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They left the hotel's elite manifest out in the open in the "M" lounge, completely unattended at the podium. I never saw anyone manning that podium in the several days I was there.
At check-in: "We charge you a daily $30 'Destination Fee' but you can use it as $30 in credit at the restaurant or minibar, just charge it to your room."
So I eat the overpriced, underquality food at the restaurant but no credit. They also helpfully sent me a Folio before they tacked this charge on but not after, so I had to dig to see I was not credited.
I made 4 Phone Calls to Customer Services on the dedicated Lifetime Titanium phone number, totaling approximately 1.5 hour of my time with no resolution to what used to be a simple modification to the dates I am staying at a hotel in Munich. During the first call, I was placed on hold while the representative allegedly called the hotel. I was disconnected while on a 20+ minute hold. I called back and was informed that the original representative would return my call that evening. I did not receive a return call. During my third phone call to the number the following day, I asked to speak to a supervisor. I was briefly put on hold after which someone picked up the call, never said anything and placed the receiver down so that I could background conversations. During the fourth phone call, I was advised that I need to call the hotel myself, and "open a case" to make the change. I asked to speak to a supervisor. I was placed on hold and informed that the supervisor would not speak with me and that I needed to call the hotel myself. I again asked to speak with a supervisor and was placed on hold for over 20 minutes and then informed that I would be placed on hold again while she "opened a case." I was informed it will take 3 to 5 business days for a response. I separately earned Lifetime Platinum at SPG and Ritz Carlton/Marriott prior to the merger and always received exemplary customer service. Customer service at both loyalty programs always personally contacted hotels on my behalf if they could not modify a room in their system.
"Opening a case" and waiting 3 to 5 business days for a response related to modifying dates on an existing reservation is absurd, especially since I was just shortening my stay, not adding dates and I am paying a premium price during Oktoberfest. The new customer service team is rude, inarticulate, apparently unwilling to do their jobs and treat Lifetime Titanium members like we are staying at a low end chain, not the 4 and 5 star hotels I am booking. After noting a Sofitel a few blocks away from my hotel in Munich, I joined the Accor loyalty program and will likely change hotels.
When the merge occurred I lost my free night that was in my account. Then I got an email saying I received another free night, but it's not there either. I get no response from Marriott, of course. And now I'm getting tons of "Bonvoy" spam. Just got one today for Italian jewelry. Seriously? Time to find another chain to work with.
My stay was actually nice... fun activities within the hotel and very pretty atriums. Nice employees and a great spa. My issue is that between 3 rooms and 12 nights stayed at the Gaylord we have not been issued any Rewards credits for those nights. The main (National) customer service has been EXTREMELY rude and says the Gaylord Hotel has to issue the credit for the nights stayed. When I contact the hotel directly, they say to contact the main Rewards number. I know I am just one small customer, but apparently the hotel has to authorize the stays. My reservation was under my husband’s name (and my rewards account is under my name) so I specifically asked about whether that would matter when we checked in. I was told that it wouldn’t matter and that I would receive credit for the nights stayed.
During my 4th or 5th conversation with the main Marriott customer service, I was told that the hotel shouldn't have said that I’d receive credit for staying since the reservation was under my husband’s name, and that it basically was too bad . And when I was in this heated conversation with “Tara” from customer service I replied “the hotel misleading me has nothing to do with me so that is not my problem. Tara curtly replies “it’s not mine either”. REALLY?????
I couldn’t believe that. That’s the purpose of their existence and the reason Tara gets a paycheck... is to handle customers’ problems.
My advice on the Gaylord Hotel as it relates to getting Bonvoy Rewards Credits for nights stayed, is that you can’t assume they are going to be credited to you, they certainly don’t make any effort to try to help you if there’s an issue, as nice as they are at check-in (which they are friendly) they may or may not know the Rewards policies, and ultimately the management seems to be quite disconnected to the old Marriott ways of doing business with customers.
just read on thepointsguy.com that on 9/14 Marriott roles out off-peak/standard/peak points redemption...meaning your free night certificate (35k, 50k) won'cover the point value of staying at those Cat 5,6 hotels during peak season....when you probably would be most likely to use them! we all get bonvoyed with this change.
35K free night awards from my credit cards ($99 annual fee each) can usually get a standard category 5 redemption, right? Well if I want to go during a "PEAK" time post-September 14 peak pricing, then I can only get up to a category 4. Compare this to the category changes in the spring where they bumped up a bunch of properties from 4 to 5, especially in NYC and LA...I got BONVOYED big time!
