Marriott has the most exclusive top elite tier with published earning criteria. The Ambassador level requires not just 100 nights in hotels but also a minimum of $20,000 in spend, nearly impossible to achieve in many parts of the world with low hotel rates. Marriott is keeping the 100-night level, but increasing the spend requirement to $23,000 for 2023.
With that they are bringing back dedicated Ambassadors. The service these elites receive was gutted during the pandemic, and while Titanium (75 night) status receives very little over Platinum (50 night), Ambassador received very little over Titanium once they no longer had dedicated Ambassadors.
- A carry-over from Starwood, members used to have an agent specifically assigned to them to take care of all of their stay needs, including making requests and customizing things with hotels and assisting with any arrangements. The promise was that this person “gets to know you over time” and “provide the personal touches that make each trip special.”
- Despite adding the minimum spend requirement (which Starwood didn’t have) on top of staying 100 nights, Marriott stopped providing an actual Ambassador to Ambassador members. They performed mass layoffs of the representatives who took care of their best customers. Ambassador members stopped receiving a personal point of contact and were no longer able reach out to an individual agent directly as those “addresses are no longer monitored.”
Marriott Senior Vice President David Flueck told me in fall 2021 that they’d be “investing in the Ambassador program specifically going into 2022″ but it looks like that waited a year.
Marriott is bringing back assigned personal ambassadors for Ambassador members in mid-2023, as in the past assigned based on their language speaking preference and home time zone. They are also expanding their “self-service preference tool” which hotels don’t generally do anything with. An individual ambassador is needed to advocate with hotels on a member’s behalf.
As Marriott describes the service,
Personal ambassadors will perform a variety of assistance including booking or changing hotel stays and services, such as spa and golf appointments and dining reservations, as well as helping facilitate other specific requests members may have, such as tickets for tours and activities, dining options, and ground transportation.
In my experience, as a previous Starwood Ambassador member, my contact would recommend room rates for me that I might not have thought to check myself – for instance using the SPG50 rate to book a suite for not much more than a regular room, rather than requesting a suite (which would likely have confirmed) because that would have meant re-requesting “Your24” 24 hour check-in benefits once the assigned room had changed and I wanted both. They sent me occasional gifts to the room as well.
I had argued for two years that if Marriott wasn’t going to provide members with a dedicated Ambassador, they shouldn’t call the elite tier Ambassador. Fortunately they’re going to provide Ambassadors again – even if it’s only for people staying 100 or more nights and spending $23,000 at Marriott hotels in a year.
On the one hand that’s an average of $200 per night. On the other hand, since you can earn 40 nights from credit cards (25 from the premium Amex, 15 from small business) and 5 nights as your 50-night choice benefit, you really only need to stay 55 nights to earn 100 nights, without any double elite nights promotions. But credit card and other tactics to earn nights don’t help you reach $23,000 spend.
The quality of individual Ambassadors always varied, and whether a given guest ‘clicked’ with their assigned Ambassador mattered too. So how useful this service is will be different for different members. Nonetheless, it’s great to see Marriott re-invest in members who are already investing the most in them.
Is this $23,000 in 2023 for 2024 status or $23,000 in 2022 for 2023 status?
I’m disappointed that Marriott didn’t use this as an excuse to better define the difference between titanium or platinum and ambassador, like clarifying the upgrade policy or breakfast. The reality is plenty of hotels, especially those not operated by Marriott itself, regularly tell ambassadors and their ambassador agents to pound sand over issues related to Bonvoy compliance.
This will be pretty much worthless unless Marriott goes completely against the culture they’ve elaborately constructed and actually empowers the ambassadors to solve problems for loyal guests. Considering Marriott’s contempt for loyal guests, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
I have had Ambassador for the last year and it was absolutely worthless to me. I don’t believe having an individual contact would help much. I stay well over 100 actual nights a year but all in seconday brands in smaller areas with a probable average of $130 to $140 a night giving me a spend of around 14 to 15k a year. So I won’t ever make Ambassador again. I bought into Marriott years ago as it is my companies preference but I have see it just go down hill. I really can’t be assured of a consistent product anymore and have stayed in a couple Fairfields that are probably below the standard of the local Motel 6.
I used to be Platinum Premier under the old program and no one knew what that was and many hotel clerks thought it was below Platinum. So I guess Titanium is what I will be. Which is fine ad I really won’t use the Ambassador services anyway. (Don’t golf, go to shows or need dinner reservations)
@Kevin G – How have you had an ambassador since Marriott abandon them recently
And yes, they’re only going to be worthwhile if they’re not robots like the rest of Marriott’s agents and instead offer personalized services that assist members.
