There’s a great video of the owner of the Sheraton Suites Fort Lauderdale, Ben Mallah, complaining about what Marriott required him to spend on his Sheraton property. He talks about how Marriott was telling him to bring back food and beverage after the pandemic and he threatened to pull the Sheraton flag over it.
In the end, he sold the Sheraton Suites Fort Lauderdale at Cypress Creek for $28 million. But it’s a clear articulation of how owners believe Marriott will cave to them, and that they don’t need to deliver to customers.
Credit: Marriott
It appears that he still owns the Four Points by Sheraton Suites Tampa Airport Westshore, and also the Holiday Inn Tampa Westshore – Airport Area. I know to avoid those properties!
Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano, known for joking that they’ll put ‘net rooms growth’ on his tombstone for his willingness to accede to anything to attract owners, says that the chain is planning to devolve control of its brand to regional offices. This should provide better flexibility to owners.
The CEO emphasized a key philosophical shift: moving decision-making power away from corporate headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, and into the hands of regional leaders. This change particularly affects Marriott’s operations in international markets.
“We should have our India team based in Gurgaon — having grown up in that set of markets, having worked in Taj and Oberoi, knowing all the players and how business gets conducted locally — they should be making local market decisions,” Capuano said.
Capuano shared an anecdote about a meeting with Antonio Catalan, a partner in AC Hotels. When Catalan expressed interest in various initiatives, Satya Anand, who runs Marriott’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa business, was empowered by Marriott’s new structure to make immediate decisions without needing headquarters’ involvement.
He says that people think “his priority is property owners” because he “spent over 20 years of his career on the development side of the business” but that is not the reason!
- Hotels seem to do as they wish, regardless of brand standards
- When customers complain, Marriott finds reasons to side with the hotel even when the hotel is wrong
- Or Marriott just sends the customer back to talk to the hotel, which is being non-compliant in the first place
Capuano has said that guests need to be ‘more sensitive to the needs of owners’, willing to pay higher rates while receiving less in return. He’s argued for reducing brand standards to reduce costs for owners and spending less on breakfast and in-room amenities. And it’s not just guests who are expected to sacrifice for owners – Capuano says workers make too much money, too.
Marriott seems far more concerned with placating owners than with taking care of customers. It’s a huge change at the company since acquiring Starwood, and it accelerated under Capuano. They earn money from owners, and want to make it easy for owners to choose Marriott. In turn, Marriott gets more rooms under its flag and shows growth to Wall Street.
That Sheraton owner didn’t hide what he could can get away with. His language is NSFW (and not safe for work from home) describing that there’s nothing Marriott can do to his non-compliance, and he’d just leave the brand.
I’m going to tell you right now: If it has to do with food and beverage, you tell them [Marriott] we ain’t got nobody who wanting no [f’ing] food. I don’t care. What are they going to do to us?
If they [Marriott] ever gave us a f’ing problem and they won’t want to work with us, I’ll take the [f’ing] sign down.
Credit: Marriott
Marriott’s approach is short-term gain and long-term a huge risk to the business. They’re eating away at the brand value they’ve built up, and that’s the only value they have as a company. Since they don’t own the hotels, the value they offer is an ability to deliver customers to hotels.
Hotel owners call Marriott Bonvoy members ‘prospects’. That is what the hotels are paying for. And if guests no longer see the brand as giving them a clear sense of what to expect from their stay, and a clear understanding of how they’ll be rewarded from booking through Marriott over and over, then Marriott will no longer have anything to offer to owners.
And now we know why Marriott won’t define the breakfast benefit for platinums and higher like Hyatt and IHG or require full-service branded properties to provide bars of soap.
Marriott is my 4th-choice chain. My last stay was pre-Covid.
Every post by Gary confirms my opinion
I have literally thousands of nights at Marriotts in the last 50 years. I expect nothing, and if fact respond when ask what I want in a room with “a door and hot water.”
I have stayed in rooms at Marriott where the door was missing (they had taken all the doors off to be painted on Thursday and did not put them back until Monday. Obviously I have had hotels with no hot water for up to 3 or 4 days.
I have given up on the flagship brands because they no longer have lounges, a bottle of water in the room, welcoming gifts, fresh towel service or trash collection. At least at the lower end brands, you can walk your trash to the front desk (some hotels have 100 gallon bins by the ice machine).
Marriott is not a brand, it is a booking site, without reviews. Nothing more. Even the points are not worth having.
Even Burger King, which used to be notorious for having dumpy franchised restaurants, is doing much better at enforcing brand standards on franchisees.
