How does Marriott treat you as an elite?

Status: Gold
Property: Sheraton Melbourne
Date: 28/11/2020
Booked: Deluxe Larger Guest Room (king)
Received: same class, but a corner room

This was our first hotel stay since COVID19 became a thing, so obviously some stuff was closed or unavailable. They'd just reopened the spa so we got a good deal on massages, then the couple before us ran overtime so despite only being 20min late starting, they added 25% duration and discounted the treatment prices by a further 20%. I was also offered a glass of sparkling wine on checkin.

I received my Amex Offer email as soon as the preauth was placed on the card, and we charged the massages to the room, so I've already received my Bonvoy points and I'm expecting the cashback in a couple of days.
 
Status: Platinum Elite (from status match)
Property: W Hotel, Brisbane
Date: 19/11/2020
Booked: "Wonderful guest room" (entry level room) Partial river view
Price Paid: $254
Received: "Fantastic Suite" Full river view, Bottle of (good) wine
Normal price: ~$620 - $750 depending on occupancy
 
Status: Platinum Elite (from status match)
Property: W Hotel, Brisbane
Date: 19/11/2020
Booked: "Wonderful guest room" (entry level room) Partial river view
Price Paid: $254
Received: "Fantastic Suite" Full river view, Bottle of (good) wine
Normal price: ~$620 - $750 depending on occupancy
As an Ambassador I second the above. Stayed about 4-5 nights over last couple of months at W Brisbane and received Fantastic Suite each time when booking base level room including last Friday when they were completely full and where have been on separate reservations.

Welcome gifts included: sparkling wine, beers on a hot weekend and doughnuts

Marriott discounts make drinking at Wet Deck somewhat reasonable. I prefer breakfast in room on weekdays but breakfast in restaurant is more than adequate.

The team have no idea when Westin/Marriott will cease being quarantine hotels so W remains only Marriott option for now in Brisbane.
 
The team have no idea when Westin/Marriott will cease being quarantine hotels so W remains only Marriott option for now in Brisbane.
I was told a long time ago that it was to be end of January but since everything is opening up now that may not be correct. Hopefully when the Westin/Marriott/Four Points come back on line the prices may reduce a little at the W. Same can be said for the Rydges which is also off line ATM. I use them all and juggle the prices.
I have another stay at the W this Sunday. Interesting to see what, if any, upgrade I get
 
As an Ambassador I second the above. Stayed about 4-5 nights over last couple of months at W Brisbane and received Fantastic Suite each time when booking base level room including last Friday when they were completely full and where have been on separate reservations.

Welcome gifts included: sparkling wine, beers on a hot weekend and doughnuts

Marriott discounts make drinking at Wet Deck somewhat reasonable. I prefer breakfast in room on weekdays but breakfast in restaurant is more than adequate.

The team have no idea when Westin/Marriott will cease being quarantine hotels so W remains only Marriott option for now in Brisbane.
Do they still do free flow drinks for plat and above in the evening as they did before the pandemic?
 
Status: Platinum Elite
Hotel: Element Richmond
Date: 9/12
Room booked: Entry level room
Room received: View King room (next level up) plus a bottle of wine
Price paid: 12,000 points - pointsaver redemption rate
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

I participated in the recent Bonvoy Plat status challenge (15 nts / 90 days to retain til Feb 2022) and on a recent trip to Melbourne stayed at two different properties to get a feel for my options. These were nights #14 and #15 to meet the challenge requirements so I guess I'll have to try a few more properties in 2021 😏

Status: Platinum
Property: Westin Melbourne
Date: 5/12/2020
Booked: Westin Standard
Price Paid: $257
Received: Westin Deluxe (~$350)

A few days prior I noticed my booking had been bumped up two categories to a Deluxe. Checked in with the Bonvoy app on the morning of the stay with an arrival time 11am and check-out for 4pm. Shortly after a notification arrived that my room key was waiting at the front desk, but I then saw the category had been bumped down one category to a City room. At the front desk I mentioned that the category had been jumping around on the app. He apologised and re-upgraded to a Deluxe.

Room itself was great, bed very comfortable and huge bathroom with separate bath/shower and double basins. The only let down was the TV which was rather old, laggy, and low res. I tried plugging my laptop into the HDMI input by the work desk to watch something on Netflix, but the port only carried video (no audio) which made it unusable. It wasn't possible to switch source to the HDMI port on the TV itself.

No special status perks except a couple of drink vouchers for the Lobby Lounge (used on takeaway coffees in the morning which were passable), and the choice of 1000 points or an a la carte breakfast also at the Lobby Lounge. I took the points so can't comment on breakfast.

