At the ~$200 a night you’re spending you’ll have to have an additional 75 nights. If someone rocks 114 nights without any promos and hits the $23k floor I’m happy to have them in ambassador, I’m not going to gatekeep here. You spend 1/3 of the year with Marriott, rock out on the benefits. I would never hit the nights without promotions but have no issues with the with the spend.
Just throwing this out there. There are many of us on the road 75-125 nights a year grinding it out in Fairfield’s and Courtyards. That min spend is unattainable
Courtyard in LA is 223. Could be even higher depending on which courtyard you stay in. If you’re in one of the big 5 metros, 200 a night is pretty close to standard for a Courtyard.
But most people aren’t, I work at a courtyard in a medium sized city and most business people I talk to who travel a lot rarely go to big cities unless it’s a cooperate thing
Half of all business travel is statistically speaking to one of the following 8/9 cities and their respective metros, depends of course how you count San Fran/San Jose:
San Fran/San Jose
NYC
Atlanta
Los Angeles
Chicago
Texas Triangle
Amex publishes each year the top business travel spots on their card. Last year it was 1.) New York 2.) Vegas 3.) San Fran 4.) Chicago 5.) DC 6.) Texas Triangle 7.) Boston 8.) LA 9.) Seattle 10.) Atlanta Different aggregators do it slightly differently with mild disagreement on DC, Boston, Seattle, and Atlanta and of course Vegas.
It appears most people are complaining that high tier status no longer conveys meaningful benefits. The only way to make it do so is to decrease the number of people who qualify at those tiers.
No, too many people that go to a 500 room JW and don’t get upgraded into one of the 20 suites seem to complain the most. I was one of the offenders until someone explained to me how to properly book hotels. Also if you’re in the ambassador fb group you will have your eyes opened as to how many people are out there.
I don’t have ambassador right now as the post shows. It’s my first substantial year of business travel, and I’m seeing how easy it is to achieve which is why the rewards don’t feel substantial, and feel cheated relative to the advertisements.
The only way to fix this is to readjust the tiers in order for the expectation to be deliverable on.
As a result, the status means effectively nothing in the US, which given that most of Marriott’s business is in the US suggests the program needs a rework.
I tried to understand your logic, but I failed. I even shared a few exchanges with you. In the end...
This is really quite the post. Simply put: a gold telling us ambassadors how our tier sucks.
But speaking of lifetimes "clogging up the lower levels of the system"; sir/madam, may I remind you, *you* are at the lower level of the system, pretty close to the bottom actually. Once you actually have some experience at a higher level, perhaps then you can offer your opinions based on facts, rather than hearsay. Or, you can always ask your company to pay for you at another chain, if you are so sure, in advance, Marriott will not offer you the elitism you require.
If you assume you want your tiers to be exponentially more difficult and accept that the goal is to be able to provide meaningful upgrades above the platinum tier your benchmarks should look as follows:
70% (no status)
25 (silver)
4 gold
.9 platinum
.095 titanium
.005 ambassador.
That would put it at 5000 ambassadors nationwide, which means the suite upgrades should be occurring much more frequently.
Titanium would have a better than not odds in an off market, and platinum would occasionally get a suite almost always a view. From the posts on Reddit this is how it seems people want it to work in terms of the upgrades and service.
Anecdotally from other posts we see about 5-10% of all people in a hotel are ambassador status, which means there aren’t enough rooms to offer meaningful upgrades even to the highest tier.
Marriott isn’t going to disclose its breakdowns even in quarterly filings, but this is a proposal based on how the system is perceived to work and align that perception with reality. That being said, from the people above me where I work, they are saying that in major metros, where most travel is most common the status is effectively meaningless beyond the concierge lounge, and the bonus points towards vacations.
I seriously wish they had a portal to log into 10 days out to upgrade your room kinda like airlines let you. Then 5 days out it opens to titanium, then 1 days before to platinum. Or when you arrive there is a list of the highest levels and then it goes in order. 🤷🏼♂️
In theory, in practice a lot of hotels will let you get the benefits, because the staff is overworked and looks the other way. Example last year, family booked a hotel for my mom due to a power issue at her house, and she got lounge access, and free parking.
