I’m not sure what’s worse — that a Marriott manager feels this way, or that she feels comfortable enough writing this online using her real name…
Continue reading: Marriott Manager Doesn’t Care About Status, “Gross” Elites Aren’t Royals
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Well, she's just following the Marriott's leadership example in openly showing lack of interest in guests. Hotels are the customers blah blah blah. That's fine, but in that case guests are the product so how are you going to source them?
I've been recently contemplating going for status in one more hotel program because I have too many nights to achieve that without losing existing two top tier status levels. Marriott was something I considered due to their footprint but eventually I decided against them precisely because of their arrogant, borderline hateful, attitude towards their (not) customers.
I have no doubt this is true. Marriott hands out status to practically everyone and each hotel has 100+ “elites” per night, I’m sure the hotels are tired of dealing with the entitled guests.
Regardless, those hotels would be empty without the Marriott machine filling their rooms and they need to understand the business customer can usually choose a Chain and bring their $40k+ per year to someone else. It is short sighted and sad that hotel employees feel this way about their customers.
It’s not even a lack of interest in the guests, it’s contempt. She actually seems to hate the people that provide the property owners the money to pay her.
She should get a job in the fat orange Nazi regime where she’d fit right in with her hatred of living human beings.
While the individual hasn't exactly covered herself in glory, I think that you might be overreacting a bit. This was in a group literally called 'uncensored' and she's not been responsible for the issues raised by the other poster. If she'd used 'they' instead of 'we', it'd have been more of a refreshing take from an insider than an example of poor professional judgement.
What’s shocking is that for a family it costs $19,000 for a 10 day, 2 room hotel stay - No food, no car rental, no airfare, no park passes.
These travel companies are killing the goose that laid the golden egg with these high rates and fares. This generation is all about experiences because that’s public perception but when you need $60K in gross income just to do a Florida vacation things start getting out of control and the narrative changes.
Saying “they just got their status through their job” misses the point that a lot of us travel for work and live a good portion of our lives out of hotels on the road. I’ve met some incredible staff who took great care of us road warriors. I’ve also met some of the scummiest scammers at Marriott properties, especially franchised locations, where Corporate or a travel agency needed to intercede and honor what was booked. Lifetime Platinum, but most times now I just pick whichever hotel is most convenient. The loyalty isn’t reliable so why would I stick to BonVoy?
@Ben I know you already gave him credit for the story. But Garylord is way too much recognition for him.
Every company has a credit card, so earning points or mileage isn’t what it used to be. Shopping at WalMart gets points just like sleeping at a hotel. Loyalty got sold out to credit cards so nobody really cares about “your” status anymore.
Part "Saying the quiet part out loud" and part oversharing. Probably won't suffer any consequences at work or from higher-ups but it will probably show in the service provided to guests at the hotels she manages.
Quite literally the only reason left to bother earning elite status with Marriott is because Bonvoy points are a useful transferable currency for airline points. The increased earning rates are the only consistently delivered benefit.
Which goes to my next point. As I mentioned in VFTW a few days ago, Bonvoy sucks because of its complexity, opacity, and delivery. Additional factors are the comically inflated elite numbers. To make Bonvoy better, eliminate Silver and Gold as tiers, set Platinum as the first rung of the ladder, and then simplify the benefits, while bringing them in line with reality. No breakfast? Fine. No upgrades? Fine. But at least spell it out to set expectations appropriately. Hilton and others promise far less than Marriott but HHonors and even ALL run circles around Bonvoy precisely because they’ve conditioned their members properly.
Indeed Ben - WE ARE ALL CHUMPS for getting on the hamster wheel of ELITE status.
I am leaning more and more toward restricting Loyalty to Membership Miles (AMEX) and Ultimate Rewards (CHASE). One can use those benefits in a variety of ways and do not have to restrict ourselves to a particular brand (be it airline or hotel)....If loyalty has been sold out to the Credit Card companies - let us re-calibrate.
She's right and I'd bet money that internal memos support what she's saying.
