"I know where I’m sleeping tonight. I’m sleeping at a Marriott."
September 24, 2016 2:20 PM   Subscribe

 
I used to stay in hotels a lot for long periods. One of my regrets is not insisting on Marriott's all the time and racking up more sweet points. All those months wasted.

Once I was in a city I didn't know well at the time, worked all day and night, and when it was time for sleep drove around and got lost. Delirious, with the sun coming up, I found another one of their hotels and went in for help. They told me not to worry about it and I could stay there that night. I nearly kissed them.
posted by bongo_x at 2:38 PM on September 24, 2016 [23 favorites]


When I traveled for business I stayed exclusively in Marriott hotels and my employer let me keep the points, too! My favorite was the Marriott Pinnacle in Vancouver. I stayed there so much it felt like a second home. Great buffet breakfast, and I loved their sheets and pillows.
posted by My Dad at 3:13 PM on September 24, 2016


You know how I can tell if a hotel is run correctly or not? You know those waffle makers that you flip over? That's okay. But if you let me make my own waffles you had better have maple syrup next to the butter. Waffles with margarine and no maple syrup? Fook no!
posted by Splunge at 3:21 PM on September 24, 2016 [5 favorites]


It's a brave new world now that Marriott and Starwood are merging. I've always been a Starwood loyalist when I'm in a city where I have a choice, because when it comes time to cash those sweet, sweet points in, I think Starwood has better international luxury properties. All too often though, my clients are in some grim outer-ring office park suburb where the only option is a Courtyard Marriott.

Now the new mega-chain has the breadth in middle and lower tier destinations of Marriott and the high-end redemption potential of Starwood; sounds seems attractive on paper, but in the long term, I can't help but think the eventual combined loyalty program gets watered way the hell down from lack of competition. They just announced they're selling 1 SPG point for 3 Marriott points, which is a pretty good rate, too. Maybe it's time for some redemptions.
posted by strangely stunted trees at 3:50 PM on September 24, 2016 [3 favorites]


Weirdly fascinating. As a total homebody with no knowledge of sports or sports writing, this was like a glimpse into a completely alien world. (though I guess the points-collecting-blown-to-ridiculous-proportions is kind of familiar -- my uncle used to collect the Petro-Canada points he got from filling up his mail truck at work, and apparently his totals would occasionally stun gas station attendants into speechlessness. IIRC he saved them up and cashed them in for round-trip flights from Edmonton to Hong Kong for him and my aunt, the first time they went back since immigrating 30+ years prior)
posted by btfreek at 4:01 PM on September 24, 2016 [13 favorites]


Just upgraded to Marriott Gold courtesy of my Starwood Gold -- just in time for my stay at the JW Marriott in Hong Kong, where they know how to treat frequent travelers ... and of course maybe this will do some good for the Marriott Summit Watch, which does the nifty trick of being smack on Main Street in Park City and being ski-in ski-out courtesy of the Town Lift.

Also, Hilton, maybe this will make you up the ante on Hilton Gold. Two bottles of water and (DoubleTree or better) a regularly-begrudged continental breakfast, forsooth.
posted by MattD at 4:03 PM on September 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


Has Marriott improved their beds? Back when I was staying in hotels frequently, Hampton, of all places, had the most comfy beds anywhere. Only problem was that I rarely got to sleep more than 5-6 hours in them. Stupid work.

Starwood had by far the best points program. Hilton was second best until they devalued the points a couple of times, which sucked. But they had fantastic promos like four stays got you a free night, and with the ridiculous density of Hilton properties made it super-easy to game by hopping between hotels each night.