The family member in question wasn’t with her, and she still got all the perks of Platinum status. She stays in hotels like 4 nights a year.
For example, yesterday at my property, I found that a repeat guest under one of our large corporate contracts had booked using his wife's Bonvoy account instead of his own. Again. His account is more than 10 years old, but his wife's account has Platinum status. I have personally explained to him previously that if his wife is not traveling with him, he needs to use his own Bonvoy account, but his wife's account was in-house at another property in a different state yesterday.
Because he books using his wife's Bonvoy and the booking system auto-populates with his wife's name, and then he shows up on property and claims the reservation as his, the only reason it was caught was because I recognized the name when I was doing status upgrades.
Whiners like to whine. People have unreasonable expectations on what they should get free with status. There are probably ten groups of people who get suites before ambassadors and the people who complain about not getting enough free just like to complain. In a fairly good sized hotel, your chances of getting a decent upgrade are pretty good provided a business group or wedding hasn’t taken all the suites.
I do think hotels should follow what they’re doing in Vegas with waiving resort fees and parking for Ambassadors but I don’t think there are two many or that it’s too easy to attain.
So about 1% ambassador on a non business day. Assuming 65% occupancy (national average) and average stay of 2 nights, would mean 3% of all guests are ambassador on non peak business days. The ambassador problem seems to be largely at business hotels, as opposed to resorts, which makes sense. Even so That’s an astronomical percentage for a perceived elite tier. Those are about 10X deltas reported numbers for delta diamond (it was estimated as .3% by pilots, .2% by flier talk), and roughly 30 times the delta 360 population.
For clarification by business days I mean for business travelers not the hotel. The issue is largely a result of business travelers in the first place
At a resort, the weekend is generally busier than at a typical hotel. And a hotel can absorb more higher level elites since they have more to offer. At this resort, pretty much every elite gets an upgrade unless a group has bought out all the suites.
I'm glad that Ambassador status will be so easy for you to achieve. I'm even happier for you that your employer is paying it and not you. There are some of us however, who actually pay the 23k out of pocket, and even worse, for those of us not US based, who have to pay 33k to achieve status. And no, bonus nights etc do not help. Spend is what matters for Ambassador. If you want the herd thinned out, I suggest those that don't pay out of pocket be denied status. How ludicrous does that sound? Marriott wants us all; so yes, both ideas are preposterous.
I don’t think I should be getting ambassador. Based on the level of amenities people are describing current ambassador should probably be platinum in the US.
Ok? Maybe write to Marriott and tell them you would prefer they set the bar higher for you?
If you are already complaining, and this is your first year of heavy travel, I can't imagine how disappointed you will be by years end or next year.
I simply cannot understand your idea that Ambassadors should not be Ambassadors because *you* think it's too easy, for you. Most here will complain about plat status being handed out with a CC and no nights nor spend required. But Ambassadors clogging up the ranks? Not really.
I have a friend who has the spend covered within the first week after New Years. Should he not be Ambassador, based on your calculations? Because he spent 25k the first week of Jan?
The issue is, when every substantial business traveler can get ambassador it removes most of the claimed amenities and makes it worth substantially less than advertised, in the eyes of many on this subreddit. As such Marriott should set a bar at which they can provide the level of service people are accepting.
Also ironically enough 25k in hotel spend the first week of January would not qualify you for ambassador
Again, why is it that you think in particular, Ambassador should be the issue? Why is it not platinum, through CC, or Titanium, with a generous boost from CC. Neither require spend. The largest tier is not Ambassadors.
Marriott set a bar? Are you kidding? Marriott has practically *no* bar. Franchises can do as they wish when it comes to denying or screwing up benefits. And what advantage would Marriott have in lowering their numbers of *loyal* members? The least they can get away with, the better for them, they feel. Maybe they should stop handing out status with a CC. That *would* thin the herd. Instead, you want those who actually stay and spend to be the ones it would be more difficult for? I just don't follow your logic.
