Tag Archives for marriott.
Marriott revealed several weeks ago that they were turning elite member upgrades over to artificial intelligence. This was designed to reduce the time hotels spend on the task, to save salary costs.
Big busy chain hotels can often have long lines to check in – nothing like what you’ll find in Las Vegas, where guests can stand in line for hours – but interminable feeling after a long flight when you just want to get to your room.
Properties that are unwilling to fully staff their front desks have turned to technology. But one of the better benefits that many of the big hotel programs offer is the elite check-in line.
Marriott hotels decide whether to honor Bonvoy elite benefits. If they choose not to, you can complain to Marriott. And usually the most they’ll do is refer you to the hotel, who will tell you to pound sand. One guest wasn’t going to accept that.
Starting July 14 an AI will decide which rooms get assigned to guests at Marriott hotels – and who gets upgraded.
Marriott is eliminating single use plastics when it saves them money toiletries, but they’re placing larger plastic bottles of water that have been shipped using fossil fuels from literally Fiji in every room because those sell for $9. You didn’t believe any of this was really about the environment though, did you?
A guest is suing the St. Regis Bal Harbour in Miami claiming an employee used his master key to access her room while she was naked in the shower — and stood there, watching, for several minutes.
Another Marriott hotel has surfaced ignoring elite member breakfast benefits.
Now Marriott Bonvoy even promises less to its members for what rooms they’ll get as an upgrade, based on a change to the program’s terms and conditions. Although honestly the rules change simply reflects what I’d understood to always be the case.
This property has a club lounge, honors elite breakfast there, and refuses restaurant breakfast as outlined by the Marriott Bonvoy terms.
A guest was at Marriott’s AC Veracruz hotel in Mexico when the bathroom sink in his room collapsed – causing, he says, a muscle tear and hernia. This happened in February and he still can’t get a response from the hotel or from Marriott over the incident.
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 »
