Tag Archives for marriott.
Marriott has the toughest criteria for a published, top tier status. Bonvoy Ambassador requires 100 nights in their hotels and minimum spend of $23,000. Or does it?
They’re making changes so that owners don’t have to spend as much, but they’ve reassured investors that this won’t come out of their end at corporate. That means coming out of the guest experience. And they’re cutting costs across their own operation, too. I don’t see Marriott getting better for guests in 2025.
Marriott appears to have added a new benefit for ‘overachieving’ Ambassadors who spend at least $40,000 in a year – at least it is a benefit for 2024 spend.
Ambassadors who spend $40,000 are being invited to extend the same status to a spouse, significant other, or other member of their household.
Marriott recently updated its terms and conditions for its Uber partnership, removing details of how many points you earn and referring you to their partnership page for that instead. It seemed pretty clear that they’d be updating points-earning with their Uber partnership. Now those details are live.
The Warsaw Marriott Hotel, once a symbol of post-communist transition in Poland and a landmark of international hospitality, quietly ended its affiliation with Marriott in recent months.
Management dropped rates below $100 on some nights – but that attracted a different clientele, “a rise in drunken and disruptive guests.” With reduced revenue, the management company HEI pushed out long-time employees who delivered the high quality service the property was known for. Then “[m]ore homeless people entered the hotel and fentanyl contamination showed up in lobby bathrooms.”
The property blames the pandemic for reduced staffing in 2024. Remaining employees have been told they “no longer work for a hospitality company” but “for a real estate company” instead.
A reader shares his experience checking in at the Chicago Marriott Schaumburg. He presented his ID and credit card. The associated thanked him for being a Bonvoy Platinum member. And then “summoned security over” and told him he was being walked.
When a guest at Marriott’s Courtyard Crystal City/Washington National airport complained about the property’s upgrade policies, the hotel general manager responded – and laid out why he prefers not to make upgrades available to elite members.
I see claims all the time in social media that ‘if you’re rich you don’t care about points’. That isn’t true. There are people who don’t care about points, but I’ve known plenty of wealthy people who do. I’ve helped centimillionaires several times over maximize their points and book award travel. And I’ve helped Hollywood celebrities do it, too.
If you just leave the default as one guest, that works out fine here but not everywhere. If you book for one guest it can be a good idea to at least communicate with the hotel in advance about the actual number of people in your room to avoid surprises at check-in.
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 »