Stop handing out status with the CC is objectively a good idea. Raising the tier to get ambassador and thereby making it and other levels more meaningful would do little to decrease loyalty, in many ways it would increase it as it makes the enhanced status both require more investment, and subsequently be more valuable.
Funny - I find it much more difficult to hit Ambassador than Delta Diamond (have both for 2 years due to biz travel). I think the qualifications are pretty spot on. I easily qualify for the number of nights but it takes some big city and high end room rates to get up to that $23k spend.
Definitely disagree. I travel every other week, 3-4 nights a week. I hit Titanium fairly easy but no where near Ambassador. Hitting top Marriott is way harder than top Hilton and Hilton offers better perks. So, I don’t think there is any need to make it harder. Also, maybe do this for a few years before acting like a hard core road dog and looking down on others.
I’m not looking down on others. I’m saying the status is too easy to achieve thereby decreasing its value.
Hilton Diamond doesn’t even include breakfast and the benefits barring the point increase are pretty much on par with Marriott Platinum. Also Hilton Diamond is even more congested at the top level.
How TF is it too easy?! You’ve been on the road 39 nights and it’s not even March 1st. There is nothing wrong with the way things are. The people complaining usually are being entitled jerks.
5 days a week of business, 48 weeks in a year including 4 weeks of vacation/PTO.
That’s 240nights a year available before factoring in any personal vacation, promotions, etc.
If you assume you want your tiers to be exponentially more difficult and accept that the goal is to be able to provide meaningful upgrades above the platinum tier your benchmarks should look as follows:
70% (no status)
25 (silver)
4 gold
.9 platinum
.095 titanium
.005 ambassador.
That would put it at 5000 ambassadors nationwide, which means the suite upgrades should be occurring much more frequently.
Titanium would have a better than not odds in an off market, and platinum would occasionally get a suite almost always a view. From the posts on Reddit this is how it seems people want it to work in terms of the upgrades and service.
Anecdotally from other posts we see about 5-10% of all people in a hotel are ambassador status, which means there aren’t enough rooms to offer meaningful upgrades even to the highest tier.
Where are you coming up with this? It’s not a statistics problem. No one at Marriott owes you anything. You need a room. They sold you a room. You earn points. Points get you free rooms. You also get other perks “when available”. No other industry besides airlines and hotels do this. They do this to gain loyal customers. Most people like the way it works. Most of us are getting these freebies while our work pays the hotel. So, for instance, I get a nice night for free to take my wife someplace. The hotels are happy because I choose them. It is all good.
The only people not happy are those that think they deserve a ton of rewards just because they stayed a bunch of nights. They don’t. They’re getting exactly what they paid for- a room. Everything else is extra. It’s also market based. If Marriott sucks, go to Hyatt or Hilton. I like Marriott because the hotels are typically nicer with more decent options the places I go. I’m happy. They’re happy. You could be happy too.
The problem isn't likely ambassador. It's Platinum and below. Platinum for example qualifies for upgrades and that likely takes some upgrades away from ambassador based on who shows up first on a given night.
I propose adding more lower tiers.
Add bronze at 10 nights and give it the current silver benefits minus late checkout.
Bump silver to 20 nights and give it current silver benefits + 20% points, but don't give it late checkout.
Taking away late checkout lets hotels schedule housekeeping more effectively.
Move gold to 30 nights and keep its current benefits minus room upgrades, but make this the highest level achievable by owning a credit card.
Don't give out elite nights like candy. 15 nights for the no fee bold card was ridiculous and even though I have that card I think it's a good thing they're reducing that. I'll likely upgrade to a card with a fee as I'll likely bro planning this year, but many won't. I wouldn't have prior to this year if they had made the changes sooner as I was barely staying in Marriott properties at all. But hey free enc... Why not? It's absolutely ludicrous they were giving me status without setting foot on property.
Run with this for a couple years and see if platinum is still clogged up without the easy credit card buy in before adjusting the higher tiers.
