RogerD408

I would hope the SPG program is delivering a good product. Should the Ambassador program not be to your liking, then don't use it. Continuing to stay at SPG properties is not a waste of time/money unless you insist upon earning status elsewhere and that can be a costly endeavour (I had top tier in four programs at one point). Yes, MRs may be cut back, but those have limited ROI based upon what you find important in a program.

I am hoping Monday will be revealing, but won't be surprised if it's just more of the same marketing speak we've been hearing.

yyznomad

Based on your OP alone, and if comparing to my previous ambassador which I had for several years, you definitely have a bad ambassador. My ambassador responded to and executed all of my requests. I had roughly 100 different requests, most of which were done smoothly and any problems were resolved rather quickly. Not saying my ambassador was perfect, but certainly did their job as expected and looked out for me at times, like with special gifts waiting for me in my room after checking in, birthday presents, etc. These little touches were really nice after TATL and TPAC flights.

glostik

Have had the same ambassador for four or five years now and she has been excellent

HNS

My ambassador was great (in the sense that I am not at that tier anymore). Had every request executed, saved my butt a couple of times when I didn't calculate the time zone difference right and noticed a day before departure that I will get to the destination a day late! Gifts waiting in my room, presents on my birthday. Sounds like an unlucky match, you can probably change it if you call and request, providing the reasons in the OP.

slidergirl

From my experience on that other side of the Front Desk at *wood properties, I never had a call from the Plat nor Ambassador folks. Ambassadors sent faxes. FD staff were not trained on what an Ambassador fax looks like nor what to do if they happen to see one come in. The fax machine is used by many people; sometimes incomings are just put on top of the machine and sit there. Sometimes, when an Ambassador "exceptionally requests" ( I always laughed at that standard phrase in the faxes) an item or service in the fax, it is just never acted on. I'd see a lot of faxes from a "<name redacted>” as an Ambassador, but I never saw from anyone else that stands out. I only knew about this stuff because I was a SPG member long before I became a *wood employee. The only SPG people I had phone contact with were the SPG Champions in charge of the programs and as the hotel SPG Champion, I had monthly calls with them on how well we were doing in enrolling new members, upgrading members, etc.

777 global mile hound

And if so to what extent? If I had a bad Ambassador I would simply request a new one and keep my expectations low with the current state of the company
The bigger question is there really truly a Starwood or SPG left anymore to any fair degree?
The name lives on temporarily.Almost anyone I know of importance has picked up and left the company
Those were the folks responsible for customer service
I come to expect next to nothing except the expectations I have from any quality property I stay in
Starwood is simply a previously well respected program/company from the past that was all bought up by Marriott soon to be extinct as it rolls into Marriott Rewards
Marriott never delivered the kind customer service of Starwood did in my many decades of dealing with both companies

I don't expect much anymore from whats left of Starwood in the way of outstanding personal service certainly not now from their call centers.And Marriott never had excellent customer service
How much empowerment would they even have under Marriott ownership presently?
Much like the Continental Airlines merger when its really United ownership and customer service bleeding into the equation from the UA side

Certainly Marriott does have its jewel brands
While Marriott will be popular due to how many brands they represent now for me the glory days are long over.Hopefully I will stand to be wrong but I doubt it
I am fortunate to have been a part of the glory days during the SPG era that was truly inspirational even with some bumps in the road over the years.
The people the program, the management and quite a few agents that seemed like friends and family

I believe today we will ultimately find out the future of the final demise of Starwood/SPG and what that looks like with gazillion complicated tiers and the winners vs the losers of the new Marriott Rewards program going forward
Quite frankly I'm far from optimistic and expect a lack luster program driving me back to Hilton and Hyatt where I never left and some IHG mixed in
In some ways some of the former Starwood hotels may be be improved long term however I expect Marriott's obsessive cost cutting to take an enormous toll on elite breakfast quality, program benefits and hard reward redemption value
Prepared for the worst and hoping for the best
Stay tuned

EuropeanPete

It does sound like there are a lot of bad Ambassadors. If you have a bad one, I'd ask to speak to the Ambassador supervisor and lay out your specific needs and expectations. I think you'd have more chance of being assigned to a star that someone just saying they don't like their current level of service.

My Ambassador has helped me with about 20 *in policy* requests, and he's told me 4 times what I was asking for wasn't something he could guarantee as part of the SPG terms, but each time has either been able to meet my specific requests or creatively work with properties to come up with an alternative which met my actual needs. I hope Marriott doesn't lose him.