It looks like at least one hotel is ”learning” from airlines, and is adding time restrictions on lounge access.
Continue reading: One Marriott Limits Club Lounge Access To 60 Minutes
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I read the sign to say “please don’t hog a table by staying seated more than 60 minutes” rather than you must leave the lounge after 60.
The London Marriott County Hall has since 2018 or 2019 limited guests in the club lounge to three individual portions of plated appetizers. If you want more or want something else, you have to pay.
The Renaissance London Heathrow employed the same approach the last time I stayed there. You had to select the kind of appetizer you wanted and that was all you were served.
Technically, this is probably permissible because the lounge benefit doesn't require a specific offering outside of breakfast at certain brands where a club lounge is supposed to have a continental breakfast offering. Just snacks or some kind of approved alternative.
As for limiting occupancy to 1 hour, I presume a hotel could invoke the local policy exemption buried in the Bonvoy terms that is basically a get out of jail free card.
The Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay has the same policy during happy hour. I don’t think it’s that unreasonable, and it’s in line with Japanese culture. Many buffet restaurants have a strict time limit as well.
I will add that it concerns me when international Marriott properties cheat or play games because a majority of Marriott's full-service hotels outside North America are managed by Marriott whereas most Marriott hotels (full-service and limited-service) within North America are managed by the franchisee or a third-party hired by the franchisee. It's one thing when Aimbridge cheats or plays games. It's something else when corporate management cheats or plays games.
Sheraton Tokyo Disneyland already enforced in when I went there in March. Not surprised and I totally for the hotel because it reduces wait time for others. 1 hours is pretty enough for a decent meal
Sheraton Taipei has 90 minute limit. You sign up in advance for one of two reserved seatings offered per night. Everyone clears out between seatings--even if you have come late.
Not only Marriott..
Conrad Singapore .. you need to book an hour "slot" to access/use the lounge weekend evenings...
Restriction is due to too many guests....
Conrad HK doesnt manage capacity .. if you arrive and it is busy .. you are politely told to "try again later"
One of the many reasons why I do not stay with Marriott, and prefer Hilton.
My GF and I love to get smashed and make the food there our dinner. We do not do it all the time, but in places like the Maldives, we took advantage of that, and Hong Kong!
This has become quite common in Seoul and is not limited to Marriott. Depending on occupancy, Hilton's Conrad Seoul has two sessions: 5-6 or 6:15-7:15, if I remember correctly. Everyone from the first session must leave at 6, and they refresh everything. JW Marriott Seoul also has a one-hour policy, although it was not enforced last time I was there as occupancy seemed quite low. LeMeridien Myeongdong often has two one-hour sessions on weekends. Courtyard Namdaemun is the most generous when they require 2 sessions with the times being a bit longer: 5-6:45 or 7-8:45.
Tokyo Marriott is, like a lot of Marriott brand hotels in Japan, operated by Mori Trust. Not to be confused with Mori Corporation which runs a lot of the Hyatts. I don't think Marriott manages a single hotel in Japan.
Was at Conrad Tokyo earlier this year and they effectively did the same thing on weekends.
From my obvservation, they don't govern it excessively, but I do think they try to limit the time because most of the clientele who were there during the restricted time were people who were trying to take selfies of themselves than actually using the space.
For Tokyo...I frankly don't care because the you're probably more likely to get better food and drinks at an izakaya if you're willing to learn some Japanese beforehand.
I think it all depends on what the purpose of your stay is, we were in Hiroshima whilst working remotely and the Hilton's lounge was a godsend for us to have a bit of space to get coffee, nibbles and etc even during drinks hours.
I do think that they should disguish the difference in the guests though when they apply these limits, but then again, I can see someone getting pretty upset if they were hoping to impress someone and then get told they have an hr to do it.
No problems with this. A lot of (usually loud and obese) credit card hoarding Americans and Chinese are like swarming locusts whenever food is put in the buffet, and detract from the experience for those who are using the lounge to just have nibbles and a drink. Well done Marriott Tokyo!
You are part of the problem. Bring a glutton who ruins the experience for everyone else.
The Conrad St James does the same thing in a way. They make it a bit of an afternoon high tea experience with the tower of sandwiches, pastries, and dessert along with the usual condiments. The bar is self serve along with some basic dry snacks.