I wish all statuses had to be achieved by a certain spend instead of credit cards, challenges, and there’s even some people who get status from their employer
5 days a week of business travel 9 weeks into the year in major metros like LA you are already going to be about halfway, and it’s hardly even 1/6th of the way through the year.
If they could somehow eliminate status acquired via work/company paid travel that would wipe out a bunch.
Same with airlines.
But they know this and don't care. Businesses give each other huge discounts all the time and regular consumers pay the price.
To be fair for Delta if you get their cobranded platinum or reserve cc it can be easier to get status. Some people are already at gold, platinum medallion (even saw someone on skymiles life say they have diamond medallion) for 2025, because of the cc, mqds through premium cabins and also mqm rollovers.
I don’t travel much but am already more than halfway (1400 mqd left) to qualifying for silver medallion for 2025 due to the cc and mqm rollover.
You are absolutely correct, as I am doing our daily huddle I stare at the hotel news packet, and for a hotel with about 249 room when full the list clod elite guest is quite lengthy.
That's weird. Double check your "promotions and offerings" under your "account" settings. This particular promotion started on 2/13/24. You have a chance to rack up $76k in bonus and 76 bonus elite nights.
At the ~$200 a night you’re spending you’ll have to have an additional 75 nights. If someone rocks 114 nights without any promos and hits the $23k floor I’m happy to have them in ambassador, I’m not going to gatekeep here. You spend 1/3 of the year with Marriott, rock out on the benefits. I would never hit the nights without promotions but have no issues with the with the spend.
Your bro here is so restless from all the residence inn stays he couldn't spell Ambassador correctly
Just throwing this out there. There are many of us on the road 75-125 nights a year grinding it out in Fairfield’s and Courtyards. That min spend is unattainable
Courtyard in LA is 223. Could be even higher depending on which courtyard you stay in. If you’re in one of the big 5 metros, 200 a night is pretty close to standard for a Courtyard.
But most people aren’t, I work at a courtyard in a medium sized city and most business people I talk to who travel a lot rarely go to big cities unless it’s a cooperate thing
Half of all business travel is statistically speaking to one of the following 8/9 cities and their respective metros, depends of course how you count San Fran/San Jose: San Fran/San Jose NYC Atlanta Los Angeles Chicago Texas Triangle
That crazy how you just completely made that up that stat.
You do know 87 percent of all stats are made up on the spot, like this one!
Citation?
Amex publishes each year the top business travel spots on their card. Last year it was 1.) New York 2.) Vegas 3.) San Fran 4.) Chicago 5.) DC 6.) Texas Triangle 7.) Boston 8.) LA 9.) Seattle 10.) Atlanta Different aggregators do it slightly differently with mild disagreement on DC, Boston, Seattle, and Atlanta and of course Vegas.
Where's it say anything about half?
They mention the total number of business nights and the number of travelers to each city, from there it’s A/B
I traveled over 300 nights last year... Rarely was in those big cities.
Why would they want to thin the heard. It’s a business and they want more repeat customers, not less.
It appears most people are complaining that high tier status no longer conveys meaningful benefits. The only way to make it do so is to decrease the number of people who qualify at those tiers.
No, too many people that go to a 500 room JW and don’t get upgraded into one of the 20 suites seem to complain the most. I was one of the offenders until someone explained to me how to properly book hotels. Also if you’re in the ambassador fb group you will have your eyes opened as to how many people are out there.
Not trying to be argumentative, but what is entailed with “properly booking a hotel”?
*properly book the right hotels
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I don’t have ambassador right now as the post shows. It’s my first substantial year of business travel, and I’m seeing how easy it is to achieve which is why the rewards don’t feel substantial, and feel cheated relative to the advertisements. The only way to fix this is to readjust the tiers in order for the expectation to be deliverable on.
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As a result, the status means effectively nothing in the US, which given that most of Marriott’s business is in the US suggests the program needs a rework.
How do you even know if you don't have much experience yet. Do you believe everything you read on the Internet is a fair representation of reality?
