One Marriott property in Miami is offering a reward to guests who leave a review of the hotel… but only if it’s very positive.
Continue reading: Lol: Marriott Hotel Bribes Guests For Posting Positive Reviews Online
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Perhaps at check-in, you should say that you'd love to give them a top survey rating . . . and then ask how that might be facilitated.
Is Brickell as nice and desirable and exclusive as a 700 sq. metre co-op on the upper east side and an equity partnership at a v10 BigLaw firm, Arps?
The thing is most people can’t partake because you don’t get a survey after every stay with Marriott. While Hyatt and IHG send out a survey after every stay, Marriott’s system limits surveys to frequent guests.
According to View from the Wing, you can only receive a Marriott survey once every 60 days: https://viewfromthewing.com/why-your-marriott-reviews-might-not-matter-the-infrequent-guest-bias-revealed/
lol…I don’t care what anyone else says. Some of these articles I go straight to the comment section for entertainment.
That's why I love staying at family owned and local properties. In Europe, it is very common that while checking out they ask you about your stay and kindly ask you to post a review on TripAdvisor. I was never asked to post a positive review but simply take the time to post it. Apparently TripAdvisor is a big deal in Europe and small hotels really count on reviews to grow their business. I rarely leave reviews online but I am always happy to help small businesses if they have done great job.
Why are hotels so terrible at franchising? If a McDonald's location strayed from the brand as far as hotels do they'd hear from corporate before long
I'd take it. TripAdvisor and other sites are so full of fake reviews generated by hotel staff to the point of being worthless. In fact, look at recent TA reviews for this one and you'll see the same thing. "Julie" in particular seems to have been busy writing herself glowing reviews. Harder to fake on the brand-specific reviews so I guess they figured they'd pay for them instead. I'd rather have them bribe me with points than continue to post their own fake reviews
I experienced the opposite this Summer.
Stayed at Jupiter Hotel Lisboa and had a terrible experience the first night.
The guest relation manager promised a compensation ( a few drinks on the rooftop woohoo!!!) but then didn't honor it because i posted a negative review on TA in the meantime
TripAdvisor reviews remain highly valuable, particularly when written by reviewers with a substantial history of contributions. However, hotels are increasingly unresponsive, often ignoring reviews entirely, with Marriott properties being particularly notable for this. When they do respond, many rely on third-party reputation management firms or AI bots.
IHG offers the best review system, allowing anyone who has completed a reservation at an IHG hotel to post a review on their website by logging into their account. IHG, either at the corporate level or the specific property, consistently responds to reviews on their platform.
Very common in a few family resorts in Brazil. Positive online review - while still at the hotel - unlocks late check-out.
This is why Starbucks doesn't franchise. Yes, they license certain locations at airports or in grocery stores but their standards are extremely high.
Unethical? Violates Marriott policy? I'm shocked, shocked.
"Your 3,000 points, Sir."
"Oh, thank you very much."
The same for me.
Maybe someone will created booking website of well vetted reasonably priced properties that one can trust so we won't need to book through the Marriotts when we don't have the time to do a lot of research.
I do and was lucky enough to be Platinum.
Honest, ethical and responsive and I took it for granted. Never thought it would ever be otherwise.
Silly me.
There is this small B&B in Sicily, Italy that my family has been staying for over a decade. It is super small (maybe 8 rooms), owned and managed by 2 sisters and it is absolutely fantastic. It is not a Four Seasons, St Regis, etc... but it is super clean, modern and in a dream location with the most amazing service you can get. Every time we go there the owners don't know what to do to make our stay even more special and as we keep coming back and sent many family members and friends there over the years they are always super happy. Every time we leave they ask if we could go to TripAdvisor and review our stay. That's how they stay in business. No need to say they have a 4.8 review on TripAdvisor and the very non stellar reviews are from over 10 years ago from people that are just professional complainers.
Why would you stay at a Marriott property in the Brickell neighborhood in the first place?
Oh me too. Have you ever stayed at the Aegon Mykonos? Really good energy there - most of the time. 😛
Same thing in Sheraton, San Diego. Signs everywhere, give us nothing less than 5 stars and later a message to give points if you leave a good review.
At 10,000 points I might take the bribe but not at 3k with the Marriott corp crooks overcharging for all reward nights
3k for a positive review at Marriott is a joke. That entire establishment should pay you to stay. Substandard locations, rude employees and a joke of a loyalty program.
Would posting a top score, dumping on the hotel in the written review, and disclosing the bribe net the points? (I wonder how that would hold up in Small Claims in Miami...and I wonder if my lawyer would like to expense a few trips down there...)
Sorry to say but AC Miami is not the only Marriott property that does this. I have experienced similar practices elsewhere.
Just received a similar email from the Four Points Toronto Mississauga. They offered 1000 points for a 9 or 10 score on the satisfaction survey plus an extra 250 if I complete a trip advisor review. Interestingly, I did have a good stay, but I'm simply not the kind of person who goes around scoring every single thing out there and posting public reviews. So, I guess I'll give it some thought...