

hhoope01

While I am not disagreeing with most of what has been posted in this thread, I do want to point out that a few years back (around 2009 actually), Marriott did send out a letter to their hotels telling them to "not exceed" the published standards. (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/11062254-post41.html) IOW, if a hotel offered full breakfast instead of just the lounge breakfast, they were told to cease and desist. Needless to say, that caused quite a bit of "discussion" in the Marriott forum.

So don't think Marriott is above trying to slap horrible "rogue" hotels that exceed standards and do more for elites than they are supposed to be doing.

bhrubin

Is it just me or has there been a proliferation of crazy threads lately?

supergabe

I heard they are going to reduce the shower water pressure as well

TravelinSperry

ROFL!

brianandlin

I have stayed at the Sheraton Sopot a number of times and always found the lounge to be excellent. Breakfast was also available to Platinum Members in the main restaurant. I do know that there has been a new GM at this hotel after the long standing GM moved to Amman. This could be down to new policies within the hotel. A new Marriott has just opened in the same town but I would have thought that this would have made the hotel try harder to keep the guests happy. It could also come down to the fact that it is now out of season for Sopot as most of the holiday activity ends in September, so this could simply be an attempt to reduce waste.