The Westin Tempe narrowly avoided foreclosure. Now it’s hawking condoms to guests, as well as paid upgrades and late check-out, even to elite members of Marriott’s Bonvoy program.
A Marriott Ambassador member – required to spend at least 100 nights and $23,000 with the chain each year – shared with me pre-arrival offers received by this property.
- He had requested an upgrade, confirmed in advance (Nightly Upgrade Award) but the hotel offered to sell him his upgrade instead. He’s inside the window in which it would clear, it is available – and they’ll give it to him if he pays more.
- They’d like him to buy a box of condoms for his stay.
- And, though Marriott Golds are entitled to 2 p.m. check-out and Platinum members and higher 4 p.m., they’ll happily sell him the 4 p.m. check-out for $100.
Now I actually understand (but don’t like) the merchandising of suite upgrades in advance of arrival. Marriott markets that if you redeem a Nighly Upgrade Award, and the room is available, they’ll give it to you but this is not really true. Marriott doesn’t make all available rooms eligible upgrade in advance.
Instead, upgrade availability in based on forecasted demand. If they think there’s a chance they’ll still sell the room, they don’t provide it in advance as an upgrade. And that includes upsell programs – like this one. If no one takes it, then it may be available as an upgrade at check-in. Still, it devalues the upgrade benefit in ways many members don’t appreciate.
Selling late check-out to elites entitled to free late check-out, however, is all kinds of wrong. And pitching pre-arrival condom sales seems tacky. At a W hotel it might be on-brand. And beside the hotel room’s bible and Book of Mormon?
Marriott CEO Jim Capuano once said “When I die, they’ll put the net-rooms growth number on my tombstone.” Marriott will seemingly take a fee from any hotel, of any quality, diluting their brands in the process. And some hotels will seemingly take fees from any guest, going a long way towards that brand dilution.
Gary,
While it can be frustrating, like you I don’t necessarily mind marketing an upgrade for a fee even if you have the chance (and strong likelihood) of getting it for free at check in. This is similar to airlines offering a paid upgrade even if you are on the upgrade list. You can pay to confirm it or wait and hope it clears. Now, marketing early or late check in for a fee is a little crazy. If available it should be free and I understand there are times it can’t be done (except for Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts where it is guaranteed and maybe Hyatt Globalist – can’t remember actual rules for all the programs).
Personally, I never pay for the upgrade in advance unless it is really a great offer (like 2-3 levels up and want to lock it in) and only if traveling with wife or family. Otherwise I roll the dice and almost always get a room I’m happy with.
Silicone lubricant with latex condoms??
Maybe Ed is planning to take his BFF to Tempe in the middle of the next IT meltdown…
@Captain Freedom,
Sadly, my daddy is busy during that time.
I hate to break to you, yet again, but the quoted statement would be true if one replaced “Marriott” with “Hyatt” or “Hilton” or “IHG”, etc, because it is true for virtually every hotel program that “if they think there’s a chance they’ll still sell the room, they don’t provide it in advance as an upgrade.” And, yes, that applied to SPG and it applies to World of Hyatt too, unless anyone can provide a link to where the program states otherwise… [I am 100% sure that no link will be provided because the claim is a fabrication].
This is not the same as buying an upgrade from an airline. Hotel chains like Marriot do not officially have a waitlist for upgrades nor do they have any sort of brand-wide upsell program.
This is a rogue property trying to play games with inventory and deny elites certain benefits. I also wonder if a property selling rooms through its own private channels goes against the licensing or franchising agreement with Marriott.
Presumably, Marriott is not getting the added revenue since the hotel is selling rooms through its own booking platform.
That is the usual mindless claim when the easiest and correct explanation is that “if properties think there’s a chance they’ll still sell the room, they don’t provide it in advance as an upgrade.”
There are no “rogue” properties involved in it al all. Rather, it is a legitimate service/product called “Nor1” (look it up) that’s been around, like, forever. In its latest (re)incarnation, it’s been purchased by Oracle (yes, that Oracle). Many hotel chains use it (I know Hilton uses it for sure) to provide what are called “eStandby Upgrades” to customers, automatically and in the background, whether or not they are members of a chain’s loyalty program. Well, here’s a blurb about it from Oracle’s Nor1 website:
Now you know.
