Tag Archives for marriott.
If you have any upcoming stays it could be a good idea to check on whether rebooking makes sense, or to reserve this week rather than waiting until a future week to make that reservation – see whether the rate discounts, award discounts, or double points and elite nights for home share stays make sense.
Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano gave an interview and the whole thing struck me as.. strange?
He incorrectly claims Marriott had the first hotel loyalty program. He talks about resort fees as incredible for customers. And he talks about how much control is necessary over hotel stays, even as they defer more and more to individual owners.
Marriott is introducing two new mid-tier cards – Marriott Bonvoy Bevy American Express® Card and the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Card from Chas – and the premium Marriott Bonvoy BrilliantTM American Express® Card is getting a new slate of benefits.
I don’t quite see the argument for the mid-tier cards, but the premium card product is going to appeal to a lot of customers that stay with Marriott but don’t earn Platinum status or above on their own.
Marriott began work on a new corporate headquarters before the pandemic. They had 4000 employees based in the Maryland-DC-Northern Virginia area including their existing headquarters building. They’ve shed some of those employees, and more work remotely now, but the new building is open and up to 2800 employees are supposed to be working on-site at least some days of the week.
They didn’t bring all the old furniture over from the headquarters they’re replacing.
An anonymous reader shares an experience at what is likely Marriott’s worst hotel in the Americas, a deflagged Hilton in with 17 year old mattresses, a restaurant that’s still closed, and no daily housekeeping.
I don’t often feature guest posts. I’ve done it just a handful of times in the past 20 years. But I found this report on the Woodlands Plaza Toledo Hotel was interesting as a window into what Marriott has become willing to sell to its customers.
Hotels are full and hotel promotions are less generous. But since we’re past the packed summer months, with kids back in school, we at least do have hotel promotions. Marriott is now out with theirs for stays between September 21 and December 15.
Marriott actually makes hotels pay them for the right to charge you a resort fee. Having just audited the franchise agreement for their AC Hotels and Westin brands, I found it fascinating that they charge a one-time $1500 fee, plus $550 per year, to hotels that bill customers resort or destination fees. Marriott also has the right to exempt elite members from paying resort fees, under their franchise agreement, but doesn’t do this.
Marriott claimed over 140 million members at the end of 2019. At some brands members represent about two thirds of revenue. Based on franchise disclosures, the average Marriott Bonvoy member pays AC Hotels a $200.74 daily room rate and at Westin hotels it’s a $185 daily room rate. Guests aren’t customers, they’re Marriott’s product – and the product that all hotel chains sell to hotel owners. While hotel chains push ‘book direct’ as a way of lowering costs, distribution isn’t free. Franchisees pay more for Bonvoy members than non-members, on the theory that Marriott is delivering these “leads” to hotels. And those fees fund points that members earn. For Westin in 2021, Marriott is charging 4.2% of “qualifying revenue generated by customers earning loyalty points or miles” for the cost of Bonvoy, not including bonus…
The member was completely locked out of their account while the account was placed under audit. They thought their account might get closed through no fault of their own.
In the end it didn’t take 45 days for the investigation as they were told to expect. Their account was taken of of audit, and points were returned, after 44 days.
I’d booked numerous Starwood Preferred Guest stays where 5th night free covered the full premium room. As in so many things, Marriott doesn’t do this. That’s good to know when budgeting your points stays. And when you see a free night that isn’t free, now you’ll know why.
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 »
