Questions and Answers

Lucky – here is an interesting topic if you dare to take it up. Or it may be too controversial for you. I am a Marriott Titanium Elite status member. Which you know it means that I am in a Marriott property at least every other week. I noticed this year, that there seems to be no reach out from Marriott to rate their properties after the stay. That’s not a problem until you realize that you are actually looking at the ratings on the property when you make the choices. And it comes into light even stronger when you get that one bad property as I did last week while in Ohio. There were so many things wrong with that place, that I decided I would take the time to write a review of the property. When you go to a Marriott site, near the rating of the property, it says, “Real Stays. Real Reviews.” And yet – there is not place to make that review. I called the Titanium line – and asked where I could find a link to make a review. The person on the line was baffled. She didn’t know. She went away four different times, trying to find an answer. IN the end, the best answer she could find was that some people are sent a link after the stay. Randomly. Which tells me that they are not sending many of these out.

Interestingly, if you go to this property, that is rated 4.1 out of 5 on their site, it says that of the 27 ratings, 19 were made by “non members” while 1 was made by a Titanimum or Platinum members. What just sounds crazy – that they seek the input of non-Bonvoy members?

If you go to this same property in Trip Advisor, the ratings on significantly lower, which of course may mean that people who are disgruntled to and mention it there. Or they are more real.

Regardless, Marriott is not allowing bonfied people who actually stay at the hotel to make a review unless they are randomly invited for a survey. Which evidently is not that many.

What is up with that? What is changing in the hotel rating scheme that may be influencing the real ratings of their hotels.

Is this a “consumer confidence” topic that you ever dare to discuss or address in your columns?

Rick / a long time reader of your column