I thought this was a great way to “manage” this while making it an experience of some sort.
The Hilton Nagoya was doing this in January but you only got 45 minutes in the lounge at happy hour. I was there 20 days and near the end they suspended the policy but they mentioned it may become permanent.
So few people understand
the jaw-dropping value of the Hilton programme. I've never seen any Hilton use this policy for their Lounges. I recently reached LIFETIME DIAMOND status and now have lounge access guaranteed for years.
G'Day
I'm in favor of signs asking people to limit their usage more so if they're constantly drinking and eating. Sometimes I'm at the lounge for more than an hour (though rare) because the weather outside is bad. But yes I have seen guests who thinks their entire vacation budget can be saved by eating until their bellies explode at the lounge. And yes many awful behavior from Chinese tourist and since I am also Chinese and can understand them I'm embarrassed and horrified at their actions. When the attendant puts out a tray of food and you're the first in line nobody should need to tell you that it's not ok to take the entire platter to your table for your family. It's gross is behavior unbecoming in a lounge. Maybe McDonald's.
I'd say this is fairly common, had the same 1 hour limit in the JW Marriott in Seoul, it was quite amusing to watch the speed at which people were downing drinks when there is a time limit on it.
I was at the Westin Tokyo during Golden week which had a similar policy in the evenings. I was there for a week and it worked well. On the busiest days they also opened the top floor Restaurant for breakfast as the club lounge. All explained on arrival do very good and both I and the other guests seemed to be happy. Well organised and politely done.
I can add context since I have stayed at this hotel and visited the lounge many times.
"Marriott Tokyo has imposed a new restriction": It is not new. This has been in place since at least October 2022.
"I’m not sure how well this is enforced": It is not enforced. It is merely a request.
"if these signs are there consistently, or only on days with a lot of guests eligible for lounge access." The signs are present during busy and quiet periods.
"Furthermore, it’s not entirely clear if you only have to get up and leave if someone else is waiting on a table, or if that’s the time limit no matter what." Neither. Again, it is a request.
The hotel is large, and popular with business travelers. As such, the lounge can be busy, but seats are always available. I believe the hotel is concerned about crowding due to covid, not due to a lack of capacity.
I suspect this is to do with Japan having a lot of Bonvoy Platinums. You only need 3m JPY spend per year to get Platinum with the Japan issued Bonvoy Amex. That's roughly $20k right now. It's a lot easier than the the Chase Ritz Carlton card and a lot cheaper annual fee than the US Bonvoy Amex with the $625 annual fee.
Hey, stupid, don't you get it that by now the very unethical and awful imitation act has gotten old and it's time to move on? That it's been falling flat every time you've trotted it out of late means not only that the joke is on you, but that you are now the joke. Your resenting my success and disparaging me as a result changes absolutely nothing. It will just get you more unhinged as I keep reporting on my successes as, yes, a LTD. Live with it or just get lost.
Interestingly enough, I was just there the week after Golden Week. They had no such rules, but I was only there for a Monday and a Tuesday evenings.
That said, I wonder if it was reactionary. My last night there was a large loud group sitting at that nice tree carved table, and the staff had the biggest most embarrassed smiles on thier faces...
Overweight Americans and boisterous Chinese raiding the buffet is one of the weirdest culture clashes one can observe at any club lounge right now.
Well i can add UK yobbos stealing beers or german grannies like eagles waiting for the dishes disposal or ...
Bulgari, Edition, all or most W, and every Ritz-Carlton except Montreal, Chicago and Kuala Lumpur are managed by Marriott.
Edition Tokyo is also Marriot Trust, Ritz-Carlton Kyoto and Ritz-Carlton Osaka is Sekisui House, Bulgari Tokyo is Mitsui Fudosan. St Regis Osaka, W Osaka is Sekisui House. I forget now who is behind Ritz-Carlton Okinawa, Niseko, and Nikko. But it is not Marriott.
This may be a ‘Japanese thing’. I was recently at the Marriott Nagoya and there were signs saying the same thing. I did overstay my ‘welcome’ by a bit, but nothing was said.
I also experienced this but in the pre-arrival letter it was mentioned it was a Covid protocol at the time to manage capacity and maintain social distancing.