Status: Platinum
Property: Marriott Melbourne
Date: 6/12/2020
Booked: Grand Deluxe Guest Room, Top floor
Price Paid: $238
Received: tl;dr, 1 Bedroom Suite, City view (~$303)

The day prior to arrival I contacted the property using the Bonvoy app 'Chat with Us' function to confirm whether the Exec Lounge had reopened (it hadn't) and ask about the possibility of an upgrade. The response was a promising "we will certainly upgrade you at check in".

Fast forward to the check-in desk - the clerk makes no mention of status and hands over a paper to sign which showed the allocated room the same as booked. I queried whether an upgrade would be available and was met with a dismissive "we've already upgraded you to one of our top floor rooms". After showing the booking confirmation email, the response was "the booking is coded in our reservation system as a Premier room", and there were no higher category rooms available. There were five higher categories available for sale on marriott.com, but the clerk was adamant that those rooms on marriott.com were actually not available for guests to stay in (and then frustratingly mentioned again that I had already been upgraded, which I hadn't). They could not explain the discussion I'd had with the property via chat the day prior.

This interaction really took me by surprise and the clerk's lack of understanding/empathy was a little frustrating. I accepted there were no point arguing further but asked for the GM's email address so I could share the experience. At this point, the manager on duty popped out from a room and was immediately very apologetic. He explained no higher category rooms were available because the majority of floors were closed off due to low occupancy. He also said it was out of his hands, but altering inventory on marriott.com is particularly hard so they had left it all showing as bookable. Apparently this misunderstanding had arisen with a few Platinum/Titanium guests in recent weeks since the lockdown lifted - I wasn't the first.

I appreciated his honestly and completely understood that it wasn't viable for a hotel with low occ to keep all its floors open, but also explained the customer experience had been far from ideal and I would have appreciated the honesty from the beginning.

About 30 minutes after reaching the room (as booked) I received a call from the same manager on duty. He'd relayed my comments to the GM and been given permission to open up another floor and that a room key for a 1 Bedroom Suite would be available from reception in about an hour after housekeeping had given it a once over.

The rest of the stay was fairly good. A noticeable step down from the Westin in terms of room comfort, but not terrible. In lieu of the exec lounge the property is offering an "executive menu" which can be ordered for free via room service.

1607844342761.png
 
Thanks for the review. Could you have a selection from the executive menu in all three category headings?

I didn't end up making use of the menu as I was out in the evening and had breakfast plans in the morning, but my understanding was you could order as much as you wanted - how the EL would usually operate.
 
Sponsored Post

Struggling to use your Frequent Flyer Points?

Frequent Flyer Concierge takes the hard work out of finding award availability and redeeming your frequent flyer or credit card points for flights.

Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, the Frequent Flyer Concierge team at Frequent Flyer Concierge will help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

Status: Platinum Elite
Property: JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort and Spa
Date: 21 to 24 December
Booked: 2 x points rooms. 120k + 135k
Received: 2 room suite with extra large balcony overlooking pool and ocean + twin room with large balcony (both on level 4).

This property relaunched yesterday and the staff couldn't be more excited to see guests. Everyone has been so accomodating. Check-in for status members was in the seated area, with lavender and lemon refresher drink and chocolates.
Whilst the lovely Amber was checking us in, Ravinder, the GM came out to greet us and I had a good chat to him about the refurbishment. He said $35M had been spent with the rooms stripped bare and it shows; the rooms are newly finished in a luxury coastal style with high quality finishes and amenities. Other important features for me are 2 x 60 inch TVs with seamless chrome cast integration, rain shower and accessible bedside power and USB points.
Both pools are open; we have previously enjoyed swimming amongst the fish in the salt water lagoon pool but Ravinder said they are still on holiday at SeaWorld until they can balance the pool and reintroduce them after a lot of rain on the GC.
They have a family program, with pizza and sushi making sessions through the week.
Water stations per floor will be ready this week.
Citrique, the main restaurant has been fully refurbished and are now offering seafood stations (as compared to buffet previously). Misono, Japanese restaurant is reopening in a few days.

Overall, having stayed at the previous Marriott many times, this first JW in Oz is a fantastic welcome addition to the GC and to the growing Marriott portfolio in Australia.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_7321.JPG
    IMG_7321.JPG
    168 KB · Views: 19
  • IMG_7329.JPG
    IMG_7329.JPG
    123.2 KB · Views: 19
  • IMG_7331.JPG
    IMG_7331.JPG
    123.1 KB · Views: 22
  • IMG_4396.jpg
    IMG_4396.jpg
    175.3 KB · Views: 20
  • IMG_4397.jpg
    IMG_4397.jpg
    142.1 KB · Views: 20
  • IMG_4398.jpg
    IMG_4398.jpg
    99.6 KB · Views: 17
  • IMG_4400.jpg
    IMG_4400.jpg
    68.3 KB · Views: 17
  • IMG_4402.jpg
    IMG_4402.jpg
    319.7 KB · Views: 18
Last edited:
Status: Platinum Elite
Property: W Brisbane
Date: Fri 12 Mar - Sun 14 Mar
Booked: Wonderful King. Paid $350 for Friday + 35k points for Saturday ($440 cash rate at time of booking)
Received: Cool Corner King, $530 per night on day of arrival

Leisure trip to Queensland starting with a weekend in Brisbane, first time staying at a W.