All that said, I was always more about the AA miles. I gamed the shit out of that program to keep Platinum on maybe $2000 a year worth of spend. 50 segments is "easy" when you never take a trip that has less than 6 flights. Back when the routing rules on cheap tickets were lax enough that I could do 5 to 6 flights each way if I was going to the east or west coast from the middle of the country. More than once I had so many connections the computer couldn't print out a luggage tag and the check-in desk had to go find the tags they could write out by hand. Also had to book the tickets on the phone, as the website had a limit of four segments at the time. I usually got a bit of a gasp from the agent when the price came up at under $200 for 10+ segments. (That's how I justified the cost of the extra hotels to the boss..saving a crap-ton on the flights)

Between the first class desk, all the hot nuts I could eat in First Class, and Admiral's Club membership layovers were not a problem. The AC made it really easy since they'd tell me when it was time to head to the gate to arrive just before the door closed. The only downside was spending an entire long day flying. The side benefit was an extra hotel stay on each end to make the 5 AM departure and 11PM arrival more bearable. The other thing that really helped was having an Internet-connected PDA in the days before smartphones existed. Never was I bored, even when I took their bump money and had to extend my travel time by half a day. Which I did, a lot. Especially when going to the one location we had that was only reachable on Delta. The company paid for one trip, which turned into three free personal trips (four, actually, but one I took someone else with me) because their load management was such shit back in the day. It was great when I was visiting my girlfriend. I wanted to change to a flight a week later but was too cheap to pay the $50 or $75 change fee so I went to the airport, collected $400 and had them put me on a flight a week later instead of the next one out. Delightful, that was. Made that play once more to change from a Friday night departure to Sunday midday. Later, I used $200 of that $400 on a trip a month later, where I got another $400, then did it a third time(!). Maybe stuff like that is why they went bankrupt... They gave me more money than the company ever spent on tickets, and I certainly never flew DL on my own dime.

Aside from the extra miles (thank you 500 mile minimum, now sadly gone for non-elites) and segments, I got to see a lot of airports I'd never have seen otherwise. LAX and MIA (before the renovation) top on the list, but also COS, PHX ABQ, DEN, BNA, MEM, STL, and the AA terminals at Atlanta to name a few. Sadly the rules wouldn't let me go to SFO or SEA on the way to SAN or I would have added those to the list. ;)
posted by wierdo at 4:04 PM on September 24, 2016 [18 favorites]


ctrl-F "erin andrews"

Match not found

Hmmm
posted by banshee at 4:12 PM on September 24, 2016


I know that picture of the Marriotts pere et fils so well, with Serious People vibe and the rolled-up plan clutched in the manly paw. You look at it blearily, psychic defences utterly down from twelve-plus hours in the back of a Virgin, with The Room and The Shower and The Fresh Undercrackers just minutes away, thence the bar and the timezone resync the gonzo way, and those two men are your gods and your redemption and your guarantee of salvation in mind, body and soul.

Too many Marriott tales to type on a tablet.
posted by Devonian at 4:12 PM on September 24, 2016 [11 favorites]


I'm fortunate in that my job doesn't require too dreadfully much travel. I'll be out a week sometime in October or November, but other than that I've been home for a year.

Last time I spent a lot of time traveling it was in all manner of different hotel chains, I'm not a Super Special Snowflake member of any hotel so I dunno if that's actually worth anything or not.

I can't say I found Marriott to stand out particularly. I stayed in a few, they were ok. My only real objection to any hotel is if the wifi either is bad, or if it's one of those awful setups where you have to shell out more for the privilege of using it. IIRC the Marriotts I stayed at didn't demand more money for wifi. Hampton Inn did, and I've avoided them ever since.

The only hotel chain I really feel strongly towards is Drury Inn, and that only because when we were moving to San Antonio it was the only even remotely reasonably priced hotel we could find near where we were moving, and after arriving dead tired, sticky and sweaty, and generally feeling like I didn't want to do anything at all, it turned out that they offered a complimentary buffet dinner so we didn't have to go buy food. For that mediocre, at best, meal, I have always been inordinately grateful.
posted by sotonohito at 4:48 PM on September 24, 2016 [6 favorites]


Once I was in a city I didn't know well at the time, worked all day and night, and when it was time for sleep drove around and got lost.

That Marriott? You've never left it; it is only one door of the Outer Church.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:09 PM on September 24, 2016 [11 favorites]


If you travel for work, choosing a hotel chain or airline for loyalty points is one of the best things you can do. Follow Pointmaven.com to sign up for every offer to increase your points.

