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Marriott IT Is Still the Gang That Can’t Shoot Straight

by Gary Leff

outside marriott hotel
Sep 10 2019

The internal e-mail address that Marriott is using to process claims is changing. The old one is set to expire. However the website hasn’t been updated to use the new e-mail address, and this generates a message to the customer. Oops.

Here’s hoping Marriott IT can update the web form before IT expires the old address, or else Best Rate Guarantee claims will go into the ether the way so many customer service requests did last fall after Marriott, Starwood, and Ritz-Carlton loyalty accounts got combined with the launch of the new program.

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How Marriott Bonvoy Became Part of Getting the President’s Personal Assistant Fired

by Gary Leff

bonvoy
Aug 30 2019

he President’s personal assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, was fired on Thursday. On Friday the story came out that she had made comments at an off-the-record dinner with reporters August 17th hosted by deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley which got back to the White House.

Apparently Ms. Westerhout, after “a couple drinks and in an uncharacteristically unguarded moment,” made comments which – once reported back to the White House – made her continued employment untenable. That’s not the part of the story I’m interested in.

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Here’s How Marriott Hotels Play Games with Award Inventory to Deny You a Room

by Gary Leff

Aug 23 2019

Starwood Preferred Guest had a policy they called ‘true redemption’. It wasn’t just no blackouts, where a hotel put certain dates off limit for using points. It was no capacity controls. That meant if any standard room was available for sale you could use points to book that room.

Now with Marriott Bonvoy it seems some hotels are able to play games they weren’t able to before.

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Marriott’s Twitter Team Can’t Fathom Anyone Complimenting Bonvoy on Social Media

by Gary Leff

outside marriott hotel
Aug 19 2019

Twitter used to be the “go-to” way of getting personalized customer service, and with some brands it still is. Many companies assign super competent agents to deal with twitter, and empower them to cut through bureaucracy to solve problems.

Not all do however. And some just follow the ‘first rule of social media’ which is to try to get customers to stop blasting the company as quickly as possible. The easiest way to do that is to get the customer to ‘take it to DM’.

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Marriott Travel Packages Finally Have a Use Case With Peak Season Awards

by Gary Leff

outside marriott hotel
Aug 15 2019

Marriott travel packages used to be the best value in the program, combining hotel stays with airline miles transfers. The new program gutted the value of Marriott travel packages. It seems though that this may have been in anticipation of peak season award pricing which is another step towards Marriott’s cost containment efforts, and driving the program towards delivering consistent average value on each stay rather than having peaks and valleys (which create opportunity for exceptional value). Bonvoy confirms to me that Marriott travel packages do not have restrictions on use during peak nights. Marriott reward night certificates can be used for their permitted category whether the standard room redemption is for off season, standard or peak season. As a result you get the most value during peak season. There’s a whole lot more value…

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Marriott Rolls Out High/Low Season Award Pricing Next Month Along With Other Changes

by Gary Leff

outside marriott hotel
Aug 15 2019

When Marriott first announced their new program they told us they’d be adding a new highest redemption category 8 and also adding peak and off peak pricing for 2019. They put off category 8 until March but postponed peak and off peak pricing even further.

They’ve been silent on when to expect it until now, giving us a month’s notice before the new top redemption price could go as high as 100,000 points per night. Effective September 14th they’re making some other changes to the program as well.

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Make a Green Choice Program Still Generating Protests By Marriott Housekeepers

by Gary Leff

marriott poster
Aug 07 2019

Back in the fall when Marriott was facing housekeeping strikes, guests were getting flyers under their doors protesting the Make a Green Choice program.

Marriott encourages you to fly out and visit their hotels, eat beef in the restaurant, extend your stay by flying your family out too, but what you’re really doing that’s harming the environment is having your room tidied. I’ve always found it odd that a hotel chain promotes the idea that their housekeepers are bad for the environment.

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