Hotels don't give a fuck about your loyalty. All of the groups. They could care less if you revisit and stat with them again. Status is rarely earned and handed out through CC's, work travel and corporate contracts, ect.
If you don't like the treatment you're getting, CHANGE YOUR LOYALTY. Oh wait, you can't cause you're a fucking addict who wants to gain status every year and hope for your elite benefits to get recognized. And when they don't, you whine and cry online about your posted benefits. Big whoop. Get of the hamster wheel and buy your own hotel group. All of you chumps commenting here would tank a hospitality company in less than 30 days and go bankrupt.
Why do people still spend good money on Delta and Marriott offerings is beyond me. These are probably the same guys who pay top dollar for dominatrix clubs.
She should get a job in the fat orange Nazi regime where she’d fit right in with her hatred of living human beings.
Y'all need to stop giving your money to this arrogant chickenshit outfit, and tell your corporate travel managers that Marriott is blackbanned for good. Money talks, so take yours elsewhere.
Any evidence that what she's saying about Marriott is not true or misleading? Anyone?
Always seems like Marriott talks about its employees more than their guests.
A dump in Arizona. “Work” is generous, though. The hardest she works any given day is rubbing antifungal cream into her vaginal folds.
It is a bit of a balance. Hotels need the elite members to generate revenue, and the elite members wants the hotels to suck up to them.
The problem is when the hotels gets too focused on the revenue aspect only, and when the elites gets to focused on entitlements, especially imagined entitlements. Both sides of that drives the other side further out on their ledge.
When you stand for a bit around the front desks of hotels and listened to what some elite members think they are entitled to, you can't help starting to feel sympathies for the hotel attitudes.
Observation:
Upon reading such articles, followed by the comments, it becomes very apparent that it is going to be one uphill battle to “Make America Great Again”.
You are such a vile creature EIGHT FIGURES. A vile post from such a childish imbecile, yes?
I Blame the customer for that. Why Patronize that Joint if you are not getting proper recognition, If you think you are "Special".
Do rest assured EIGHT FIGURES, nobody will ever accuse you of being a “Living human being”, yes?
I guess one of the great things about American egalitarianism is that lowly hotel employees can feel that they are equal or even superior to the guests who have the money to stay at the hotel (even if it is on the employer's dime).
Not to say that hotel elite status is some kind of human superiority, of course not. But at least in other countries people in a service role would know to keep their mouths shut and say such things in private and put an outwardly appropriate attitude given their position.
I guess she can go back to her asst. manager job at the Tucson Fairfield Inn and think she's some success in life.
Definitely agree the Gaylord Opryland doesn’t care about ambassadors. They took 20 minutes trying to tell me a booked the single king room with 2 adults and 2 kids for thanksgiving even after showing them my original 2 bed reservation. We’re selling 2 queens on the website but said none were available. It wasn’t until I started pushing the ultimate room type guarantee and asking for the 100 dollars cash that they magically found one.
And how would the guest know that's the treatment they would receive on booking?
This doesn't add anything useful to the conversation.
Please pause to consider what you are attempting to accomplish before hitting "post" and see if you have second thoughts. If so, perhaps hold off.
I met Mr Marriott when I was a kid. He would hand out Silver Dollars to all the employees children at the Company parties. I assure you Mr. Marriott would be aghast!
"Perhaps what surprises me most is the brashness of literally posting this publicly, using your real name, while essentially identifying as a Marriott employee (by using the term “we”). Like, this is beyond disrespectful in any line of work, especially when speaking about one of your best customers."
Except (1) she IS NOT a Marriott employee and (2) Marriott's "best customers" are not HERS. As the manager of a third-party operator, her customer is the franchisee. That franchisee is Marriott's customer. The guests, meanwhile, are the product that Marriott sells its franchisee.
Agreed. I quit chasing status years ago once I realized it really didn't get me much. If I earn it, great, but I'm not going out of my way to get there. However, if I do get it, I'm not a dick about it but I do expect them to hold up their end of the bargain.