I traveled mostly in Montana for years and had Platinum status with two chains. Always a room upgrade*, usually corner suites. In the late 1990's during the business boom I would get a free breakfast, a free supper and two free drink coupons per stay. Sometimes an upgrade to a concierge floor with free beer and wine and a better breakfast and supper snacks. (Mind you, I was staying at the state employee rate which was far below the rack rate. But I was staying 30 nights per year or more in each chain and bringing in groups and meetings and conferences.)

Some of our junior staff now will say, "I don't care where I stay." and get their asses chewed by us senior staff. We even threatened to use that attitude as a downgrade in their performance review because they weren't being smart enough to do something that would benefit them for work (better room = better sleep and stay, particularly in big cities out-of-state) and personal reasons (you can cash your points in for a personal stay somewhere, which makes you a better, happier employee who already has to travel several months a year for work. Hotel points can be a benefit of that work travel. )

Pro-tip: If you have to lead evening work team meetings and the hotel charges for meeting rooms, look at the meeting room cost versus what it would cost for you to upgrade to a suite with a meeting space. If the suite cost is less, you save your employer money and get a bigger, better room for 20 hours a day.

* I once got the Presidential Suite (Yay!) at the Holiday Inn in Great Falls, Montana (Meh.) It was so named because Lyndon Johnson stayed there once. Huge room with another huge room with a 14 person table. I have a picture of my dog drinking out of the bidet. It's probably the only hotel room in Montana with a bidet.

Favorites:

1. Getting a $750 night suite on the beach in Miami Beach for the same points per night it would have cost me to stay at the Holiday Inn Express in Miles City, Montana.

2. Going to concerts in Spokane several times per year and never having to pay for a room. The best was when we took a girlfriend's tween-age daughter and a friend and they discovered after we checked in that not only did they have their own room, they had a two-bedroom suite. We had been cruel and told them that they were staying in our room on a roll-away and the floor. The look on their faces when I took them into a hotel suite with two rooms and beds, said, "OK, this is your room, we're down the hall." threw the keys on the bed and walked out still makes me smile.
posted by ITravelMontana at 5:41 PM on September 24, 2016 [17 favorites]


Pro-tip: If you have to lead evening work team meetings and the hotel charges for meeting rooms, look at the meeting room cost versus what it would cost for you to upgrade to a suite with a meeting space.

Many professional associations would sanction you for this. Inviting someone to your suite for a meeting looks super sketchy and could be interpreted as sexual harassment regardless of your intent. ("oh yeah, the whole team will be here, you're just early, take your shoes off and relax...")
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 5:49 PM on September 24, 2016 [4 favorites]


Interesting! My current job requires somewhat regular travel, and I used to have a couple of co-workers who were massive Marriott fanboys - seemed like all they could talk about was how to maximize points, Platinum benefits, etc. That being said, I've definitely become a convert, and tend to prefer Marriotts now. The perks have been nice - have gotten at least a dozen free nights the last 2-3 years, and the free breakfasts for Gold/Plats is a major bonus.

Has Marriott improved their beds? Back when I was staying in hotels frequently, Hampton, of all places, had the most comfy beds anywhere. Only problem was that I rarely got to sleep more than 5-6 hours in them. Stupid work.

I found most Marriott beds have been pretty decent - nothing amazing, but nonetheless quite comfortable. That being said, most Marriotts I've stayed at were higher-end properties overseas (mostly in Europe). I've found that properties in the US seem to vary a lot more - one of the worst hotel beds I've ever had anywhere was at a Courtyard in suburban Atlanta.

Ironically I went from 30%+ work travel to zero early this year due to budget cuts and now feel like I really miss it! Considering a new job at the moment in part b/c it stated "frequent travel" on the job listing (yes I'm a little nuts lol).
posted by photo guy at 5:51 PM on September 24, 2016 [2 favorites]


I never thought of that and you are correct. Thank you for saying that.

