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.
In this post:
Aloft Miami offers 3K points for top scores in survey
LoyaltyLobby flags how the Aloft Miami Brickell seems to be sending a post-stay email to Marriott Bonvoy members, with an interesting offer. “As a token of appreciation,” the hotel is offering 3,000 Bonvoy bonus points to anyone who completes the post-stay survey “with a top score.” In other words, if you give the hotel perfect scores in the survey, you get points. If you had any issues with your stay, that’s your problem… no points for you!
Here’s the body of the email that guests are receiving:
Thank you for being a valued Marriott Bonvoy member.
It was truly a pleasure having you with us at Aloft Miami Brickell. We hope your experience was enjoyable and that the vibrant energy of our hotel matched your rhythm during your stay.At Aloft Miami Brickell, we strive to deliver memorable experiences for each of our guests. Your feedback is an important part of that journey. If you happen to receive a survey from Marriott Bonvoy regarding your recent visit, we kindly invite you to share your thoughts with us. A perfect 9 or 10 not only inspires our team but also helps us continue raising the bar in service and hospitality.
As a token of our appreciation, we will be happy to award you with 3,000 Marriott Bonvoy® points for completing the survey with a top score.
Here’s how it works:
- Keep an eye on your inbox, the survey is usually sent a few days after check out.
- If you enjoyed your stay, we kindly ask you to select the top score.
- Once completed, we’ll take care of the rest and your points will be credited to your account.
Thank you once again for choosing Aloft Miami Brickell.
We look forward to welcoming you back soon and making your next stay even more memorable.
My take on this Marriott property’s sneaky practice
To state the obvious, what this Aloft property is doing is not only unethical, but violates Marriott’s policies. There’s nothing wrong with having some sort of a raffle for those who complete the post-stay survey, but dictating the types of reviews that are eligible for a reward is just plain wrong.
Marriott’s internal guidelines apparently say the following regarding this (not that Marriott cares all that much about enforcing its policies):
Properties must not offer compensation, incentives, or rewards (including Bonvoy points, discounts, or amenities) in exchange for a specific survey score or review rating. Guest Voice feedback must represent authentic guest experience without manipulation or conditional benefit.
For what it’s worth, this particular Aloft property currently has a score of 3.7 out of 5.0 on Marriott’s website, which is okay, but not great. Reviews lately have been overwhelmingly positive, so one wonders what the score would be without this incentive.
Here’s the thing — 3,000 points is actually a pretty decent reward for leaving a survey. Clearly the hotel cares a lot about improving its score, or at least is willing to throw money at it in this way. If I stayed at the hotel and had a good experience, I’d certainly be more likely to leave a review than otherwise, if 3,000 points were on the line.
But at the same time, it’s of course completely wrong to do this, and it undermines the entire point of having members provide their honest feedback about stays. If these ratings simply become a function of which hotel is willing to pay the most for positive feedback, then, well… that’s not so great.
Bottom line
The Aloft Miami Brickell is offering Marriott Bonvoy members 3,000 bonus points for completing the post-stay survey, and leaving “top scores.” The hotel doesn’t want your honest feedback, it just wants you to say nice things, and it’s willing to pay. While this violates Marriott’s rules, I can’t say I’m surprised that a hotel is trying to play this game.
What do you make of the Aloft Miami’s survey scheme?
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...
Sorry to say but AC Miami is not the only Marriott property that does this. I have experienced similar practices elsewhere.
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...)
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.
This is a violation of the program internally. Thanks for exposing.
At 10,000 points I might take the bribe but not at 3k with the Marriott corp crooks overcharging for all reward nights
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.
Why would you stay at a Marriott property in the Brickell neighborhood in the first place?
Unethical? Violates Marriott policy? I'm shocked, shocked.
"Your 3,000 points, Sir."
"Oh, thank you very much."
Very common in a few family resorts in Brazil. Positive online review - while still at the hotel - unlocks late check-out.
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
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
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...
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.
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
This is why Starbucks doesn't franchise. Yes, they license certain locations at airports or in grocery stores but their standards are extremely high.
It's always a Marriott.
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...
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.
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.
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...
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.
Oh me too. Have you ever stayed at the Aegon Mykonos? Really good energy there - most of the time. :P
It's not an accident this happened in Miami
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/
Remember when Marriott was a company you could trust?
I honestly don't :(
@hblibao:
ROFL.
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.
Meh. Brickell is very nice.
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?
lol…I don’t care what anyone else says. Some of these articles I go straight to the comment section for entertainment.
It depends which firm.
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.
Great idea!