A few days prior I sent a message through the app asking whether W Brisbane offers suite upgrades (where available) to Platinums. They said yes, they'd added a request to the booking, and would 'try their best to accommodate'. Both Fantastic and Marvellous suites were showing available at the time, but despite crossing all my fingers and toes they disappeared from the booking engine closer to check in.

On the morning of the stay I'd been upgraded to a Spectacular King, but the Cool Corner King was also bookable so I sent another polite message asking whether an upgrade to one of those would be possible. I was initially met with some resistance, 'I can see our room controller has already upgraded to a Spectacular King, would that be fine?', to which I cheekily responded that I understood the Platinum upgrade benefit as receiving 'a complimentary upgrade to the best available room subject to availability for the entire length of stay at the time of check-in' - possibly my favourite line in the Bonvoy T&C. This did the trick and I was reassigned to a Cool Corner King.

The good:
  • The room was quite large and functional - there was bench space to lay open two medium suitcases, ample clothes hanging space, easily accessible power sockets all over the room, and an intuitive light & curtain controls at the room entrance and both sides of the bed
  • Terrific breakfast benefit for Plats, pick as much as you like from the a la carte breakfast menu at Three Blue Ducks with the exception of some drinks like coughtails, kombucha, and milkshakes. The coffee and smoothies in particular were great, and most of the food was decent, although some of it a little pretentious. I think the a la carte is a temporary covid arrangement in lieu of a buffet.
  • Design within the room was pretty tasteful, thankfully toned down compared to some of the lobbies, lifts and hallways through the hotel
  • Very comfortable bed and bedding
  • Picturesque views of Brisbane river
  • Excellent wifi, consistent 100mbps both ways and very low latency
  • Many of the service interactions we had through our stay were friendly, upbeat and polished
  • 24 hour pool and a decent gym
The bad:
  • The TV would black out for about 15-30 seconds every few minutes and occasionally just turn itself off. Has been mentioned in some TripAdvisor reviews dating back to 2018. I wasn't planning to watch much TV but it did get annoying when trying to catch govt press conferences
  • Neither the MediaHub (HDMI input at work desk + Bluetooth pairing function for audio streaming) or the screencast function on the TV worked with a MacBook Air, Pixel 5 or Pixel 3.
  • The in-room Mix Bar is grossly overpriced e.g. $27 to make yourself a G&T
  • The bathtub was impractically shallow, uncomfortable, and may have been a raised garden bed in a previous life
  • Got an unwanted wake-up call from the front desk at 6:15am on Saturday to say the kitchen couldn't make Eggs Benedict as they didn't have any smoked salmon. When I let them know they'd called the wrong room I got a one-word "sorry" and they hung up. Simple human error, but a slightly more sincere apology or follow up apology at check-out would've been appreciated given how early in the morning it was.
Lastly, I'm not going to list this as a pro or con as it could be either, but the property is very popular for parties and really pushes that vibe - from the lobby bar turning into a nightclub on Friday & Saturday, to the hard house playlist at the pool at 7am on Sunday. I guess that's just what the W brand is about. It's certainly a fun place to be but the sensory overload is hard to escape when you just want to relax. We ran into multiple hens and bucks groups at breakfast, in the lifts and at the lobby, and while we didn't have an issue with any of them, it's worth being aware that it attracts that sort of crowd.

Some pics of the room, facilities, and art/wallpaper around the property:

1 Entrance.jpg 2 Room.jpg 3 Bathroom.jpg 4 Welcome Amenity.jpg 5 Mix Bar.jpg 8 Pool.jpg 10 Gym 2.jpg 11 Lift.jpg12 Art.jpg13 Wallpaper.jpg
Post automatically merged:

and some breakfast pics in a separate post due to attachment limit:

7a Menu.jpg
Three Blue Ducks breakfast food menu

7b Menu Drinks.jpg
Three Blue Ducks breakfast drinks menu

7c Kingfish Pastrami.jpg
Kingfish pastrami, sweet potato hummus, house pickles, poached eggs, zaatar, sourdough + avocado

7d Spanner Crab Scramble.jpg
Spanner crab scramble, papaya & bean shoot salad, cashews, chilli toast + avocado

7e Mango Lassi Muesli.jpg
Mango lassi bircher muesli, bird seed mix, strawberry, blueberry, kiwi, honey

7f Avo Toast.jpg
Avocado, macadamia cheese, cherry tomatoes, pepita dukkah, herb salad, sourdough

7g Harissa Pumpkin.jpg
Harissa roasted pumpkin, tumeric, cashew cream, kale, radish, sauerkraut, bird seed mix + bacon
 
Last edited:
Interesting that no suite upgrades. I've always got a marvellous or fantastic suite as an ambassador but I view all above Platinum the same.