That was in response to the comment from somebodyyouusedtoknow.
posted by ITravelMontana at 5:51 PM on September 24, 2016 [4 favorites]


This reminds me that I've always enjoyed the eighth-floor lounge of the Marriott Marquis, which is an indoor space in Times Square that is warm, friendly, has clean public bathrooms and is open to the public with no charge. Not that I've never had a drink there, but it's just been a nice "home base" on trips up to Broadway.
posted by graymouser at 6:02 PM on September 24, 2016 [6 favorites]


Best hotel bed I ever slept on was at the Barbary Coast in Vegas on my honeymoon. It's been renamed. Haven't been back.
posted by jonmc at 6:10 PM on September 24, 2016


I like Anthony Bourdain's hotel method. Unplug the phone. Throw it on the bed. Take the TV remote and put it on the bed. Wrap everything in the blanket. Throw it into a corner. Then wash your hands thoroughly. You have now removed most of the chance of getting the "creeping crud" illness that you can get from a hotel stay. Not all of it. Most of it.

As far as the best bed I ever slept on at a hotel? At the Condor Hotel in Brooklyn. I was there for my stepson's wedding. It is a hotel that is set up for Orthodox Jews. So the lights can be set up to turn on and off without any actual switch activation on the Sabbath. Free WIFI though. And the beds were like fluffy clouds. The pillows as well. I really didn't want to leave.

And when I came back from the bachelor party, there was a pretty decent brand of coffee next to the coffee maker. For the hangover before the wedding.

Highly recommended. Would hangover there again.
posted by Splunge at 6:21 PM on September 24, 2016 [5 favorites]


Many professional associations would sanction you for this. Inviting someone to your suite for a meeting looks super sketchy and could be interpreted as sexual harassment regardless of your intent. ("oh yeah, the whole team will be here, you're just early, take your shoes off and relax...")

Of the many things wrong with job interviews at the Modern Language Association, the fact that they pretty much have to be held in hotel rooms is high on the list. (The alternative, which is a bullpen set-up with a lot of other hiring committees, is even worse.) Departments with enough money can spring for a suite; otherwise, you have the dreaded interview with the candidate and/or part of the committee sitting on the bed.

Academic conferencing can be good for frequent flyer miles, but it's useless for racking up hotel points...
posted by thomas j wise at 6:36 PM on September 24, 2016 [4 favorites]


"I like Anthony Bourdain's hotel method. Unplug the phone."

This. I always unplug the hotel phone when I get to my room. I have never gotten a call on a hotel phone in the last 20 years other than the manager calling an hour after I checked in to say, "You have Platinum status. Is everything OK?"

21 years ago, before cell phones and before I carried a travel alarm clock my phone rang in the middle of very drunken sleep. I took it off the hook and put it back without listening, assuming it was my wake-up call in a room without windows. I got up with my bad hangover, turned on MTV when it still played videos and showered, etc. Packed my bag. Went down to the lobby to check out. It was 4 a.m. Somebody had dialed my room by mistake.

My other pre-internet story is when I was traveling a lot in the late 1980's. I was home for night. living single, with an early leave the next morning. Before I went to bed I picked up my wall phone, dialed zero and when she answered I asked for a 6:00 a.m. wake up call.

There was a long pause before the phone operater said, "Uh, we don't do that."
posted by ITravelMontana at 6:43 PM on September 24, 2016 [17 favorites]


I once dated someone whose job entailed regular (as in, almost every other week) out-of-town travel, and who got to bank those Marriott points. We both had cash-flow problems (to use the ever-popular euphemism), but we could use the points to stay in a really nice hotel for a weekend getaway to a very cyclable college town.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:44 PM on September 24, 2016


I don't travel enough to have any points bonanza stories of my own, but I wonder if the actual athletes, especially sports that are played almost daily, like baseball or basketball, have similar stories?
posted by TedW at 7:09 PM on September 24, 2016


I am just this last month entering the world of the regular business traveler. Lightweight version -- a short hop, no time zone difference, only 2 days most weeks. But I am already becoming a total point hoarder, because if I need to do this thing, I'd like to get the most out of it.

