Comments

1. I’m not sure about platinum, but titaniums are able to cancel a booking at any time before physically checking in without any penalty. Remember you have to call the titanium line to make the cancellation, as only they seem to know this rule.

2. Kenneth I didn’t know that rule, great to know. I can say for sure though I don’t like dealing with Marriott. Worst loyalty program out there

3. Starwood lifetime platinum used to get a lot of upgrades. That is gone with Marriott.

4. One big omission from this list is the MileagePlus Premier Silver benefit for Titanium and above. It sure makes my United flight experience much more tolerable, even if CPUs are rare.

5. United Silver benefit and Hertz Gold which allows additional driver and free upgrade for Titanium Elites

6. Marriott is a broken program. Many properties just won’t upgrade Platinums. Points are worth much less. Bonvoy could care less.

7. Kenneth-
   Thank you for this. Is the benefit written down anywhere? And does it also apply to prepaid/nonrefundable reservations?
   It could make a big difference for me.

   And, yes, the MP Premier is also valuable; it got me an upgrade in the first week of having it.

8. I switched my 80 nights/yr from marriot to mostly Hyatt. Hopefully many more do as well. While I doubt it will affect Marriott’s thinking re Bonvoy they should be economically punished

9. So as a titanium elite, I almost never get upgrades, I found i got them much more as a platinum under the old program. I did get upgraded in Shanghai 2 weeks ago and that was after being told there was no availability. I told the desk person that I got more upgrades as a plat then titanium, and then she suddenly found a suite to out me in.

   I always liked hilton, bit their points are just so worthless.

10. Actually you can choose 5 nights if you reach 50 (plat annual choice) so you need 20 more. BUT to do 20-25 nights only to get status of course not.

    If you need 5 or less nights more it might make sense to do 5 cheap nights.

    From my 82 nights with marriott this year I think i had 60+ upgraded for sure to a suite.

    For me most important is lounge access though.

11. I enjoy my titanium benefits but I find the Bonvoy program to be less and less rewarding. The points redemption opportunities are almost never profitable anymore and there are still tons of IT problems.

    In support though I always find that I’m treated exceptionally well at properties and have been upgraded 95% of my stays. I’ve gotten tons of free welcome gifts, usually food but sometimes other things. At one brand new property the GM was waiting for me at check in and asked me to pose for pictures with him and some of the staff then invited me to dinner as his guest to try a bunch of local dishes. In other places the executive lounge staff will become friends when I visit hotels frequently.

    The other advantage to titanium is that when things go wrong and you inform the correct channels things will be corrected quickly if possible most of the time.

    Not really trying to plug Marriott because I don’t care for the changes, and I myself am not reaching titanium again this year, and plan to not even worry about platinum next year (going to try more Airbnb and the like). I do think it’s fair to point out the advantages as I did to add some objectivity to the comment gallery. If you’re going to go for it I suggest at least planning some properties to visit that would be worthwhile to have benefits.

12. Business travelers do use the 48 hour guarantee if they really need a room

13. I think, as almost always, the conclusion depends on whether you pay for stays out of your own pocket or don’t.

    Obviously, loyalty is much easier to justify if your employer or client picks up the bill. You can still rack up Marriott nights even if they offer poor value for the money. After all, you don’t care about the money.

    But for those of us footing the bills ourselves, the story is much different. Why would you throw an additional 25 nights to Marriott when you could be using that excellent Hilton promo, or work on your Hyatt status etc.

    I mean, additional benefits like UA MP Silver or Hertz Five Star are a joke. Who spends so many nights in hotels but doesn’t have a higher frequent flyer status level and a top-tier status with a major car rental agency? The only things tangible are the extra points and the choice benefit.

14. As a Lifetime Titanium approaching 2000 nights, the devaluation and decrease in realized benefits has me booking 70% of my nights in non-Marriott properties / going for bonus’ in SWA’s hotel booking site. So the annual 120 Marriott nights is now around 30 nights, but that multiplies, as I direct where my teams stay (500+ nights/year). It’s been a refreshing change.

    I’ve been very pleased with Hyatt and also with a number of independent hotels. Airbnb has been a great option for places like SFO and NYC. The bonus’ from some of the independent booking sites have been great as well.

15. Last week I stayed at the Westin Grand central NYC. As an Ambassador this year I asked that one of my suite upgrades be used for the stay. 5 days before check-in I get an email from the hotel saying they will honor my suite upgrade. Imagine my surprise when I checked in and they told me they had no suites for me. In addition, room service was dreadful, bathroom molding around the door was badly rusted. I completed the survey they sent me a couple of days after check out complaining about all these things. I got a form email back with none of the specifics mentioned. Again, I’ve been an ambassador this year, lifetime titanium next year and as such I expect the customer service to get even worse.

16. John Sousa you are doing it wrong. If you actually had ambassador status you would have called your ambassador immediately upon not receiving your suite upgrade and being given a dirty room. It’s pretty much your fault for being passive and waiting for a survey days after your stay. You probably also furthered the degradation of Marriott customer service by not addressing your concerns in the moment. Don’t play victim when you had plenty of opportunity to better your situation.

17. I’m not stupid. I checked in on a Sunday and my ambassadors was off. I called the Ambassador line and simply got VM.

    Next, I did not notice the mold til the next morning and I complained right away. They said sold out so I had to live with it.

    And of course I complained about the dreadful food served with my room service order; they apologized and that was it.

    So you might want all the facts before you start criticizing or simply mind your own business.

18. Completely worth the difference for me between platinum and titanium. I travel exclusively in Asia and there’s a night and day difference in upgrades between the two statuses. As a titanium I have a 100% upgrade rate. Maybe in the states it’s not worth it but sure as hell in Asia!

19. I have reached Ambassador status, primarily at the Roseville Residence Inn. I persisted with them because they were pet friendly. After putting up with the substandard rooms ,poor facilities, and no parking for a year during their redo because I felt they truly welcomed me and my pets, I recently stayed in a renovated room. It was OK, but nothing earth shattering. I was just called and told I owed a 200 dollar cleaning fee retrospectively vs the 100 dollars I usually pay, and was told they had a new pet policy. Now they are requiring increased fees per dog, literally going from 100/week to 250/week. I was never given the new rules nor signed this. I have paid them over 2000 dollars in pet fees this last year and never required a cleaning that I knew of , as I was on the first floor near the doors as requested. And, the area they ask you to walk the pets in has been totally taken up with construction for 3 months and never with any waste bags available. Obviously , I will need to find somewhere else to stay from now on. And, I agree, their IT sucks. Thanks for all the good advice, and I feel quite sure a lot of other people will move elsewhere with their pets.