McDonald’s doesn’t seem to have any problems. Their franchise locations are very consistent.
It’s not that hard. Even IHG and Best Western cracked the wrap back in 2009 and 2010 and kicked out a lot of bad properties.
Gary, I’ve lived near Port Everglades (FLL), so I know that hotel on 17th Street quite well, and can confirm that the owner(s) indeed ‘played dirty’ in the past. As you have diligently reported on other franchisees and operators of specific properties in the past, thank you for warning us. These bad actors mistreat their guests and staff alike. It’s sad to see people abuse their power and harm others. There’s a better way. For sure. Safe travels, everyone.
After the pandemic the guest has taken the joy out of customer service. It used to be 1 out of 500 you’d get an entitled guest, now it’s 1 out of 50. The hotel industry was the last to recover, owners took a beating and staffing levels are still at an all time low. No one wants to work in customer service. Hotels always get the bad rap when they do occasionally EXACTLY what airlines do daily, reduce services to increase profit. It’s not about the guest anymore, it’s about keeping the business thriving, and it’s not just Marriott it’s ALL hotel chains. Profit over people as it should be.
@FNT: Very true. I’ve lately, in my travels involving smaller markets, stayed at some really good Holiday Inns (including one last week in Wyoming where the manager called me to thank me for my positive review, and for my IHG Plat status). Holiday Inn used to be a mixed bag… same as Best Western… as my mother compared it to driving cross country in the 1960s where her father wasn’t allowed to check in to a motel until her mother saw the actual room where they’d stay. But they’re getting consistent with (not all looking the same) but a level of quality.
I’ve sworn off Marriott after a work stint forced me into an older Courtyard property for about 20 nights one year and as a Platinum wouldn’t even give me a damn bottle of water for free.
I’ve been a Hilton person mostly for decades. May not have the best benefits but they are much more consistent. Even at Spark properties I get two waters and a snack (and for being low end, they are all very decently renovated with the same furniture and kept clean… been impressed so far with that newer brand).
I’ve had beefs with IHG and Best Western in the past. When I complained to the hotels themselves, nothing happened. I had to go to my credit card company for relief. AMEX and others usually can mitigate and help. In my case, the hotel’s corporate either didn’t respond (IHG) and Best Western wrote a reply that they cannot control what their franchisees do. Wait a second… those hotels are “flying your flag”. What do you mean you can’t control what they do? You either beef up your contracts with franchisees, make them tow the mark or pull down the flag. SIMPLE. A friend was in the Miami area for flight training. The airline put him up in a Marriott Residence Inn. It was a crap hole. Complaints to hotel management went nowhere. Complaints to Marriott…nowhere. I suggested (and I now do this) that he note to the hotel management that he will write a review on TripAdvisor, etc. and give them a “one star” review. One example of making a franchisee tow the mark is Chick-Fil-A. While there may be a few franchises that slip beneath the radar, Chick-Fil-A is ruthless when it comes to upholding the brand.
I stayed at a Fairfield near Dallas 2 weeks ago and asked for a late checkout. (A guaranteed benefit at my status). The hotel told me that they don’t do late checkouts because they are a franchise (wrong). I called Marriott while I was at the front desk and they called the hotel and the hotel continued to refuse. The Marriott agent just told me to request compensation for denial of benefits.
Marriott for sure is not enforcing anything against their properties. I emailed the GM of the property and received no response (no manager on property) and I have filed a complaint with Marriott that has yet to be resolved.
I like Ben Mullah quite a bit because I also enjoy real estate investing so I get his YouTube content. He seems to me to be a prototypical rich Floridian. I also like that he is fat and smokes. I like his whole crew. I feel like the mold broke after he was made.
I think Marriott loyalty is for morons. I always avoid when possible. I nearly collapsed once when I was told that I had somehow earned the lower level of status at a check-in once. But how I said.
I also had a really bad “leave the hotel early” kind of experience at Mandapa: A Ritz-Carlton Reserve so I just stay away.
Marriott has no brand standards, Delta keeps devaluing, American doesn’t care about their inflight product… none of this is new and we keep hearing that it’s bad for long term business. But these deficiencies have been going on for years. When exactly does long term kick in, or are we all just wrong that “some day” it will catch up with them? Aside from AA, where I’d argue the problems are far deeper than sub-standard inflight product, who’s suffering (other than the consumer)?
On a work trip, my wife and I stayed at a Marriott branded property in New Jersey for a few months.