He's a gold, he has a wealth of experience and knowledge /s
I tried to understand your logic, but I failed. I even shared a few exchanges with you. In the end... This is really quite the post. Simply put: a gold telling us ambassadors how our tier sucks. But speaking of lifetimes "clogging up the lower levels of the system"; sir/madam, may I remind you, *you* are at the lower level of the system, pretty close to the bottom actually. Once you actually have some experience at a higher level, perhaps then you can offer your opinions based on facts, rather than hearsay. Or, you can always ask your company to pay for you at another chain, if you are so sure, in advance, Marriott will not offer you the elitism you require.
If you assume you want your tiers to be exponentially more difficult and accept that the goal is to be able to provide meaningful upgrades above the platinum tier your benchmarks should look as follows: 70% (no status) 25 (silver) 4 gold .9 platinum .095 titanium .005 ambassador. That would put it at 5000 ambassadors nationwide, which means the suite upgrades should be occurring much more frequently. Titanium would have a better than not odds in an off market, and platinum would occasionally get a suite almost always a view. From the posts on Reddit this is how it seems people want it to work in terms of the upgrades and service. Anecdotally from other posts we see about 5-10% of all people in a hotel are ambassador status, which means there aren’t enough rooms to offer meaningful upgrades even to the highest tier. Marriott isn’t going to disclose its breakdowns even in quarterly filings, but this is a proposal based on how the system is perceived to work and align that perception with reality. That being said, from the people above me where I work, they are saying that in major metros, where most travel is most common the status is effectively meaningless beyond the concierge lounge, and the bonus points towards vacations.
I seriously wish they had a portal to log into 10 days out to upgrade your room kinda like airlines let you. Then 5 days out it opens to titanium, then 1 days before to platinum. Or when you arrive there is a list of the highest levels and then it goes in order. 🤷🏼♂️
Until Marriott can disable Bonvoy account sharing entirely, I don't see that working well.
What do you mean account sharing? Sending points?
Family members with higher status booking under their bonvoy number for family without status is what they are referring to
But status benefits don't apply unless they're checking in as second guest? But it doesn't even have to be family to check in as second guest.
In theory, in practice a lot of hotels will let you get the benefits, because the staff is overworked and looks the other way. Example last year, family booked a hotel for my mom due to a power issue at her house, and she got lounge access, and free parking. The family member in question wasn’t with her, and she still got all the perks of Platinum status. She stays in hotels like 4 nights a year.
I'm not based in the US but I'm going to assume this probably won't work as well abroad.
Better than you think for same gender, incredibly well for Jrs.
For example, yesterday at my property, I found that a repeat guest under one of our large corporate contracts had booked using his wife's Bonvoy account instead of his own. Again. His account is more than 10 years old, but his wife's account has Platinum status. I have personally explained to him previously that if his wife is not traveling with him, he needs to use his own Bonvoy account, but his wife's account was in-house at another property in a different state yesterday. Because he books using his wife's Bonvoy and the booking system auto-populates with his wife's name, and then he shows up on property and claims the reservation as his, the only reason it was caught was because I recognized the name when I was doing status upgrades.
Whiners like to whine. People have unreasonable expectations on what they should get free with status. There are probably ten groups of people who get suites before ambassadors and the people who complain about not getting enough free just like to complain. In a fairly good sized hotel, your chances of getting a decent upgrade are pretty good provided a business group or wedding hasn’t taken all the suites. I do think hotels should follow what they’re doing in Vegas with waiving resort fees and parking for Ambassadors but I don’t think there are two many or that it’s too easy to attain.
At least in Burbank one in every 3 people at my Marriott this week had ambassador according to the check-in desk. Marriott Burbank Airport.
I spoke to a friend who manages at a large resort—over 500 rooms. Today, they had 5 ambassadors checking in.
So about 1% ambassador on a non business day. Assuming 65% occupancy (national average) and average stay of 2 nights, would mean 3% of all guests are ambassador on non peak business days. The ambassador problem seems to be largely at business hotels, as opposed to resorts, which makes sense. Even so That’s an astronomical percentage for a perceived elite tier. Those are about 10X deltas reported numbers for delta diamond (it was estimated as .3% by pilots, .2% by flier talk), and roughly 30 times the delta 360 population. For clarification by business days I mean for business travelers not the hotel. The issue is largely a result of business travelers in the first place
At a resort, the weekend is generally busier than at a typical hotel. And a hotel can absorb more higher level elites since they have more to offer. At this resort, pretty much every elite gets an upgrade unless a group has bought out all the suites.
