Tag Archives for marriott.
Marriott’s TownePlace Suites near George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon in Virginia caught fire at 1:13 a.m. this morning. A hotel guest – standing outside the property at the time – notified the manager who called 911. Since the fire was on the roof, there was no smoke alarm.
Marriott is offering points with the biggest bonus we’ve seen – you are effectively prepaying for stays at a discount.
A 60% bonus on purchased points, that began May 18, was set to end June 30. This has been extended to run through July 15. The best previous deal I’m aware of was a 50% bonus, though of course Marriott points aren’t worth as much as they used to be either. They’re willing to sell you points at a cost per point of $0.0078.
Three months ago Marriott laid off Ambassador customer service staff as part of customer contact center closures, effectively gutting the personalized nature of the Ambassador program – which still requires customers to spend at least $20,000 annually, even with this year’s reduced elite requirements.
Now Marriott has gone a step further and just announced the closure of two call centers.
Marriott has about 100 hotels in China. To do business there is to acquiesce to the country’s leadership. Marriott has consistently towed the party line, as it did two years ago when spanked by the Chinese government for listing Taiwan as a separate country. They fired an hourly worker who ‘liked’ a tweet supporting Taiwanese independence and proactively removed banned books from hotels.
Now the CEO of the hotel chain Arne Sorenson is giving interviews on China’s effectiveness in containing the virus, adopting the country’s talking points and effectively assisting President Xi Jinping shore up a key vulnerability as he prepares for re-election by the Communist Party.
Marriott is making it easier to qualifying for a higher level of status this year – and a side effect is all current elites get free credit towards lifetime status, and many may receive additional ‘choice’ benefits without even staying at any hotels.
The Bonvoy program is also putting award nights on sale for stays through July, by letting you book rooms at off-peak redemption prices this month.
With state troops in D.C. staying at the Marriott Marquis, Arne Sorenson will have a tough time making claims to wokeness. Here are 5 facts about hotel stays for the National Guard troops in D.C.
First is an offer of gift cards at a discount. Gift cards usually sell to merchants for less than face value, and you can often buy them at a discount on the secondary market, but when you can buy them directly from a brand you have less to worry about in terms of fraud or technical glitches.
Second Marriott is offering points with the biggest bonus we’ve seen – you are prepaying for stays, effectively, at a discount here as well. And while gift cards can’t be used at Marriott’s homesharing service they’re offering a discount on those bookings as well, for two days only.
Marriott emphasized that they have 3300 hotels active with mobile room keys and more being added. This means not having to check in at the front desk with an employee, or having the employee handle your room key. Instead you check in with your phone, and use your phone as a room key.
That’s great, and Marriott is proud of how widespread this feature is (though not yet at half of their hotels). What they didn’t tell you, it turns out, is that they’ve actually pushed back the roll out of this technology at hotels which don’t currently offer it in order to save money.
For hotels to attract guests they’re going to need to be responsive to these customer demands. They need to give guests confidence to stay, and hotels will compete to offer a product that appeals to these sensibilities.
Marriott has now outlined their plans for increased health and safety for both employees and guests. But even more change will be coming to the industry.
While hotel chains have been good about allowing cancellations of non-refundable, non-changeable consumer bookings, this flexibility has not been extended to events in most cases. Most hotels seem to be asking event hosts to reschedule for a future date, not cancel, and are reluctant to return deposits.
Some hotels are asking event organizers to cough up cash for events that aren’t happening.
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 »