The issue is Marriott has so many brands and so many benefits that the average guest doesn't know what they're supposed to receive unless they actually make this a hobby. I know people in C suites with millions of points or millions of frequent flyer miles but can't be bothered to "figure it out."
Well, Marriott is literally sending "upgrade" lists to properties now. So it's quite possible that each elite status guest is numbered and ranked.
My wife and I agree with you, Windswd, and in fact are substantially there already. We channel most of our spend/points activities through our Chase Reserve card. We only stay at a Marriott property as often as we do because of my wife’s lifetime Platinum status (BTW, we are fairly certain that lifetime status will somehow someday be eliminated). We therefore are not on their hamster wheel, and only take advantage of what’s important to us, such as free breakfast during a week’s stay at a nice resort where the week worth of breakfasts would easily cost $300+. We never expect an upgrade, and if we receive a smile at checkin along with a complimentary bottle of water, we accept that as a win.
I travel for work once a month or so, and what this manager misunderstands when they say "you earnt it from your job" is that I get a number of hotels I can choose from within a budget, and I don't have to choose to stay at the Marriott branded one if I don't want to. The elite status is meant to help sway me decision of where to spend my companies money.
While that might not be true of everyone, many corporate travellers have agency in where they stay regardless of whether the company is paying. And if I dislike a hotel due to a bad experience on one trip, of course I will actively spend that money elsewhere next time. In fact as a corporate traveller often having to go to the same places over and over, unlike many tourists, I am more likely to be a repeat customer (or not, if I take that money next door).
Kaleigh Cox. She worked for Aimbridge. Works for Highgate now. Highgate an and Aimbridge manage franchised hotels for the franchisee. So her real customer is the franchisee. The franchisee in turn is Marriott's real customer. One of her most recent jobs was/is as GM of the Courtyard by Marriott Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport.
Highgate's head of human resources ("chief people officer") is Geri Williams-Fitts. Her email address is .
Kaleigh Cox, formerly of Aimbridge, works for Highgate. Highgate and Aimbridge manage franchised hotels for the franchisees. One of her most recent jobs was/is as GM of the Courtyard by Marriott Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport.
Highgate's head of human resources ("chief people officer") is Geri Williams-Fitts. Her email address is .
As an Ambassador myself, there couldn't be more night and day between domestic US and international. In the US, just like one might expect, status is almost a burden for the staff. Things have gotten slightly better with the AI/computer upgrades....but it's nothing like Hyatt Globalist where you actually feel valued.
Fast forward to Europe, and eyes go wide when they see an Ambassador. We stayed at the Sheraton in Athlone, Ireland and they not only gave us the biggest suite in the building but arranged (without us knowing) a private beer and cheese tasting in a banquet room arranged exclusively for our arrival.
Ambassador status matters, but the personal touch is rare in the US.
I'm amazed the assistant manager at a regional hotel cares enough about their industry to be in a private Facebook group for frequent customers.
When I was younger around "Gulf 1" I bought Marriott stock for for less the $5 a share so I guess that is the value they put on my elite status now. Kinda sad.
Athens 11-14 Mar: The cheapest room at the Divani Caravel (which won 5 consecutive Greece's Leading City Hotel awards) is going for €163 a night. At the same time, Marriott only have some €600 suites available in the eponymous property, with basic rooms at a vaguely upscale nondescript Autograph hotel starting at €269. No wonder European hoteliers look after Bonvoy members, they're giving them money for nothing.
True hospitality in the State is rare - pretty much exclusive to a few handpicked hotels and mostly mom and pop joints in the middle of nowhere. Pretty much anywhere buzzy - Aman New York, Amangiri - or any chain place (St Regis, EDITION, Park Hyatts...even a few Four Seasons) treat you like they're doing you a favor by charging you 1-4k USD a night for the pleasure of their underwhelming service standards.
As for the middle tier places, well...forget about service. Not dying is your prize.