Where is the call center for bonvoy? Certainly not Texas! These people are so rude and unhelpful. Every time I call I get someone who asks me the same question over and over . I just want to change my reservation from three nights to two nights and add a different hotel on night one. You would have thought I asked to asked someone to figure out the Rubik’s Cube ! They answer the phone like they are possess off ! Where is the elite line with the ultra professional voices . So sad . I was such an SPG loyalist. What happened?
Recently my wife left her bite splint (like a retainer) at the aloft downtown Atlanta. After 4 days of calls and emails we still have not heard anything back. Left multiple messages for the manager and still nothing. Pre-bonvoy a Sheraton or SPG hotel would call me and say you left something in the room what would you like us to do.
Apart from this recent issue I had booked the new Four Points at the ATL airport area (multiple rooms for my employees and myself) they emailed me about 3 days before my reservation and said the hotel was new and would not be finished by my reservation time. If I needed any help to call customer service. Customer service said all they could do was book me something else. This is for a major trade show that sells out most everything in Atlanta and drives the prices up every 6 months. I usually book 6-12 months in advance to get better rates. They could not do anything about the new rates 3 days before the event. I could either book new or go somewhere else.
Old SPG would have tried to make it right. SPG was the best hotel chain. They had luxury and economy covered. If I needed lots of rooms cheap I could go to four points or aloft. If I wanted a great hotel with lots of amenities I could stay at Le Meridian or Westin. Marriott needs to be better.
The online account is all messed up in basic ways. I was tracking 26 nights stayed in 2018 so far but the online account only adds up to 22 (evidently my last stay of 6 days only counted for 2 nights or something else is wrong). It also seems to think that my last three stays are not qualifying activity. WTF. So frustrating.
When I signed up for the SPG program, everything was fine. I was told what points I would get how often and how I could use them. I was also told that I could convert my points and use them at other locations as well through interval international. This was just before the merger and I was told that a lot more would be offered to me, but since the merger wasn't complete, no one knew what all benefits I would receive.
My first year, when I went to use my points, I called customer service to see what all had changed with the merger and no one could answer my questions. I was told the merger was too new and to wait to see what happened. So I converted my points over because all the "new hotels" that would be available to me were not being offered yet.
Another thing I noticed was I wasn't getting as many reward points from my credit card and that the cost (using reward points) of the same hotels I had previously been staying at had gone up so high, it was pointless to try and stay. A classic example is the Sheraton at FWB, Fl. The old point price was 10000. The new point price is 35000-40000. I even attended a resort meeting in Orlando to get questions answered. They showed all the new hotel brands on the wall, but, once again, no one could answer any questions about what was really going on.
So this year, I tried to use the points I had converted over. I did make a booking, but once they added on "booking fees", it was only about $50 cheaper than I could have booked without wasting my points.
So for a few years now, I have been paying almost $500 in maintenance fees for a program I haven't used, that no one can give me any information on and I can't say isn't what I was promised because, I did get what I was promised, just all that changed into something different (even though no one can tell me what) once things merged.
Communication and customer support is horrible. I guess I should have listened to my gut in the beginning and not gotten into any of this. It is a VERY expensive mistake on my part.
Bonvoy increased categories to force Starwood members to now use more points when booking reward stays. Even with the Bonvoy “multiplier” my Starwood points are now devalued. Example, 2 properties in Greece, the Sheraton Rhodes and went from level 3 to 5, even though significant improvements were not made to the properties. Thanks Bonvoy. Wait until the peak/non-peak happens. Watch your points shrivel away.
No room upgrade, no newspapers (we don't carry them anymore), no pc with working printer, marginal/very limited Bistro dinner menu, no tea in the room, the annoying shampoo dispensers (unreachable from the bath tub), housekeeping repeatedly asking for the room from 1:00 on, despite having a 4 PM checkout.
A final open letter to Arne Sorenson, CEO of Marriott International Inc [MAR] - "A Lie or a Life?"
Dear Mr Sorenson,
This open letter is my final communication prior to the commencement of a hunger strike (first referred to in a letter to you dated 10th September 2016) which is aimed to publicise a variety of concerns regarding Marriott International Inc [MAR]: corruption (not least the dishonest Starwood merger), human rights infringements, the Marriott board's breaching of its fiduciary duties and other serious regulatory misconduct (including a lack of "proper due diligence", as determined recently by the UK's data protection regulator).
