Marriott inherited a well-liked Ambassador program from Starwood Preferred Guest. Despite fears it would go away, they decided to add a spend minimum and re-launch it as a separate status level within Bonvoy (there are invitation-only Cobalt and Ambassador 5-Star levels).
The purpose of the Ambassador program was to provide personalized service through account-specific ambassadors that were a one-stop-shop for everything Marriott related from reservations to dealing with property level requests. It seems that account specific Ambassadors are gone based on an email that Marriott sent out.
You can access Marriott Bonvoy’s page for the Ambassador level here.
READ MORE: Marriott Bonvoy Rate & Bonus Points And Miles Promotions
Here’s email that Marriott sent out:
In text format:
Dear “Guest”
As an Ambassador Elite member, you are among our most loyal and valued members. As such, I wanted to reach out personally to keep you updated on the COVID-19 crisis and its impact on our company and our program. You may have seen a message from our CEO, Arne Sorenson, in which he shared his thoughts about how much our hearts and thoughts go out to the people who have been affected by this unprecedented event, and how much we appreciate the healthcare workers, local communities, and governments around the world that are on the front line working to contain this coronavirus. I hope you and your family are taking precautions and remain healthy.
Today, governments around the world are making decisions to halt nonessential business activity, and many of our Ambassadors work from contact centers around the globe that have been required to close. As a result, we have adapted the way we deliver the Ambassador Service to you, while enabling us to protect the health and safety of our associates worldwide.
As we continue to react to the unfolding situation, your personal Ambassador may not be available to assist you directly. To preserve the level of service we strive to deliver to Ambassador Elite members, we have engaged our global Ambassador Service team to respond to and address your needs, just as we do after-hours when your personal Ambassador is not working. This approach will help us ensure you get the timeliest response to any travel needs you may have.
For now, we ask that you reach out to the Ambassador Service by email at ambassador.service@marriott.com or call:
- North America: (Toll-free) 1 (866) 924-9885
- Europe/Middle East: +00353 214 861 222
- China: +86 20 3813 1068 or (Toll-free) 4008807211
- India: +91 124 6199 722 or (Toll-free) 18002582512
- Singapore: +65 62339854 or (Toll-free) 18002339854
- Japan: +81 3 4334 2498 or (Toll-free) 0120558803
We know many of you will miss the one-on-one relationship you may have built or were looking forward to building with your Ambassador this year. While this decision was necessitated by the fight against COVID-19, please know we are committed to returning to business-as-usual when it is safe to do so and permitted by governments. Expect to hear from us again soon, with news about program updates, including 2020 Elite status requirements.
Whether you are traveling now or in the future, I want you to know that your safety, as well as that of our associates, is a top priority. Despite these current hardships, our Ambassador team around the world is waiting to serve you.
Please be safe and stay healthy,
David Flueck
Senior Vice President, Global Loyalty
There are these two levels higher than Ambassador with Marriott:
Marriott is closing hundreds of hotels and furloughing most employees:
Marriott Furloughs Most Corporate Employees Worldwide For 60 To 90 Days
Conclusion
You now effectively have the same customer service personnel replying to Ambassador-requests that deal with all other customer segments. Not sure how they are supposed to provide the promised personalized service?
Marriott has or is in the process of furloughing most of its corporate employees (read more here) that must eventually mean contact center employees as well. There just isn’t need for the same number of warm bodies if your business drops 90%. Hundreds of hotels are temporarily closing, and those still open have significantly reduced staffing levels to match occupancy rates.
Marriott, however, needs to be very careful here. Surely they don’t want to displease members who spend more than 100 nights and $20,000 with the chain yearly? Once the pandemic is over, there are many hotel chains eager to win over their business.
I have been part of the Ambassador member for three or four years between SPG and Marriott. I have not received promised benefits from the personalized service (assigned Ambassadors were generally so bad that I started to email the general address) to anything meaningful at the property. I would assume that Marriott didn’t, event at the best of times, assign adequate resources (read budget) to successfully run the program.
Marriott also hints on the email that they are reviewing the elite requirements for 2020. Hilton Honors already announced that they would extend everyone’s by a year (read more here). Will it be too difficult for Marriott just to follow what Hilton did?
“reach out” has become one of the most overused cliches when one is trying to sound folksy and unnecessarily affable. I have no idea how this phrase has wormed its way into professional correspondence.
You are so right… IHG does it a lot in their email correspondence and once they never even address the issue I was talking about but instead this ‘reach out’ so unprofessional – I reminded the young man I am not his buddy!
On a semi-related note, I intensely dislike “no problem”. It is not a substitute for “you’re welcome”, “gladly” or “my pleasure”. I was never concerned that making a reservation with your company would be a problem, and should hope not because it is your business.
On a semi-related note, I intensely dislike “no problem”. It is not a substitute for “you’re welcome”, “gladly” or “my pleasure”. I was never concerned that making a reservation with your company would be a problem, and should hope not because it is your business.
Or ANY correspondence, really. It’s terribly smarmy.
Unless your company is 100% paying for your hotels, gaining this status is useless in one hotel program. People should just gain Titanium or even PLAT ( not much difference as you still get the 4pm check out and 50% bonus point versus 75% is meaningless) and go split their loyalty with other brands!
SPG Ambassador status was AMAZING. My ambassador could move the moon and the stars and remembered anniversaries, birthdays and made special events special. If something went sideways she helped make it right.
Marriott’s ambassadors are the same CSRs you deal with on the 800 number. They can’t call properties and are basically toothless. They have no power to fix anything and 90% of the time they are apologetic but can’t do anything
Dick Fueck Yu
Marriott International
Senior Vice President
Preventer of Superior Customer Service
Fallen Trousers, South Dakota
It is ironic how, almost every country around the world is currently in state of emergency or in lockdown with medical services collapsed. Nation leaders are begging their citizens to stay home to contain the spread of the virus. However, a concierge service employee should still sacrifice and expose their health and the health of their loved ones to be “present and live” for YOU? As IF you will be able to travel anytime soon? As IF you would be willing to do the same? (Of course not)
Perhaps for such a “COSMOPOLITAN” like you concierges are included in the definition of “”ESSENTIAL WORKERS” which are basically the ONLY ones allowed to transit freely everyhwere around thw world.
I’ve read blogs for economists, anthropologists, politicians etc, and most of them are agreeing in something: that the countries focusing more in the well being, health and safety or their nations will be the ones overcoming the recession and financial challenges post Covid19, because the globe is indeed lacking of HUMANITY. I bet big corporations will not be the exceptions for this outcome.
We’ll see if traverlers like all of us following your blog will remember the company that risked everything to take care of the safety of their employees or the one that “counterattacked” by exposing their people to contagion while WE ALL rest at home healthy with our families and our children (with no intentions of going anywhere further than our yard for still a good number of days). My eldest son is pursuing Hotel Administration, since he has practically lived in hotels from a very young age, and it will break my heart if he would have to be one of those concierges. Because travelling ain’t an essential these days ain’t it?
Even though we’re frequent guests in one of the largest IHG hotel’s in Africa (who’s IHG will know) I would feel shame to see the staff that always makes us so happy to be working in such conditions. And I’ll be asking myself if no one is travelling, if no one is allowed to go out of their homes unless is an emergency. Why are they making them work, specially given the overall conditions of that location.
Let’s start caring more about the people, and it platforms as this one that’ll be a new worth seeing attitude.
Most Marriott reservation, and other employees not directly on hotel property work from home. As for travel, even during these difficult times, there is a need depending on your situation. So, get off your high horse and open your eyes.