I was warned by guests, and later witnessed, that one long-term guest had a son who would visit her with his girlfriend, and the two would have sex in the pool with other guests present. (To be clear, the pair were not even guests.)
With us was my daughter, age two at the time, and I parented during the days. A maid confided to me that a male employee was making suggestive comments about my doing sexually inappropriate things with my daughter. “Just imagine what he’s doing to her when they are alone,” sort of things.
Furious, we first took our complaints to the property manager, and she haughtily dismissed both. The confiding maid then told me that the manager threatened to fire whoever had told me about the comments, whose source we had kept confidential. A call to Marriott customer services elicited no interest at all. After have spent literally consecutive years living on Marriott brand properties, I lost respect for the company, and have never again made a special effort to stay at a Marriott.
@Win Witmire: Chik Fil A isn’t really a good example as their “franchises” ARE BARELY franchises and really more resemble corporately owned locations.
I’m a Marriott guy as I can always find one where I’m going. The upside to that is I can also usually find 10, and can figure out which properties are worth staying at and which stink. If a property is playing games I just don’t stay there.
I have a stay coming up at four points Tampa Westshore – what should I be expecting to go wrong? The rate is cheaper than other Marriott’s in the area, so I suppose whatever it is has at least resulted in the owner not being able to charge as much for rooms
After 1200 nights, I’ve given up on Marriott. I went from 50 – 60 nights a year to 3 – 4.
if they don’t care, why should I?
…and then there is Hyatt, which is not perfect, but I find much more consistent, and we all know their loyalty program is actually worth it. I sigh a little when I’m looking for a hotel in an area and there are no Hyatts, and only Marriotts. The Starwood merger broke Marriott (and Starwood lol).
totally american problem and corporate greed … nothing new… take out these greedy leaders and the worker who keep wanting more and more…
“Capuano has said that guests need to be ‘more sensitive to the needs of owners’, …”
Nothing more needs to be said. If Marriott were actually in the hospitality business, Capuano’s statement is back-asswards.
@Joseph — C’mon, man. Don’t bootlick for this guy. You’re like ‘I like how he’s an a-hole.. it’s entertaining to me.’ Yeah, sometimes ‘punching down’ may be funny to some. But clearly you have not experienced his not-so-fine ‘work’ firsthand. For the rest of us, we should not be celebrating these ‘types’ of people in business or society. Relatedly, the idea of a ‘brand’ is that you should be able to trust it, wherever it is–when folks like Ben break and bend the rules, they are not ‘innovative,’ they just selfish, greedy, and harmful to others. Customers should have a baseline expectation with the brand, and this guy is simply a ‘bad apple’ as they say. Don’t take my word, go try it yourself.
Marriott is trash especially domestically. I have no brand loyalty because the points are useless (WOH has some exceptions ). I loved Starwood when I traveled weekly for work years ago!
What I find amusing is that I frequently see Marriott properties charging higher rates than equivalent brands right across the street. Yeah, like sure I’m going to pay more to get screwed.
The only time I stay at Marriott is to get outsized value on my annual credit card free night certs.
McDonald’s is a joke. Doesn’t matter where I have one in the world. Asia, US, UK or middle of the Pacific ocean. The fries are always like warm and taste horrible. It’s only through convenience I occasionally eat it. There is NO way it was like that when it was founded, even after the hostile takeover in the 60s.
As for Marriott, if you are not in the US then you get good service and benefits. I am titanium and I was upgraded from a base room to a villa at one hotel! In Asia.
Bring back the ability to sue for false advertising and this all goes away (you can now, but it’s so watered down that the plaintiff NEVER wins).
Ben Mallah is a disgusting person. His behavior is repulsive. The way he treats his wife is deplorable.
True, he came from an awful background, served in the US Military. Not even 25 years ago, his net worth was close to zero.
Today, it’s roughly $250 Million. The bulk of his wealth came from investing in taxpayer subsidized housing.
That’s right, Section 8. He also owns a TownPlace in TPA/SRQ area (not the Tampa Airport location, though).
Had a friend who had a confirmed rez w/ Hertz. Hertz location said we don’t honor those. Hertz 800# said they are a franchisee & can do what they want.
@ Gary — Capuano is a piece of garbage, just like Ed Bastian and whatever scum runs Hertz.
@Joe Foxx – can you elaborate as to which TownePlace Suites in the TPA/SRQ area Mallah owns? I live in the area and don’t want to accidentally recommend it to friends and family who visit us.
