Marriott has sent out a communication to its Bonvoy frequent guest program members this week announcing the program enhancements for 2021 that will help many members to keep their status intact in this challenging travel environment.
Bonvoy members received a special notice to stop emailing specific employees who handle Ambassador requests because those addresses would be turned off and no longer monitored.
You can access Marriott Bonvoy’s page for Ambassador benefits here.
READ MORE: Marriott Bonvoy Rate & Bonus Points And Miles Promotions
Here’s what has happened with Ambassador service most recently:
Marriott has taken down the Starwood YouTube video that featured the Ambassador program, please send me a link if you find it:
Conclusion
You could argue that Marriott has never understood loyalty and still doesn’t.
It didn’t much matter when most of their hotels were select service yards or inns and a few cookie-cutter Marriott boxes at city and leisure destinations around the Americas.
Marriott considers its loyalty program members mainly as a cheap distribution channel per comments made on a recent corporate earnings call, and it shows.
The purpose of the Ambassador service, when Starwood launched it, was to offer genuinely world-class service and have a one-stop contact for all hotel-related issues from bookings to upgrades and after stay follow-ups.
SPG also partially devalued the program when it was made public from a trial, and a requirement of 100 nights per calendar year was set
Marriott further “enhanced” it by first doubling the number of accounts that each Ambassador was supposed to handle to more than 300 and then 500 or so, making it impossible to deliver the promise that was made to these members who spent more than 100 nights and $20,000 at their hotels yearly.
Many Ambassadors left, and the quality contact center that mainly handled these requests in Canada was closed, and employees laid off.
I have said it before, and I will repeat it, if you stay 100+ nights per year at hotels, you should stop crediting to Marriott at 75 and build up a top tier status with one or more of their competitors. I see absolutely zero reasons for trying to reach the current Ambassador status with Marriott.