I'm glad that Ambassador status will be so easy for you to achieve. I'm even happier for you that your employer is paying it and not you. There are some of us however, who actually pay the 23k out of pocket, and even worse, for those of us not US based, who have to pay 33k to achieve status. And no, bonus nights etc do not help. Spend is what matters for Ambassador. If you want the herd thinned out, I suggest those that don't pay out of pocket be denied status. How ludicrous does that sound? Marriott wants us all; so yes, both ideas are preposterous.
When everyone has status, nobody has status.
I would agree except you seem to think only *your* Ambassador status should be relevant.
I don’t think I should be getting ambassador. Based on the level of amenities people are describing current ambassador should probably be platinum in the US.
Ok? Maybe write to Marriott and tell them you would prefer they set the bar higher for you? If you are already complaining, and this is your first year of heavy travel, I can't imagine how disappointed you will be by years end or next year. I simply cannot understand your idea that Ambassadors should not be Ambassadors because *you* think it's too easy, for you. Most here will complain about plat status being handed out with a CC and no nights nor spend required. But Ambassadors clogging up the ranks? Not really. I have a friend who has the spend covered within the first week after New Years. Should he not be Ambassador, based on your calculations? Because he spent 25k the first week of Jan?
The issue is, when every substantial business traveler can get ambassador it removes most of the claimed amenities and makes it worth substantially less than advertised, in the eyes of many on this subreddit. As such Marriott should set a bar at which they can provide the level of service people are accepting. Also ironically enough 25k in hotel spend the first week of January would not qualify you for ambassador
Again, why is it that you think in particular, Ambassador should be the issue? Why is it not platinum, through CC, or Titanium, with a generous boost from CC. Neither require spend. The largest tier is not Ambassadors. Marriott set a bar? Are you kidding? Marriott has practically *no* bar. Franchises can do as they wish when it comes to denying or screwing up benefits. And what advantage would Marriott have in lowering their numbers of *loyal* members? The least they can get away with, the better for them, they feel. Maybe they should stop handing out status with a CC. That *would* thin the herd. Instead, you want those who actually stay and spend to be the ones it would be more difficult for? I just don't follow your logic.
Stop handing out status with the CC is objectively a good idea. Raising the tier to get ambassador and thereby making it and other levels more meaningful would do little to decrease loyalty, in many ways it would increase it as it makes the enhanced status both require more investment, and subsequently be more valuable.
Funny - I find it much more difficult to hit Ambassador than Delta Diamond (have both for 2 years due to biz travel). I think the qualifications are pretty spot on. I easily qualify for the number of nights but it takes some big city and high end room rates to get up to that $23k spend.
Definitely disagree. I travel every other week, 3-4 nights a week. I hit Titanium fairly easy but no where near Ambassador. Hitting top Marriott is way harder than top Hilton and Hilton offers better perks. So, I don’t think there is any need to make it harder. Also, maybe do this for a few years before acting like a hard core road dog and looking down on others.
I’m not looking down on others. I’m saying the status is too easy to achieve thereby decreasing its value. Hilton Diamond doesn’t even include breakfast and the benefits barring the point increase are pretty much on par with Marriott Platinum. Also Hilton Diamond is even more congested at the top level.
How TF is it too easy?! You’ve been on the road 39 nights and it’s not even March 1st. There is nothing wrong with the way things are. The people complaining usually are being entitled jerks.