G’day!
More info on “Nor1” upgrade upsells…’
Look up “Nor1” for more.
Canary is a 3rd party application that is tied into the hotel PMS (proeperty management system) – including OPERA. However, it is NOT a live application. It is an offline system set with defaults for things like the upgrades (with cost) based on the type of room you are in – it does not reflect if you have actually already been granted it. Canary collects all the information from the hotel (which is somewhat customizeable) and offers it to everyone. The system doesn’t automatically recognize your status.
True. One would think that a self-anointed “thought leader in travel” would be familiar with this stuff. I recall this site writing posts that went on and on disparaging Hilton for upselling upgrades to Honors members, along the line of this post about Marriott, when the Hilton had been using ‘Nor1’ (similar to Canary) to upsell upgrades for 15 years or more. It looks like the “thought leader” still learned nothing and just got shocked! to find out that Marriott does the same thing.
As it turns out, Oracle, which purchased ‘Nor1’, has also been offering ‘Canary’ as part of its cloud based property management system (PMS) suite.
Is what’s going on clear enough now?
I don’t think ANY Marriott elite would complain about upgrades if Marriott was transparent and had an airline-like upgrade list that was fully automated. There are just too many loopholes and flaws within Marriott’s elite status benefits for rogue properties to exploit. Some properties get around any suite upgrades by not putting suites on the Marriott booking channel. The Marriott Livonia, Michigan, the Marriott Troy, Michigan and the Marriott Detroit Metro Airport are examples. They only sell suites on-property through the sales office or directly through the front desk. So you can’t get a suite upgrade at these properties.
Here’s one. At a Courtyard right now. Two people in my room. So, as a platinum and higher elite status guest I get $10 per person, per day in vouchers. Hotel refusing to allow me to redeem both vouchers at once. Two vouchers barely covers the cost of two breakfast items without coffee and without tip or tax.
No, Marriott is no different because “playing games with inventories or availability” is the same accusation that was leveled against SPG hotels and is frequently leveled against World of Hyatt hotels. Therefore, it’s time that, at long last, you and others “get it” once and for all: in every hotel loyalty program, the decision of whether or not a room is available to offer as an elite upgrade is at the sole discretion of individual properties. Translated in simple English, it means that, contrary to what you have been led to believe, every program’s T&C allow individual properties to “play games with availability or inventories” (I’ve provided links T&Cs to support that assertion countless times so I won’t do it again, but please feel to provide links to authoritative sources to support your claim.)
Gary
Why do you claim to be an expert but can’t even get the name of the world’s largest hotel group right?
It’s Tony, not “Jim”
And this isn’t your first time
Beyond lame
The Marriott hotel owners are increasingly bold ….and they should be . We have seen time after time stories littering the blogs with tales of Bonvoy elites being denied their “expected “ benefits . We have also seen a plethora of reports that complaints to hotels or corporate get caught in an endless loop with no resolution and no service recovery. Set your expectations accordingly.
You should add “Tempe” to the title — saying “Westin Barely Averts Bankruptcy”, setting aside technical issues, is misleading, at best (because it implies the whole chain/brand).
Loren, “Silicone lubricant with latex condoms??”
They want to make your stay **extra** memorable. One you won’t forget.
The upgrade is a natural sell and not anything out of the ordinary for any hotel. When you book your room there are multiple options. The hotel is saying, you made this choice, BUT for this much more you can have that choice. As a loyalty member you MIGHT get the upgraded room, but there is no guarantee.
I am not sure why selling condoms is bad. The bibles are placed by the religious marketers. Why aren’t more people offended about people pushing their religion on us?
The late check out will be there when you arrive, so no reason to get upset. If that is what your blog has become, it’s telling me you need to start finding the true consumer issues that plague the industry, but it’s easier to be lazy and post a silly email blast instead of of actually working