@Bill I’m thinking it is either Lakeland or Bradenton West.
Last March, I stayed at the TPA 4P and Happy (Ben’s Director of Operations or somesuch similar) told me this.
I can probably find out. For similar reasons.
@Bill and @Joe Foxx:
He bought a TownePlace Suites Tampa North/I-75 Fletcher at 6800 Woodstork Drive in Temple Terrace, Florida, for US$9.4 million. The property is now flagged as Choice’s MainStay Suites Tampa Moffitt-USF.
See here: https://equitymanagementonline.com/news/local-real-estate-investor-acquires-temple-terrace-hotel-plans-extensive-renovation/
I am titanium for life and last year enough was enough. Stay bat Hyatt now, staff are friendly, they give you what they say you will and the rewards are decent too.
I out up with the devaluation moving form Starwood to Marriott but am just done with them.
Gary,
The view of the top of Marriott clear is felt by all Marriott guests, especially by those who have been loyal to the brand for so many years. There is zero consistency any more, including the lack of adherence to published guidelines or even what was spelled out within booking confirmations.
I had an instance recently on a redemption booking (2 rooms) with the Marriott Weligama in Sri Lanka, where they charged $200 USD per person for their NYE Gala. Although the notation of the fee for the gala was clearly stated, it also clearly stated in my booking that redemption bookings were exempt from this fee. When I got to the hotel, I was told that I would not be allowed to check in unless that fee was paid then and there ($800 for our family of 4). I showed them the booking, but they insisted that I needed to pay, and that this was Marriott’s language, not that of their property.
I have experienced the same problems you called out when trying to file a complaint with Marriott and look for a resolution. They kicked me back to the hotel, which has been a complete waste of time and it has been the biggest run around with zero resolution yet.
I think of the hoops I jumped through to get Starwood Platinum for Life, and the benefits I got that came with it. And now? A joke. You can get Platinum with a credit card and there are no guaranteed benefits. I feel so scammed.
So you have stayed with our brands 1000 nights.
You don’t own the hotel you are simply the guest.Got it?
That in of itself doesn’t give you a right to the published benefits.
We decide what you receive the rest are general guidelines
Most normal guests can be happy with their 5 dollar coupon for their full
breakfast and buy their own water.
All the rest of you self entitled elites are just noise around the edges.
Who do you think you are?
After all we offer the freshest powdered eggs from scratch made
with I can’t believe it’s butter or reusable deep fryer oil and buy expired pastry at the nearby
Clearance center reheated we pass off as freshly baked
And running tap water for free in every room.
We renovate every 25 years and we pay our associates an exceptional amount meeting the minimum wage standard.
You are fortunate that we may occasionally post points for your stays as Marriott members
Otherwise you may wait months in the gamble we can wear you out or you forget.
And don’t forget no late check outs! Everyone out @ 11:00 AM so we can check in the next
Overly entitled guest and get our housekeepers finished early as we pay a fortune to them till you vacate our property.Yes minimum wage adds up!
Thank you for your loyalty suckers!
Signed a fake Marriott property owner
@Dwondermeant — Bah! I lost it on the ‘freshest powdered eggs from scratch’–Mmm.
Seriously, ‘4PM check-in, 11AM check-out’ is the clearest sign that a hotel is gonna be ‘difficult.’
Had to stay at a hotel due to house emergency and the courtyard was charging $30 less than the holiday inn across the street. The main difference was the Holiday Inn was a king suite vs 2 queen standard at the courtyard! The holiday was just built so everything was brand new while the courtyard, which was also fairly new, had some quirks. Plus kids ate free at the hotel restaurant. So much better than the courtyard which didn’t give me anything at all.
Seems like a direct result of these bit hotel chains not owning most of their hotels and lending out their branding and having almost a “too big to fail” mentality to afford a few bad anecdotes here and there.
Hoping stories of program violations continue to be publicized to help combat this issue. In this case for the sake of all Marriot patrons here and those of other brands to avoid facilitating a race to the bottom amongst the big chains.
@Dwondermeant Hahaha took me longer than it should have to realize this was satire, that’s when you know it’s bad…
@UnitedEF Nice anecdote! Good lesson for me to be open minded when needing to find a place in a pinch. Hope the house was okay.
Fortunately, I don’t travel to Florida very often, and never to Fort Lauderdale or Tampa. That said, as others have already stated, I was quite loyal to Marriott for a long time — as a Starwood customer, I was “sucked in” to the Marriott orbit. No longer. Things have gotten so bad, there are times when I’d honestly take a Motel 6 over some of the Marriott properties I know. When possible, it’s Hyatt and generally Hilton overseas and/or domestically if no Hyatt option is available.