Very disappointing. They claim they did this using feedback from Ambassador members, I highly doubt this. From the feedback I’ve heard, Ambassador members want CLEARLY defined benefits that exceed the Titanium level. When I had my dedicated Ambassador, they provided little to no value and I actually found the current setup (an Ambassador team working on my requests), to be superior to pre-pandemic service.
Benefits that have been discussed by Ambassadors that they/we would like to see:
-Gold status on United
-more points per dollar spent than Titanium members (especially now that they have been devalued and will be devalued once more)
-SNA’s that actually clear at booking
-Club lounge access at Ritz properties or breakfast at Ritz properties (matching booking via Amex or some other methods)
-waiver of resort fees and/or free parking
-an additional onsite credit (spa/dining, etc.) (matching booking via Amex or some other methods)
-some kind of points credit when you checkout BEFORE noon (aka giving the staff more time to turnover the room and incentivizing Ambassadors from always saying they want a 4pm checkout. Even if it was 500 points, I bet a bunch of Ambassadors would take advantage of this and it helps the hotel as well as allowing for earlier check-in for the next Ambassador who may show up. It is a big problem that when an Ambassador checks in, the previous Ambassador hasn’t checked out of the suite/upgraded room that they had received.
If they had even done ONE of the above, it would be a clear improvement. This is just going back to the status quo (and asking for more spend to get there).
What Ambassadors DON’T want are free Marriott tchotchkes that just clutter up our homes and are low quality or some extra chocolates, etc. or as Marriott called them on the surveys they sent out “surprises and delights.”
@Daniel
I have used the “pool” agents a couple times. You still get an “Ambassador” agent, they just are not assigned to you. The couple times I asked for help I got nothing more than I had already gotten myself searching for bookings. My wife and daughter were going to a concert at MSG and I wanted help finding a good fit as I’m not a NY guy and all I got was a list of the same stuff I found on the app.
Actually, the service from ambassador agents this year is as good or better than 2019 and 2018. I generally get a response the same business day even if I don’t have a dedicated personal agent. The only issue with response time are weekends.
I get almost zero on-property recognition outside a couple of properties that do it because I’m a returning and loyal customer who spends a lot of money with Marriott. When I get a welcome amenity, 99% of properties never do something based on the preferences on my Ambassador profile. I even updated my preferences when Marriott added the capability for ambassador customers to do this directly through Marriott.com. Most properties don’t even bother to get the pillow preferences right — preferences that aren’t just on my Ambassador profile but are noted on each and every renovation. But the days in legacy Starwood of a bottle of champagne (real champagne) and cheese are ancient history.
I wouldn’t be against increasing the spending limit if there was a tangible improvement to benefits. $20,000 isn’t much money for someone doing $200-$300 nightly rates in big U.S. cities. It is, however, a lot of money for international customers (particularly China and Southeast Asia outside Singapore and Tokyo). If I was based in Southeast Asia, I’d switch from Marriott to IHG as IHG ambassador and royal ambassador are outstanding programs in Asia.
I agree with most posts here. The issue is there is no defined benefit over Titanium. I’ve been Ambassador under SPG. They moved the moon and the stars for you and guaranteed luxurious upgrades. They remembered birthdays, anniversaries, champagne, fruit and cheeses was in the room chilled when you arrived.
I’ve had Marriott Ambassador and couldn’t tell difference between Ambassador and Titanium status. Most hotels don’t acknowledge ambassador any differently of provide enhanced amenities. Ambassador representatives are also no longer empowered to fix real issues..
Great example. Booked a room in Barcelona for wife and two young kids years ago on SPG On reservation clearly said 4 people. Got to hotel and they claimed because of fire codes 4 people could not be in a room despite confirming 4 and pull out beds. Hotel said we needed another room and the rate was EURO 1,400 a night. Ambassador was contacted and enough points was dropped into account to book adjoining room free of charge.
In today’s Marriott an Ambassador would open a case because they couldn’t call the property or weren’t empowered to fix the issue
Wow how incredibly generous of them an Ambassador agent?
I am already thinking about spending 46 k a year and 200 nights now to feel especially elite
And I’ll have enough points then for a night at one of their luxurious courtyards
Ohhhhhhhhhh
There is a sucker born every minute in this world said somebody long ago.