And yeah, it's a Marriott.
posted by feckless at 7:37 PM on September 24, 2016


TL:DR - A shit-ton of locations, above average service and reasonable prices magnified by loyalty programs. This becomes a "secret" in weird, insular sports-journo-land, where the company credit card is somehow now tied to your credit rating as the newspaper industry dies. Maybe you'll get reimbursed. Maybe. Those points, tho...
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:46 PM on September 24, 2016 [2 favorites]


Long, complicated story but these days I'm spending about two or three nights every week in a hotel... on my own dime, not my employer's. I do generally like Marriott hotels, every room with a welcoming copy of the Book of Mormon, but the fact is that booking through Priceline's Name Your Price function typically saves me about 50 to 60% off the list price for a room and even the best loyalty program can't beat that.

It is very weird with the hotel desk staff starts recognizing you. That's when you know you're staying in hotels too much.
posted by LastOfHisKind at 9:08 PM on September 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


For a while I used to travel heavily - not like these guys but enough. The sameness of Marriotts made me sad. Then I realized that I could book a cheaper place and be OK for reimbursement. I saw some lovely bed and breakfasts and boutique hotels that way and was much happier.

Different strokes.
posted by zippy at 11:08 PM on September 24, 2016 [4 favorites]


I despise Marriott. When my wife and I got married, my aunt transferred us a bunch of Marriott points to stay at a Marriott by the beach. We were told the points couldn't be used there and that we could only stay at a Fairfield Inn, which the agent offered to book for us. After returning, we found that Marriott had charged us for the original hotel because we hadn't cancelled the reservation, despite Marriott telling us that our points wouldn't be accepted and booking the other room for us. It cost a sum that was unimaginably large for us. Screw them. I avoid Marriott like a plague.
posted by vorpal bunny at 12:14 AM on September 25, 2016


I travel for work quite a bit and decided to try collecting hotel points. I got myself booked in to an airport Hilton and asked at the front desk for my points to be added to my account. Was told no, since your room is paid for by your employer we don't give points out as you didn't choose to stay here. Actually yes I did, but I won't make that mistake again. I'll try Marriots next.
posted by hazyjane at 12:33 AM on September 25, 2016


MetaFilter: All the hot nuts I could eat in First Class
posted by Kattullus at 2:42 AM on September 25, 2016 [3 favorites]


It is very weird with the hotel desk staff starts recognizing you. That's when you know you're staying in hotels too much.

This. Looking at you Aloft Brussels Schuman.
posted by dmt at 4:08 AM on September 25, 2016


hazyjane, same thing with my Hilton experience - if the hotel wasn't booked by me and in my name, we didn't get points, even if I was physically checking in and showing them my ID. Became a problem when my husband would get reimbursed by work if the room was in his name, but every time I stayed with him they refused to give me any points.

Love Marriott. I was IHG for a long time (hooray for Holiday Inn) and I do love the chance to blow my points at an Intercontinental, but I switched to Marriott and we've gotten a lot out of the program. Free less-shitty internet, free breakfast, room upgrades, excellent. My favorite one is the Residence Inn in Boston's Seaport District - it's very industrial-loft-chic. And also next to my favorite cocktail bar.

For me there is something nice about a predictable and consistent hotel experience when I travel for work. I don't want to be surprised that there's no hairdryer, or no parking, or no way to get food delivered to my room when I get back at 10 PM after a 16 hour day, or whatever. I'm willing to take risks on personal travel - it's part of the adventure! - but not work travel where all I want to do is get through the trip with the least inconvenience possible.
posted by olinerd at 7:31 AM on September 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


I travel a fair amount for work (by no means a power traveler) but I am typically staying at remote National Park Service sites. Doesn't offer much scope for racking up points at any one chain, since I'd be lucky to FIND a chain anywhere near where I need to be. On the other hand, I've stayed in cabins and rental houses at some pretty fabulous sites...basically getting paid by my employer to stay at places other people go for rustic vacations.
posted by Preserver at 7:36 AM on September 25, 2016 [3 favorites]


Not to derail, but have any of you stayed in one of the (Marriott) Moxy hotels? I suspect they might be a bit too hipster for the Metafilter crowd but to me they look pretty cool. But, like flying Virgin, my desire to try it has been stalled by my travel schedule and their locations not intersecting.
posted by LastOfHisKind at 7:43 AM on September 25, 2016


Sportswriters love Marriotts because they effectively get the points for free (and at a premium rate to boot), and Marriott points are great when you're not spending money to get them because you get reimbursed for your travel/hotel expenses.

