Posted by pacfoley
To whom it may concern:
I am very disappointed in your promotions. I was first influenced to choose Marriot over my normal Hilton stays because of a promotion that indicated if I stayed there so many times in a short duration, I would be elevated to Gold Status. However, during my attempt to achieve this I stayed at the Resident Inn in West Palm Beach but because my night was refunded due to poor quality and poor service I was unable to achieve the needed nights to achieve gold status.
Discouraged, I went back to staying at the Hilton where I enjoy Diamond Status.
After a while I received information on another Marriot Promotion. Stay so many nights and receive free night certificates. Which I currently have three, two that are about to expire.
I really don’t think Marriot has a grasp on what travelers expect or need. The certificates cannot be used for common places and in order to use them the customer has to hopefully book a hotel and then be given the option to use them if available. In 37 nights I don’t recall being given the option to use them, nor would I really look at using them for business when I would want to use them for pleasure.
This evening I spent a little over an hour trying to find a hotel for next weekend that I could use the two certificates that were about to expire. I finally called reservations because finding a hotel online can only be achieved by trial and error, this involved more wasted time on hold. I asked the employee to find me a hotel where I could use my certificate. He asked me where I would like to go, I told him I was currently staying at the Marriot Long Wharf and that be nice if I could use the certificates for use at this hotel. He told me I could, booked the reservation, and then told me he would have to transfer me to another person to redeem my certificates. After another hold period I was informed that the certificate could not be used at this property and that I would have to go elsewhere.
That’s two promotions – Two failures!
When considering promotions I bench mark them against the promotions I currently take advantage of: National Car Rental, Hilton, and Delta Skymiles. These company’s programs are examples of efficient and guest friendly programs. National gives free rental certificates and if you want a bigger car than the certificate is good for it is applied as a discount. You don’t have to search around and be disappointed, you are informed immediately of your options. Hilton gives you points, free breakfast – or additional points in lieu of breakfast if you have to travel early, and Delta has just seemed to figure it out with their awards calendar that shows the traveler which days will cost less points and makes it very easy to plan vacations and enjoy a little fun time. Marriot programs are not only a hassle, they take the minute fun out of earning perks for future / private use.
I honestly believe that this free certificate promotion is a, “Bait and Switch”. As a business traveler, my colleagues and I select travel accommodations based on what it will do for us when we are off the clock. Many are accustomed to flying first class, receiving free upgrades, or cold drink or a bottle of water as an appreciation for our loyalty.
As a silver member with Marriot I don’t expect much, however when given a certificate based on stays in a short window, I do expect to be able to use them. Two certificates expire at the end of the month. Perhaps Marriot would be so kind as to donate them to people visiting wounded veterans. In addition, please remove me from any future promotions and stop sending advertisements to my home or email. I would rather get nothing than be constantly disappointed. Obviously the folks at Marriot weren’t stupid when they came up with these programs as it worked to get me and many of my colleagues to stay. However, I do believe you lost site of the big picture and as a consequence misled your customers into believing we were getting a good deal. I can only hope that the companies stated above don’t follow Marriot’s lead and introduce programs that give false hope.