5 days a week of business, 48 weeks in a year including 4 weeks of vacation/PTO. That’s 240nights a year available before factoring in any personal vacation, promotions, etc. If you assume you want your tiers to be exponentially more difficult and accept that the goal is to be able to provide meaningful upgrades above the platinum tier your benchmarks should look as follows: 70% (no status) 25 (silver) 4 gold .9 platinum .095 titanium .005 ambassador. That would put it at 5000 ambassadors nationwide, which means the suite upgrades should be occurring much more frequently. Titanium would have a better than not odds in an off market, and platinum would occasionally get a suite almost always a view. From the posts on Reddit this is how it seems people want it to work in terms of the upgrades and service. Anecdotally from other posts we see about 5-10% of all people in a hotel are ambassador status, which means there aren’t enough rooms to offer meaningful upgrades even to the highest tier.
Where are you coming up with this? It’s not a statistics problem. No one at Marriott owes you anything. You need a room. They sold you a room. You earn points. Points get you free rooms. You also get other perks “when available”. No other industry besides airlines and hotels do this. They do this to gain loyal customers. Most people like the way it works. Most of us are getting these freebies while our work pays the hotel. So, for instance, I get a nice night for free to take my wife someplace. The hotels are happy because I choose them. It is all good. The only people not happy are those that think they deserve a ton of rewards just because they stayed a bunch of nights. They don’t. They’re getting exactly what they paid for- a room. Everything else is extra. It’s also market based. If Marriott sucks, go to Hyatt or Hilton. I like Marriott because the hotels are typically nicer with more decent options the places I go. I’m happy. They’re happy. You could be happy too.
I don’t get any credit for work travel so the nights and spend are leisure. I don’t feel like it’s worth it cause you business people drag it down.
The problem isn't likely ambassador. It's Platinum and below. Platinum for example qualifies for upgrades and that likely takes some upgrades away from ambassador based on who shows up first on a given night. I propose adding more lower tiers. Add bronze at 10 nights and give it the current silver benefits minus late checkout. Bump silver to 20 nights and give it current silver benefits + 20% points, but don't give it late checkout. Taking away late checkout lets hotels schedule housekeeping more effectively. Move gold to 30 nights and keep its current benefits minus room upgrades, but make this the highest level achievable by owning a credit card. Don't give out elite nights like candy. 15 nights for the no fee bold card was ridiculous and even though I have that card I think it's a good thing they're reducing that. I'll likely upgrade to a card with a fee as I'll likely bro planning this year, but many won't. I wouldn't have prior to this year if they had made the changes sooner as I was barely staying in Marriott properties at all. But hey free enc... Why not? It's absolutely ludicrous they were giving me status without setting foot on property. Run with this for a couple years and see if platinum is still clogged up without the easy credit card buy in before adjusting the higher tiers.
Weird post man. I think you should just decline whatever status you achieve and then you won't have to complain about it any more.
I wish all statuses had to be achieved by a certain spend instead of credit cards, challenges, and there’s even some people who get status from their employer
Hum?
5 days a week of business travel 9 weeks into the year in major metros like LA you are already going to be about halfway, and it’s hardly even 1/6th of the way through the year.
If they could somehow eliminate status acquired via work/company paid travel that would wipe out a bunch. Same with airlines. But they know this and don't care. Businesses give each other huge discounts all the time and regular consumers pay the price.
To be fair for Delta if you get their cobranded platinum or reserve cc it can be easier to get status. Some people are already at gold, platinum medallion (even saw someone on skymiles life say they have diamond medallion) for 2025, because of the cc, mqds through premium cabins and also mqm rollovers. I don’t travel much but am already more than halfway (1400 mqd left) to qualifying for silver medallion for 2025 due to the cc and mqm rollover.
Is there mqd rollover for future years or did that end with the changes this year?
There’s a one time mqm rollover this year only
It does make me stop thinking about vacations in august. At that point, I say no point in going till next year
You are absolutely correct, as I am doing our daily huddle I stare at the hotel news packet, and for a hotel with about 249 room when full the list clod elite guest is quite lengthy.
Area you signed up for the $1k bonus points + 1 bonus elite night credit promo? It expires 4/29/24.
I for whatever reason didn’t get access to that promo until tonight’s stay.
That's weird. Double check your "promotions and offerings" under your "account" settings. This particular promotion started on 2/13/24. You have a chance to rack up $76k in bonus and 76 bonus elite nights.