Most loyalty programs work on the expectation that A) half of the people who get the points will never use them and B) the people who do use them will generally get a return rate on their spend of 1% or less. 2% return used to be more common but now you have to work for it; people who use their points carefully can, with a little work, usually get to around the 2% mark; with a lot of points and a program where a higher usage rate means you accumulate the points more easily, careful use can get you to 3-4%. My personal best was cashing out 200,000 of my RBC Avion points for me and my partner's flights for our upcoming vacation to Hong Kong, Sydney and Auckland - I managed to get approximately $4500 worth of airfare for those 200,000 points, or a return rate of about 2.2%, and because of the way RBC Avion works to book their free flights I'll then get Cathay Pacific miles on the flights as well, which might get me another .02% return with luck. If I accumulated more points and had bought, say, business class seats instead of economy, we probably would have been around the 3.5% mark of return on redemption, but I don't spend enough money to do that, so oh well.

Marriott points seem great because you get ten per dollar spent, but the redemption rate varies. Some items in their mall are good - gift cards, for example, reliably give you a 4% rate of return. Buying yourself a 65 inch UHD Samsung TV for 1,207,500 points, on the other hand, is a rate of return of about 1.5%. One night at the Toronto Bloor Yorkville Marriott costs $219, but in points it's 30,000, or $3,000 spend, which is a return rate of 7% - and this is where Marriott fans save money, and that's before you consider various point-use programs which make point use more efficient.

But: it used to be that the best use for Marriott points was transferring them into air miles. This is... not so much the case any more. Now, the best transfer rate you can get is 140,000 Marriott points for 50,000 points with most of the major carriers. (You can do better with United, but then... well, you're flying United. They're terrible.) That's 2.8 Marriott points for every air mile. The transfer rate used to be closer to 2:1, and at that point you were getting frequent-flyer reimbursement on your points at 3.5% without trying hard, which is why people loved them. Now it's harder, both because of the Marriott lower transfer rate and because most of the major airlines have sharply devalued their own miles.

The simple truth about loyalty programs is that people have learned to game them enough that companies have decided to make them as un-useful as possible, and we're rapidly hitting the point where a simple cashback credit card that gives you 2% cashback and maybe a slightly higher rate on certain regular purchases (grocery, gas, etc.) is almost always going to be better value. But cashback cards aren't as fun to game, so pointshounds will continue to work the system.
posted by mightygodking at 10:01 AM on September 25, 2016 [4 favorites]


But cashback cards aren't as fun to game, so pointshounds will continue to work the system.

And also requires paying for your own travel and getting reimbursed. I never got stiffed, but it was a hassle and I quickly just made it a policy to not do it if possible. That's why I sometimes gave up my choice of hotels though.

I don't travel nearly as much as I used to due to the economy and the internet. I enjoyed staying in interesting boutique hotels and different places, but now I wish I just had the points instead. There's one small place I probably have spent a year in total. I really liked it, but when I wanted to stay a few extra days on my own I realized the downside.
posted by bongo_x at 10:14 AM on September 25, 2016


The late, noted singer in the Small Faces and Humble Pie was named Steve Marriott. I wonder if he enjoyed staying in them?
posted by jonmc at 10:15 AM on September 25, 2016


Listen, if you haven't reached the "cocaine rumpus" benefits level with your points yet you're an amateur.
posted by benzenedream at 10:29 AM on September 25, 2016 [3 favorites]


Addendum: that Starwood/Marriott 3/1 rate is pretty slick, because Starwood points are great for air miles - they transfer to just about every line at a 1.25% rate (e.g. 20,000 Starwood points become, say, 25,000 American Airlines miles). That means if you spend $3,000 at Marriotts, and get the 30,000 points, and then transfer them into Starwood points (10,000) and then transfer the Starwood points to AA miles you get 12,500 miles for your $3,000 spend. Hitting 3.5% on that isn't hard at all.