The Conrad Tokyo limited lounge access to an hour as well due to the late number of guests back in May 2022.
This is just stupid. A lounge is not some appointment slot. It's a lounge...for lounging. If I pay for a 4-5 star hotel, yeah, I want to be able to lounge in the lounge basically whenever for however long I want. Realistically this should all be doable, as your typical large hotel has 200-400 rooms, and most people will generally be outside of the hotel, in their room, in the hotel's restaurant(s), lobby, business center, gym, spa, pool, whatever, there's no reason why hotels can't reasonably build a lounge large enough to accommodate a fraction of guests as long as they'd want to be there.
I was there last week and had to join a waiting list and go back to my room to be called when it’s my turn for the one hour happy hour
@Trevor DCS is just an extreme Hilton fan boy. He always goes out of his way trying to persuade us that Hilton is the best programme... with no success.
Basically just an annoying clown who has been a nuisance for years and that many of us just ignore.
Conrad tokyo does that as well for Saturday.
They have two sessions that you can choose
Many Korean Marriott properties have the same lounge happy hour restrictions for more than two years from now.
The situation was in existence in mid December when I was in tokyo. I spent four nights but it was not enforced, at least no one told me to leave after 60 minutes. This was the beginning of Tokyo's reopening and travel was very low and occupancy was very low but there were times when the lounge was quite full.
I just returned from JW Marriott Seoul on 16 June 2023
There is also a one hour limit impose on the happy hour drinking from 5.30 - 9pm
Apparently, they claim this is due to covid restriction. (At least on the paper)
I think it might be here to stay
Telling the guests in advance is the key. Some other hotels had guests choose a time to go to the lounge each day which worked well so the lounge was not over full at peak times. Similar with breakfast, some hotels have done the time slot as to avoid overcrowding. This is especially an issue in Asia where usually the hotel breakfast is included. I assume we will see more issues such as food and beverage not being replaced as often as it should in many lounges or at breakfast at more hotels. It is currently starting to be an issue.
Actually I think it is the other way around. American run hotels cheat and try to play games more often. They may give a breakfast voucher that is worth less than the breakfast itself. They may not give the appropriate benefits to a high status member. They may charge a lot of extra fees. Consider while we may not like such policies for the lounge they are trying to give access for all who can enjoy it and the hotels do not make money from the lounges. Alternatively many lower end brands in Asia have lounges which do not in the US and many more hotels in Asia have higher benefits and cost less than they would in the US (depending on where in Asia).
Money is not made on the lounge. Many hotels built an adequate size lounge but an increasing number of people have access due to credit cards, status, etc and not just due to having a lounge access room. Besides it does not seem like this policy is enforced in any way so it is more like a suggestion.
I think the choice of words used in the article is also strong. "restrict" "limit"
Actually it sounds more like a suggestion based on the wording of the sign rather than a requirement.
Perhaps writers of the blog should consider the words they use.
Having stayed at both those hotels, there is no comparison. The portions at the county hall are minuscule. The Conrad - unless it has changed very recently - allows you to enjoy their buffet at your leisure. While it may not be “dinner” (which is not what the lounge is meant to be), the Conrad provides a satisfying snack. County Hall not so much.
As a Marriott member of more than 30 years, I can easily see their lounges becoming overcrowded. Ample seating is frequently unavailable in the large cities.
Another policy I believe should be instituted is to restrict young children, in the same way that a bar would do. After three consecutive nights at the lounge in the Renaissance Amsterdam, a couple ignored their toddler's screaming. Other guests were hoping to unwind and relax in the lounge, but their well-being was secondary to allowing this couple to stay in the lounge with their unruly child. When brought to the attention of the front desk, they said they couldn't deny access to children.
I have stayed at the Tokyo Marriott at least every month this year. The signs are there to manage the guests seating arrangements during busy times. I have never been asked to move and I have never seen anyone been asked to move or leave.
Alcohol is served almost all days on weekends and there are some folks who take advantage of this service.
The hostesses are very nice and accommodating. Enjoy the sunset there where the city and bay are a beautiful sight.
The gardens around the hotel are also very nice.
Do you often expect public places to be free of children?
Seems kind of odd to bring to the front deck's attention.