Thoughts On Chocolate-Raspberry Mousse, Falconry, And Starwood

Starwood sent the Ambassador member a chocolate-raspberry mousse cake so I think they should send Gary Leff a falcon. Thoughtful and hilarious post, thanks.

I only care about SPG for airline transfers and I doubt they'll keep that component in any form that's as useful as it is now. Wonder what will happen to the SPG cards.

Let's not gloss over the fact that Starwood shareholders are getting fleeced. The merger terms contain no language allowing Starwood to shop the offer around and adds a $400M poison pill should Starwood cancel the merger. Arne is stealing this company and should not be shocked that nearly a dozen shareholder lawsuits have been spawned by this massive ripoff.

What do I say? I say Starwood folks should either get used to being Marriott folks or find another hotel chain to use. When big corporations buy the successful smaller ones they almost always ruin them or dilute the reasons people liked them. It's the reason the scorpion stung the frog that was taking him across the river.

"A scorpion asks a frog to carry it across a river. The frog hesitates, afraid of being stung, but the scorpion argues that if it did so, they would both drown. Considering this, the frog agrees, but midway across the river the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, dooming them both. When the frog asks the scorpion why, the scorpion replies that it was in its nature to do so.
The fable is used to illustrate that fundamentally vicious natures cannot change."

More and more I stay at smaller locally owned hotels, where the people who run them actually care about the customers. Yes, I get no 'points' but what I get is a good room, reasonable price, lots of fellow travelers from all over the world to chat with at breakfast, and usually a good location.

@Tommy Trash, what do you think Starwood has been doing for the last year, if not shopping for offers. They even went so far as to "leak" the information that Hyatt was looking at taking them over, most likely in order to push Marriott to finalize the deal. And a poison pill is pretty much always included in these deals. Starwood shareholders, as long as they did not buy in at inflated prices based on the recent rumours of a takeover, will make out very well in this deal.

"when bigger corporations buy successful smaller companies?" What am i missing? The CEO resigned, the hotels are underperforming, the brands are not growing and top management has been leaving to Wyndham. Hyatt, a company half their size, was going to buy them. If SPG was so successful in driving business into these hotels, why aren't the hotels doing better. Something doesn't add up.

Personally, I was never loyal to a single hotel chain until I got my amex platinum. Since then, I've had nothing but pleasant experiences with SPG, including several fantastic room upgrades that I never would have expected to get as a mere spg gold. My bf and I just got back from a trip to Pusan, where the only SPG property was sold out. We stayed at a small family-owned hotel, where the free breakfast came as room service and we got upgraded to a suite. It was a great reminder that there is life beyond the chains.

That Marriott guy sure reminded of Smisek's smug video as the UA/CO merger was happening. I'm hoping we get a "changes you'll like" quote out of all this, but Marriott is not that stupid I think. But you can play the "in bed" game with all of his statements (like with fortune cookies) but instead after every positive statement you say "unless it doesn't make money".

The Starwood hotel manager talking about the overentitled SPG elites is the voice of all the Marriott managers if they had to start offering guaranteed 4 pm checkout and constantly fighting the deadbeats trying to get their mitts on the hotels suites. Like has been said elsewhere many times, the basic math is that Starwood and Hyatt have to offer incentives to get you to seek out their properties. Marriott can rely that you can't swing a dead cat from the driveway of a McDonalds anywhere in the country and not hit one of their buildings. There is no way in hades they make any significant changes to Marriott. Either the programs stay separate or SPG basically becomes Marriott.

If I wanted to be a Marriott customer, I would be one now (I have gold with them through United and have not been impressed). As soon as Hyatt matches me to Diamond I'm gone, points converted to miles and 75 nights next year moved from SPG to Hyatt. I'm not going to work on status with SPG next year to see it become Marriott "whatever" the following year. The best case is that I get to become a Marriott platinum, and I'm not interested.

Love how in the picture above with the mousse...there is clearly a light out in the back overhanging the table in the room. While at Marriott you may not get the mousse, at least everything will be in working order and lights wine be burnt out. Great attention to detail, spg

IOW, the headline should have been "Self important travel bloggers whine like little children, reporter writes about it"

As a Marriott stockholder, I'm happy, and have been for years.