Also, Ben, any progress on the ads? Back in the States and that g___d___ Explora ad keeps taking over the screen (it's happened six times in the last five minutes). You can bet your bottom dollar I'm never using that company.
It's partly because internationally a majority of hotels among the full-service and luxury brands are still Marriott-managed. In the US, most Marriott hotels (outside St. Regis, Edition and all but two Ritz-Carltons) are franchised or licensed.
It's more the death of American service culture. Bonvoy is just one indicator. While Hyatt is still fantastic, I fear the day that they fall to the prey of this growing trend. I imagine it will happen.
At the end of the day; from hotel loyalty, airline loyalty, to banking loyalty; we are all but, a number. It has only been within the last couple decades that certain unrecognized people decided that they wanted recognition by name and status (remember when banking entities were adverting “you are not just a number” ?)
If one is getting their panties in a knot about being a number, you have bigger issues on hand.
I will never sail on an Explora ship EVER. Dang full screen ads keep taking over the screen aggressively.
Your post would have been more effective if you'd left off that last sentence.
Seeing her profile she is a a community college graduate and now at one of her first real jobs and deciding she knows best in how to communicate how Bonvoy feels about their customers.
It's so sad how awful people are becoming to each other in the U.S.
"98% of you got that status due to your job."
Ok if everyone who travels for work stops staying at Marriotts, you're out of a job. They bring you money, its how your company operates. How dumb is this person?
Wonder how long before her comments get to Marriott leadership....and suddenly shes learning the cost of communicating like that
Yesterday, my wife and I had a reservation at a Residence Inn in the Ft. Lauderdale area. It was late morning when we arrived, but we were both exhausted, and wanted/needed a bed to sleep in. I went into the hotel, and asked the person behind the desk if we could check in then. She said it wasn't possible, because they were sold out both that night and the night before. I gently pressed to see if there was any chance for an early check in (I was willing to pay extra for the privilege) and was told no, and to come back at the posted check in time of 3:00 pm. Eventually, she said there was a small possibility that there there might be a room ready at 2:00 pm or even 1:00 pm. I respectfully asked if my Platinum status would help put me in front of the line, and she snarkily responded, "Will your Platinum status clean the room?"
I went back to my car, called around to other nearby properties, found one that would let us check in right away, made a reservation there, then went back inside the Residence Inn and canceled my stay.
If my loyalty (or my humanity, for that matter) doesn't earn basic kindness and respect, I can't imagine staying in relationship with a business.
Anywhere else in the world, someone with a two-year college degree not in hotel management or hospitality would never be a GM or AGM at a chain hotel.
She doesn't work for Marriott. She works for Highgate, whose customer is the franchisee, not Marriott. Marriott can't fire her.
Everyone here is talking about how bad is the Marriott and how good is the Hyatt. I am for change, I have stayed for the last three years at the W hotel (a Hilton) and it has been fantastic especially in Amman Jordan. Try it, you will like it!
I don't agree with what she said but there are certainly a lot of over entitled blowhards
earning points on other people's dimes and it is fun to see them fall off their pedestals now and then.
Did she lie?
It is absolutely true that most higher tier status is earned on the company dime, and they're just a number to the hotels
Yes most status is earned through job BUT who cares these are paid rooms regardless of who is paying for it. For example my company aka myself is paying so Marriott shouldn’t really worry about this being a biz or personal achievement
This sums up the "hospitality" industry in America pretty well. Moxy hotels in Europe and Asia care more and give better service and benefits.
Words is Carsten Spohr is impressed and looking to hire her to join
'Customer Service' at Lufty..
Just about every Marriot property has a cancelation policy that requires a room to be canceled one or two days before your arrival? How did you cancel your room a few hours before check in?
The story is abit tiring. Marriott status isnt that hard to achieve and each hotel is full of Platinums and Titaniums When you realize these frequent travel programs (hotels and airlines) are revenue centers for companies rather than rewarding loyalty, you understand their purpose. How many comments are from people that say 'I will never travel with them again', and yet legacy airlines and Hyatt/Marriott/IHG fill rooms and seats.