On top of that, it officially makes the Marriott VISA super-better than the Starwood Amex for Marriott purchases, since with the Marriott VISA you get an extra 5 points per dollar spent (so that's 15 on Marriott things), so you're effectively getting 5 Starwood points for every dollar spent, which means 7.5 miles of your choice, which is crazy.
posted by mightygodking at 10:41 AM on September 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm not a crazy huge business traveller, but for a few years, I was making regular jaunts to San Francisco and almost always stayed at the Courtyard Marriott next to the office. Sometimes they wouldn't have rooms available, and I had to stay elsewhere and even in theoretically nicer hotels, I still preferred the Marriott. It had a Starbucks in the lobby, staff that was friendly but largely left me alone unless I asked for something, and a pool with no one ever in it. Plus, I would egg-roll the pillows from the second bed in the double room into a facsimile of a body pillow using the extra blankets and the Marriott was the only hotel that wouldn't put them all away every night. They would just bring more pillows, remake the second bed and leave my pillow-rito alone. (For this, I will also give credit to the W, who replaced my pillow-rito with an actual body pillow after the first night. If only their desk staff weren't assholes, I would like them well enough, too.)
posted by jacquilynne at 11:23 AM on September 25, 2016 [1 favorite]


It strikes me that fanatical brand loyalty is kind of baked in to the mind of a sportswriter. They probably partly got into sportswriting because of it... so it's interesting to see it carry over into their regular lives.
posted by Jahaza at 11:33 AM on September 25, 2016 [7 favorites]


Ctrl-F "Marriott Blue"
posted by klangklangston at 1:04 AM on September 26, 2016 [1 favorite]


I just got off the travel hamster wheel about a year ago, and while I don't regret it (I actually get to see my kids grow up... go figure), it's funny the loyalty people have to airlines and hotels. But especially hotels.

With airlines, it's who treats you the least shitty. With hotels, it's who treats you the best. For me, two hotel chains win. For pleasure, it's the Omni in I don't care what city. The only hotel group I've ever stayed in that combines luxury for the adults and kid-friendliness, because when you travel with children, if the kids ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

For business, it was Hilton. Say what you want about Paris and her family, Conrad knew how to build and run a hotel, and his successors have not fucked it up. Hiltons are neither the best nor the worst, but what they are is consistently good. I've been to Marriotts that are beautiful and Marriotts that suck. What I don't like are surprises when I'm travelling for work. Work offers enough surprises. I want predictability when it comes to hotels. The only surprise I want is the surprise upgrade. Hilton Honors (their points/rewards program) is chock full of those, and they are fairly liberal about giving them out. I've gotten the surprise upgrade to a full suite at the Hilton Bentley in Miami, and the surprise upgrade to the concierge floor in San Francisco, all starting with a "Good evening, and thank you for being a Hilton Honors Member!"
posted by prepmonkey at 7:48 AM on September 26, 2016


Just got around to reading this. Marriott points have some weird hold on people. My brother won't stay anywhere else. My mother-in-law is another big point collector, to the point where she transferred us a free night in Switzerland on our honeymoon. And everyone in the rewards program is a huge evangelist for it. I've never seen anything else generate so much brand loyalty. I totally believe everything in this article, because if my brother, who rarely travels, thinks the rewards points are so great, I can only imagine how people who travel for a living see them.

Personally, my work travel takes me to places that are usually too small for Marriotts, so I can't be loyal to a single brand. I usually book through Hotels.com, so I get something at least. It works for me - I can sometimes find smaller, mom-and-pop places, which I prefer.
posted by kevinbelt at 8:57 AM on September 27, 2016


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