It is now eleven years since the Starwood Corporation was originally notified of serious operational irregularities and corporate malfeasance. Starwood initially tried passing the buck but then opted to go silent (except when senior executives - Duncan, van Paasschen, McAveety, Pehl et al - attempted to deal with the matter "under the table"). Starwood's subsequent problems were clearly related to these issues resulting in a number of sudden and unexpected "resignations". In 2015/16 you were personally and repeatedly alerted to the potential grave consequences of not investigating aspects of the Starwood operation but you ignored all communication and Marriott rushed headlong into the merger. All courier-delivered correspondence remains unanswered to this day and other attempts to resolve the situation, including mediation, slighted. US regulators have been aware of the situation for some considerable time whilst remaining inactive.
The silence, Mr Sorenson, is deafening.
It is the silence of the bully whose sole weapon is power and size;
the silence of the global corporation which secretly circumvents parochial (dumb?) regulation;
the silence of the corporate CEO whose personal mission is to survive until the next quarterly report;
the silence of codes of ethical conduct which were only ever intended for show;
the silence of global corruption, collusion and brown envelopes which must literally never be spoken about;
the silence of the criminal whose legal team constantly emphasises the words "no comment";
the silence of the religious hypocrite, pious in appearance, deviously immoral in practice;
the silence of the cult leader who knows what the sheep must never know;
the silence of the narcissist with his unspoken but overwhelming sense of entitlement.
It is the silence of deceit and the silence of guilt.
As deafening as that silence is, Marriott's consistently ludicrous, ear-splitting rhetoric, with its cosmic disconnect between words and action, between reality and make-believe, continues unabated. Marriott's Golden Rule, initiated in August 2017, was marketed "as a guiding principle of how all people should treat each other... We are using our powerhouse status to celebrate human connections." (Paige Francis, Vice President, Global Brand Marketing at Marriott International.) The infamous Serve 360: Doing good in every direction programme (unveiled by Marriott in late 2017) states that Marriott has "an even greater obligation to operate responsibly with our expanding global presence... We are committed to uphold and respect human rights... We commit to creating positive and sustainable impact wherever we do business... We believe in making the communities where we operate better places to live, work and visit... As the global hospitality leader...Marriott International has a global responsibility and unique opportunity to be a force for good in all aspects of our business... We recognize that how we do business is as important as the business that we do. Associates and customers want to work for and do business with a company that aligns with their values and drives positive community impact. We are proud to be part of the solution..."
Yet 2018/19 has resulted, for example, in the Marriott-China gaff, the Marriott US employee strikes, the Marriott Bonvoy farce, the Starwood cyber-hacking scandal and the deceptive pricing outrage. Legal suits abound and massive regulatory fines are in the pipeline. However, these are only recent crises and peripheral to the gravamen of the entire Marriott can of worms: the corrupted 2016 mega-merger with Starwood. ("A certain kind of charismatic leader can run a financially successful company on thoroughly unhealthy principles for a time. But... the chickens always come home to roost" Skynner/Cleese)
And now for the hunger strike, possibly the world's first against a hotel company. This is a true David v Goliath. Me, 61 years old, alone (though acting for others) and, at the time of writing, without legal representation and minimal media coverage; Marriott with its stockpile of legal teams and universal, lopsided reportage and propaganda. My only weapon is the evidence held concerning Marriott criminality; Marriott believes in its own invincibility and the entire arsenal of weaponry stems from the power, ca
Let me start by saying Marriott loyalty desk is a bunch of minimum wage zombies who have no idea what there doing and are the most untrained staff I have to speak with elite or a supervisor to do anything . 90% of the staff have no clue how to use the system then 5 out of 10 calls I’m hung up on. I’m going to Hilton where they actually know how to train employees and apparently pay them because I feel like Marriott pays minimum wage and we get minimum minded employees who should be working at Walmart of McDonald’s. Hope my loyalty was worth the extra dollar I will never visit another Marriott again
Been coming here for years. Always got upgraded to a club room if it was available, but even if a room wasn’t available still got access to the club lounge for free breakfast and evening drinks and snacks. No more. When I called Marriott customer service I was told gold elite wasn’t downgraded because they made it easier for me to achieve the next tier, at which time my previous gold elite benefits (I.e. club access) would be available. Really? Not downgraded? I asked the phone agent to confirm my understanding: gold elite buys me nothing other than the ability to spend more time and money at Marriott to get what I had before. Yup, said the agent.