I have found most Marriott front desk staff to be pleasant and try to accommodate the traveler. Every large organization is going to have some rogue employees.
Airline loyalty helps frequent fliers during IRROPS. Your Chase points wont help in that regard.
Lol. You think your travel manager is going to care about your opinion and not want access to the world's largest hotel operator? I have found most marriott staff working to be accommodating. Best to just check the properties reviews, and avoid those rated poorly.
You need to get your TDS checked. Love progressives who need to bring up the President for stories that have nothing to do with politics. You can go on Blue Sky to rant or watch some more MSNBC.
Other people's dime is the excuse? Well here's my 2c(or 10c). Spending 100s if not 1000s of nights in crappy hotel rooms is not a sacrifice in any way? I'm LT Titanium (on MY dime). More than 3 years of my life in Marriot(and Starwood) hotel rooms. Certainly an investment no matter where the dime came from.
I agree with you - we're chumps.
Since becoming LT-T, I've stayed twice at a Marriott.
This lady just said out loud what Bonvoy has been showing us for a few years.
I miss SPG. Marriott is too big and they no longer care about guests but the bottom line.
It’s why I don’t even consider land based vacations any longer. Love them or hate them, cruise vacations are far and way a superior and value vacation experience. A top tier mass market cruise line such as Princes or Celebrity will provide great accommodations, great meals, entertainment, and transportation to different land based experiences for a fraction of the cost of a land based hotel. We recently took a 16 day transatlantic crossing for $7,000 ($440/day for two) total. It included everything we needed or wanted, including unlimited drinks, luxury mini suite accommodations, multiple choices of casual and fine dining for every meal, high speed internet, reserved seating at entertainment, and best of all friendly and appreciative staff. A land based vacation of lesser quality with A la carte cost and the aggravation of needing rental car to travel for every meal and entertainment would have easily cost $20,000 or more. Marriott and their “luxury” resorts with their outrageous add on fees, $100 breakfasts and rude employees are off my list, FOREVER!
I have Lifetime Titanium (legacy of SPG) which they only offered the 1 year after they merged. What does it get me? As they say in the Big Apple: BUPKUS!!!
"The truth is that we’re all the chumps for staying on the hamster wheel of elite status despite the clear indifference"
Absolutely......start-middle-end of story!
Service in North America, specifically to Marriot sucks. Asia is the way to go. I DID have a pleasant experience recently in Toronto, but in general, elite status gets you little, upgrades are sparse, the breakfast benefit is hit or miss, and the lounges (when available) are just OK.
Airline industry is just the same.....
I think this might be mostly specific to the USA. I certainly have always received great treatment as a GHA Titanium across multiple hotels in Mexico.
It’s an overall American centric approach to business. It’s taken for granted, prices in US have gone through the roof in most cities and then they clean only every other day etc. why anybody would vacation in the US is beyond me. No value to be had here.
Surely that depends on where you go. I typically stay in 4* hotels, often paying a bit extra for a jr suite, and my average nightly rate sits comfortably under €100 (more often than not travelling solo or with friends while staying in individual rooms). Of course I have no interest in going to Mykonos in August (or ever, really) and the last time I gave Marriott any money was about 13 years ago (though I did spend a night in one of their Delta hotels in England after a New Year's party with a couple of friends, one of whom has some kind of status with them). I also don't see the point of renting a car for most places- maybe if you want to go to archaeological sites etc, but if you're in a big city or even well-developed resort area it's usually a lot easier to use a combination of taxis and public transport.
That never happened with Starwood. I miss the service almost as much as the Heavenly Bed.
