Tag Archives for marriott.
Chalk this up to another cost cut, where a major hotel chain eats into its brand by charging guests as much or more than before while delivering less. It’s Westin exiting the wellness space without saying they’re exiting the wellness space.
I’ve even documented instances where the difference in room rate was over $450 per night! It’s amazing that even as hotel chains spend a lot marketing that you’ll find the best rates on their rooms through their own websites, hotels are unloading rooms for less through Airbnb.
One guest even managed a successful Marriott best rate guarantee against an Airbnb listing.
When the Marriott LAX rolled out this extra charge ‘to protect their workers’ it was $10.72 per night. Two months later they’ve already increased the fee to $13.87 per night – a 29% increase.
At 1004 rooms, this hotel has the potential to generate $5,082,800 per year with their new Worker Protection charge. They aren’t required to spend the money on worker protection (indeed they won’t). Even at 80% occupancy that’s $4 million a year, most of which goes to the hotel’s bottom-line.
By putting the bed on top of the sofa, Marriott is able to offer smaller rooms with the same features. And smaller rooms mean more rooms in a hotel. That’s good for revenue, and will let them compete for owners looking to maximize revenue per square foot of their real estate.
The open question is how guests will receive the idea.
An anonymous reader captures something in a guest post that I think is important, based on some pretty extensive experience on the road. Hyatt is great if you can stick to full service properties not owned or managed by bad actors, but there aren’t enough properties and too many limited service ones. So where you going to go? You’re stuck with Marriott, so Marriott can get away with failing to live up to promises and expectations. It’s still better than the alternatives.
Aloft isn’t one of my usual brands. In fact I hadn’t stayed at one in nearly six years. I needed a one night stay near Dallas Love Field for Southwest Airlines Media Day and the Aloft seemed like a reasonable choice at $144, while reacquainting myself with Marriott’s brand.
This one is a combined Aloft and Element in the same building, with separate entrances. Aloft is a limited service, lower-scale chain with modern aesthetic that was dubbed ‘a vision of W Hotels’. Element is an extended stay chain with Westin branding tie-in.
Marriott Bonvoy offers breakfast to Platinum members, but the benefit is confusing. At Courtyard hotels in North America and Europe it’s actually a choice between 500 points (total for the stay) or a $10 food and beverage credit (x2 for two guests registered to the room) that can be used any time of day – not just in the morning.
But as I’ve documented extensively, hotels seem to do what they want with impunity, published benefits of the Bonvoy program notwithstanding. One customer found this out when the hotel called the cops after they asked for their $10 credit – and when it was refused they invoked Marriott’s guarantee of $50 cash for having the benefit denied.
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.
A review of Marriott’s Autograph Collection Watermark Baton Rouge flagged an interesting issue. On a peak demand date – LSU football against Mississippi State, which LSU came from behind to win in the fourth quarter – the hotel was charging higher room rates than the posted maximum on the back of room doors.
Surcharges have exploded at Marriott hotels, as well as other chains. Whether it’s fees to cover the light bulbs in your room, extra charges to cover a hotel’s property tax or gotcha charges for paying a bill by credit card (even Marriott’s own credit card).
Still a fee per night that guests now have to pay to protect housekeepers at the Marriott LAX still surprised me.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