Looking forward to seeing what a Starwood starting from zero will have to offer…
@L737 — See that’s where you’re (only slightly) wrong, kiddo.
It’s not so much ‘too big to fail,’ these mega-corps are often ‘too big to care.’ Once power is consolidated in certain market segments or geographic regions, they achieve regulatory capture, then for us consumers, it’s only the illusion of ‘choice.’ Some folks love to say (and to joke) ‘let the free market decide,’ but if the market isn’t actually ‘free,’ then we, as consumers, don’t really get a choice. Once that occurs, they often raise prices, diminish quality, and harm their own workers, with limited recourse for anyone harmed.
Justice Brandeis said it best: “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” We need transparency, regulation (sorry, I know, a dirty word to some), and actual enforcement of good laws to protect consumers, workers, and smaller businesses from these greedy people. It can start with quality reporting. VFTW is not as ‘serious’ as a traditional investigative report, but at least Gary does a decent job for those of us passionate about this industry (aviation, hotels, travel, etc.). We may not all agree on everything here, but most of us do care.
@Jason — This is the way. Hyatt and Hilton over Marriott, where possible. As for ‘avoiding’ Florida, kudos, sir–you are saving yourself from so much ‘trouble.’ And if you ‘must’ go, stick to the nicer parts of Miami and the Keys. Besides, there are so many better beaches in the world, even nearby in the Caribbean. Like, please, if you must beach nearby, have some self-respect and go to Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Jamaica, DR, SXM, STT, even PR, instead, for goodness sake.
@1990 I hear you, very valid and eloquently put. “Sunlight is the best disinfectant” is quite a clever metaphor (admittedly had to look up Justice Brandeis). These posts and stories are never fun to see and hear, but sites like these are an important outlet to help push things in the right direction.
That video was recorded when the Covid scam was still in play AND business were still suffering. Please note the context before pushing your article out.
@Travelin Mang – ‘the covid scam’ okey dokey
I explained when the video was filmed, and it’s clear from the video the context
Even Marriott was telling owners they had to bring back services, customers were paying the rates, and this owner says ‘I’ll just tell Marriott to pound sand.’ That’s the point. You can think he’s reasonable (I don’t) but that’s beside the point. He’s revealing the balance of power between brand standard enforcement and owner perception.
I’m a lifetime gold member with only a couple years away from qualifying for lifetime platinum. Also i have been titanium for the last 4 years. Because marriott is going the wrong direction, I doubt I will ever make it to the next level. Last year I began staying at competitor hotels who put the customer first. The general team members are not the reason for my change.but it is the management practices of not providing benefits as promised, degrading the benefit point system and charging higher rates. Sorry marriott you have lost the vision established by JW.
We used to stay at Sheraton when they were Starwood Resorts. Always had great service at that time. I have found that service at many places has gone downhill. Yet, you can still find others that still step up above their requirements. I had a heart attack at a Hampton Inn in St George, Utah. The assistance GM and desk clerk literally saved my life. I wrote Hilton and told them. They never responded. So in reality, most corporates just don’t care, and getting the right company running the franchise is what really counts.
Hey Ben,
We ain’t gonna stay at your hotels.
The point is that Marriott Boney as a brand is literally worthless. It has no reliable standards or consistency. Therefore only fools that like to see the homoerotic picture of the Marriott family orgy intentionally stay at their properties.
Marriott Corporations needs to drop , Sheraton, Four Points and all Starwood Brands that were acquired. These properties are crap. This guy Mallah is a POS.
The only valuable thing Marriott can sell to hotel owners is the brand. That means commanding more business and higher rates from customers because of the brand promise – whether it’s loyalty benefits, amenities or overall accomodation standards. Once that’s destroyed by letting hotels do whatever they want, what exactly will the value of Marriott be?
I never had to fight about my benefits at Hilton (I know the food credit thing in the US is sometimes problematic, but I don’t travel there). Marriott properites on the other hand I avoid as there’s no guarantee of even basic standards being delivered, so I might as well go for some independent hotel that will likely be better and at a lower price point.
Yes, the Starwood days are a pleasant distant memory.
I do find that Hilton and Marriott branded hotels provide better quality and perks in Europe.
In the US, Antonio Catalan’s Marriott AC hotels are a pleasant surprise, sleek and stylish, with a great Spain influence in their food menus. .