We, my wife and I, are Bonvoy Gold Members. We do not travel for business, only personal reasons. In Nov 2025, Kath traveled to NJ to visit her 94 y/o mom before Thanksgiving. Granted the Residence Inn in Cherry Hill didn't know the reason for the travel. Kath had a rough air travel day that started before sunrise and was now at the hotel around 4pm. She was abruptly told that she couldn't check in for another hour, amongst other "supposed" reservation problems. The reservation was made a month in advance, online, without any notice of problems prior to her arrival. Considering the agitation, rude desk clerk (who was also rude to me on the phone), and delays, we will probably think twice about booking at NJ Marriots and NEVER book the Cherry Hill Residence Inn again. Sorry Marriott, 30+ year loyal customers here, the front line service experience is critical, maybe this was a singular experience, but your clerk seems to not share the importance of her position.
No offence, but surely one can enjoy vacationing in a country even if elite recognition is sometimes subpar? My wife and I (Europeans) vacation all across the US for 7+ weeks every year and truly love it. We are usually happy to very happy with the hotels and service - much happier than in Europe - and the country has so much to offer except elite recognition 🙂 (Writing this from an overwater suite at Hilton Amingiri Maldives, which obviously is a better choice if you’re looking for top notch service… 😉 )
First sign you've already lost the argument is that you attack the messenger's bio rather than respond to the critique.
Also, super strange basis for a criticism. I went to an "elite" uni and I've got a mate at work who's just as clever as I and he went to an American community college.
The chumps are people who vacation in the US for more than a long weekend. Better service, value, people, and experiences are easily found abroad.
Life Time Titanium here. While I tent to agree that Both Marriott's and Hiltons (Diamond just shy of Life Time.) in many instances do not care whether one has status or not, I would share that is not always the case. A few months back at a Sheraton, I had an issue regarding my Titanium number, pulled from the reservation by the Desk Manager. End of conversation, she assured me she would manually credit my points. Which of course did not happen. When I reached out to management, not only did I receive the points, and a sincere apology, that manager compensated with additional points, much more than I would have received originally!
Wow. Under normal circumstances, she would be entering her "finding out" era at her employer. However, given Marriott... probably not. 😉
Corporate travel managers are contracted to provide a service. If a client wishes to exclude a particular hotel chain, then that's the client's choice. If they won't do what you want, you fire them and hire a new company that will.
The comment is not good, but if we were to ask "what would make someone say this?", I think most of us can understand. Hotels in the US are not service oriented, yet customers in the US are demanding (often unreasonably so). The hotel brand creates an expectation that the hotel owner refuses to deliver (both make money from these decisions). Neither of those people are part of an actual conversation at the front desk. Instead, you have a demanding patron that has been sold a bill of goods talking to a staff member who has been told (by an absentee owner) to never give that bill of good away. Both people in this exchange are blaming who they can see for their problems (the entitled customer; the obstinate employee or manager) and are emotionally drained from the exchange. But the people that benefit never have to show their face or be berated. They just get to cash the checks.
The problem is the lack of oversight or responsibility. Some individual properties can deliver good or poor experiences. In the US it is particularly a problem. In the Middle East or Asia it is better.
When our Starwood membership was bought out by Marriott, things went downhill fast. We are no longer members.
She’s not wrong. You don’t deserve special treatment because you’re a cuck that works for McKinsey and managed to get status on the way.
Absolutely. i had mad high hopes when Marriott bought Starwood but Marriott chose to treat engaged loyalists as enemies rather than beloved guests spending lots of money at their hotels.
Absolutely! Just because you've gone far out of your way to show loyalty to a company doesn't mean that that company owes you shit. In fact your loyalty should be derided like Marriott does on a consistent basis.
As the second recent post questioning the usefulness of the Bonvoy loyalty program (since Starwood was absorbed), the question I have is what’s the preferred hotel loyalty program to use now for a mix of domestic and international travel. Hyatt? Hilton? Other?
I keep having to repeat to gold/platinum/titanium/amabssador members, you are not Marriott's customers, you're the product. Marriott's customer is the franchisee and they are selling your head in a franchisee's bed 200 nights a year. So when the franchisee fails to deliver on Marriott's promises, Marriott only cares if enough of you stop being their product.
No one cares about these goddamn privileged, entitled, main character syndrome ambassadors of audacity.