Over the weekend, View from the Wing uncovered a sneaky change in Marriott elite member benefit terms and conditions: whereas Platinum members and above used to be entitled to a complimentary upgrade to the best available room (including standard suites), the terms no longer guarantee “best available room”. In a nutshell, Marriott elites shouldn’t expect suites. While it is of course disappointing to see this change, I rarely get a significant upgrade on a Marriott stay without using a Nightly Upgrade Award, so I’m not sure this will make a huge functional difference.
The difference in wording here appears very small on the surface. As Gary points out, the terms and conditions used to say (bold is Gary’s):
Complimentary Enhanced Room Upgrade for Platinum Elite Members. Platinum Elite Members and above receive a complimentary upgrade to the best available room, subject to availability upon arrival, for the entire length of stay. Complimentary upgrade includes suites, rooms with desirable views, rooms on high floors, corner rooms, rooms with special amenities or rooms on Executive Floors.
They now say:
Complimentary Enhanced Room Upgrade for Platinum Elite Members. Platinum Elite Members and above receive a complimentary upgrade, subject to availability upon arrival, for the entire length of stay. Complimentary upgrade includes suites, rooms with desirable views, rooms on high floors, corner rooms, rooms with special amenities or rooms on Executive Floors.
In short, Platinum, Titanium, and Ambassador members are no longer entitled to a free upgrade to the best available room but rather simply to an upgrade. To be clear, that upgrade can still include suites, but the terms no longer say that if the best available room is a suite that an elite member should get it.
Personally, I find this change to be disappointing, though I am perhaps less outraged about it than some members (Dave at Miles Talk provides an extended rant for those looking to commiserate). He and other members are not wrong to be upset at the continued degradation of Marriott elite benefits, I just can’t continue to get worked up over a program that has long made it clear that providing excellent service to hotel guests is a secondary focus.
I have occasionally had some great luck with Marriott Nightly Upgrade awards, using one for a magnificent Grand Staircase suite at the St Pancras London a couple of years ago. But on the whole, I rarely get proactively upgraded to a suite while staying at a Marriott property.
I suspect that some properties are better about treatment of loyalty program members with elite status and those that do value those repeat customers will likely continue to provide good upgrades. Most other properties will continue not upgrading guests to suites.
Perhaps the reason I am less up in arms on this one is because I know that even if Marriott put in the terms that properties must provide suite upgrades when available, it would be largely meaningless since Marriott tends to allow individual properties to opt out of elite benefits more regularly than other programs do. While I usually get the free breakfast I expect with my Marriott Platinum status (at most properties), I don’t have much faith that Marriott will do much to enforce their elite guarantees when a hotel fails to provide benefits.
I therefore find the change in wording to be relatively honest: Marriott knows that some properties aren’t going to upgrade guests to suites and Marriott knows that Marriott isn’t going to force those properties to honor suite upgrades. They simply changed the wording to match the guest experience.
None of that is to say that Marriott shouldn’t take better care of elite members. They should. Marriott has many elite members who don’t feel much motivation to be loyal. That lack of true loyalty is borne from changes like this one, which serve to codify the lack of service that repeat customers can expect. Marriott can and should do better.
However, to this point, Marriott clearly hasn’t seen a meaningful drop in occupancy as they have eroded value and benefits. To that point, I’m sure I’ll continue staying at Marriott properties when I need to do so, but I will continue to attenuate expectations when it comes to elite treatment and choose other chains when meaningful upgrades matter.
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A pretty valid assessment of the situation. I’m Lifetime Platinum but still generally avoid Marriott properties where possible because I don’t agree with their Bonvoyed philosophy – I view a loyal guest as an asset rather than an adversary. Marriott disagrees.
My strategy is to avoid Marriott at all costs. So far it has worked fantastic. Call it a boycott. I don’t like games. I like good business. I am willing to spend a lot to chase status, when I know the value of that status. Make status harder to reach and make it consistent. I pay a little more cash rates just to support the chains I believe provide consistency and value there guests equally to their hotel partners. But as consumers we need to vote with our business. People are constantly asking me where they should stay when they travel. I consistently direct them away from Marriott on principle alone. Once in blue moon I find a deal with Marriott that out weighs the other brands. I still pass. Some day I may be forced to change my stance but until then, I vote with my wallet.
Agreed. I used to be all in on Marriott since they are the only program with a reasonably attainable lifetime status and they had some prestige when I started my points and miles journey.
I was only ever once proactively upgraded because of my Marriott status, and it was right before the pandemic started and tourism had already dropped through the floor.
I have gotten so much more value out of Hyatt points, and have gotten proactively upgraded several times with Hilton. While I am not happy that Hilton just tanked the value of its points on several of its highest-end properties, at least they have a policy and an actual technical system in place to proactively upgrade elites and notify them of their upgrade prior to arrival at the hotel. I’ve gotten several significant upgrades at Hilton properties recently.
In short, forget Marriott. No reason to stay at a Marriott unless you already have lifetime status and you have reasonable expectations about your benefits.
The problem is there are entire US states without a single Hyatt brand or without a single Hyatt full-service brand like Hyatt Regency. Hyatt is great if you go to where they’re strongest.
In my experience, “best available room” has not been the case for years. All to often, it has been “we’ll sell you an upgrade but we’re not going to simply give you one.” Say what you want about terms and conditions, there’s no enforcement.
As titanium i frequently got upgraded but never to the “best available” even when I showed manager better rooms available on the app. They would just say that the app was wrong. Upgrades in Asia and Europe have been significantly better.
Marriott never had the best hotels, but Marriott used to be consistently good. They didn’t promise much, but they delivered on what they promised. When there was a significant issue you knew that Mr. Marriott would make things right.
Then, everything started to change when Mr. Marriott retired and his replacement as CEO, Arne Sorenson, wasn’t a hotelier but a corporate lawyer. Marriott shifted big time under Sorenson. No longer was the customer the guest. The customer became the owners, who are primarily franchisees and licensees since Marriott now operates less than 30% of its properties across all brands.
Under Sorenson is when customer service stopped serving guests. They found every excuse in the book to defend bad properties. Customer service became about serving the owners. If you had an issue, it was just kicked back to the property and not resolved by corporate. Gone were the days when you could get a hold of Mr. Marriott’s office to make things right.
Then after Sorenson died, his replacement accelerated the shift. He only cares about adding “keys” (rooms). Who cares about guests or even current properties — lots of longtime owners are mad as new brands are acquired and old brands are neglected. I remember when someone pulled up his Instagram and Facebook before it was scrubbed. The Marriott CEO didn’t even stay at Marriott hotels. When he traveled with his family he went to Four Seasons and other non-Marriott hotels.
The only reason anyone cares about this is because they are engaged with the program. But, knowing what we know, anyone still engaged with program is doing it to themselves. And, in a way, I have no sympathy.
PS — For every one of us who is dissatisfied, there are 10 who will take our place. And, that is why Marriott (and other programs) will continue on the path they’re on.
I’ve had some properties tell me that not only will they not give me an upgrade, they wont even honor the suite upgrades and that I have to pay cash if I want them. This seems like it is just codifying what already was.
I got 3 nightly upgrade award applied at Ritz Carlton Half Moon bay 2 weeks ago
It looks like they updated the terms again (emphasis mine):
Some individual Marriott properties are great at providing elite benefits, others not-so-much. I rely heavily on reviews before staying at any Marriott due to wide-ranging inconsistency amongst its brands. That way I have some idea of what to expect at any particular place.