Also, they have reintroduced evening drinks and canapes on weekdays. Wine, beer, house spirits and a coughtail with some canapes. This was definitely taken advantage of on last trip!
 
Noticed a major improvement here in DXB with upgrades recently even on gold status, auto-upgraded to a suite. Only positive to come out of covid! (No pun intended)
 
Status: Platinum Elite
Property: Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, Gold Coast
Date: Sat 13 Feb - Sat 20 Feb
Booked: 1 Bedroom Suite, Partial ocean view @ avg $770 per night, flex w/b'fast (booked while borders were still closed)
Received: 1 Bedroom Suite, Partial ocean view (no upgrade)

No upgrade, but did receive top floor in a reasonable position for a partial ocean view. Hotel underground parking was included, which they made out to be a benefit, but I have a feeling most just get it. Card for complimentary soft drinks, tea & coffee at select locations in the hotel. Bottle of $15 aussie sparkling left in the room fridge... fancy!

A quite large 1-bed suite at 97 SqM, but only one small bathroom off the bedroom, and it had a light that shone through a frosted glass panel into the bedroom - which was a little tricky with our 4 YO sleeping in there while we stayed up in the living area. Nice room otherwise, with decent technology, and a chilled filtered + sparkling water dispenser nearby in the hall.

No lounge at the property or alternative for coughtails, etc; just received total of 2 drink vouchers (for 2 adults over 7 days!) that were used at the pool bar for a couple of awful beers (limited options on the voucher). Away from voucher limitations, beer choice was ok for a hotel, with most of the Balter core range available (incl. IPA and Hazy).

Location on the beach with no road in between was great, though the wind was too strong during our stay to enjoy the beach, so we spent most of our time by the pool, or out and about. Our little man loved Sea World, which was a 2 min drive up the road.

Cheers,
Matt.
 
Status: Titanium
Property: Pier One Sydney Harbour
Date: 18-21/06/2021
Booked: Heritage, Guest room
Price Paid: $260 per night
Received: Juliet Balcony Waterview, Guest room ($499 per night)

A lovely note from the Guest Experience Manager and a bottle of sparkling wine left found in our room the first night.

A few days prior the hotel reached out and I selected the points and breakfast as the welcome gift.

The room is quite large with good water views making the well-stocked mini-bar that much more tempting. The bathroom is nice and spacious.
 
Ritz Carlton PERTH
Status Marriot Gold
Booked Deluxe King Room (base room) Amex FHR Rate -with 12 noon checkin if avail (was avail) Free BF in Hearth Restaurant, Room Upgrade if avail, US$100 credit ($140 AUD) and guaranteed 4pm checkout
Checkin 12 noon received Larger Studio with Eliz. Quay water views 10th floor - 2 letters, 1 acknolwedging Bonvoy status and another explaining Amex FHR benefits - both explained by checkin agent without me having to ask - very freindly
Booked through Amex Concierge so Bonvoy# could be added to bkng - Amex did this for me by calling hotel

Very nice property - pool, vitality pools in Spa, Hearth Restaurant closed but could use credit in Spa, Hearth Lounge or Songbird Bar - chose to use for meal. bottle of wine in Hearth lounge and a drink and olives next day in Hearth Lounge

Welcome bottle of sparkling WA white with note from GM about an hour after arrival on Sunday for 1 night

Did email GM and marketing manager before stay

Received Bonvoy points and promo 2K points currently running
 
How does Marriott treat you as an elite?

Pretty good today now they are extending status through to February 2023 and pausing point expiration until Dec 2022.

Screenshot (636).png
 
How does Marriott treat you as an elite?

Pretty good today now they are extending status through to February 2023 and pausing point expiration until Dec 2022.

View attachment 263257
It's good news, though I do also hope they rollover a % of this year's nights for those who actually made status, this year, as well. I've retained Platinum off the back of their 2021 rollover and double nights promo at the start of the year, however I'm no better off than a person who didn't spend a cent with Marriott.
 

Enhance your AFF viewing experience!!

From just $6 we'll remove all advertisements so that you can enjoy a cleaner and uninterupted viewing experience.

And you'll be supporting us so that we can continue to provide this valuable resource :)


Sample AFF with no advertisements? More..
Back
Top