How does Marriott treat you as an elite?

[Pvcmenace]

Status: Titanium Elite
Property: Courtyard Bangkok Suvarnabhumi
Booked: Superior
Received: Deluxe Balcony
Rate: $232 1 night
Welcome amenity: 2 drinks vouchers
Late checkout: Got early check in 10am did not need late check out. Has a good resort feel, pool is fantastic, breakfast okay. Airport shuttle.

 

[Pvcmenace]

Status: Titanium Elite
Property: W Hong Kong
Booked: Wonderful Room
Received: Fantastic Suite/Wonderful Room/Marvellous Suite
Rate: Standard; $267 3 nights
Welcome amenity: 2 drinks vouchers
Late checkout: Arrived 2am day after check in, suite was ready but stunk of cigarettes from previous guests, was moved to temporary room for the night till a new suite was prepared for the following day as they were occupied. Next morning manager found us while walking through the lobby on the way to Disneyland to tell us a Marvellous suite will be made available once the current guests checked out. We said we will stay in the Wonderful room as we could not be bothered packing up again, as we would be out all day till late after the fireworks. He offered to have our room packed and moved while we were out. We thanked him and declined.

Arriving later that night went to Woo bar for a night cap at about 11pm, duty manager approached us and advised they were still holding the suite if we wanted it. Graciously declined again and then the bar manager made it his duty to ply us with coughtails and shots till well after close. Next morning a letter arrived under our door with a 10,000 points sorry, and seperate emails from both manager and duty manager apologising for the room.

Really amazing hospitality and communication, something I don't believe you would get here in Australia often.

 

[anemone1296]

Status: Gold Elite
Property: AC Hotel Southbank Melbourne
Booked: King Deluxe
Received: King Superior (upgrade)
Rate: $165 (1 night)
Welcome amenity: Giant chocolate speckle!
Late checkout: Not required
Hotel features: Outdoor rooftop heated infinity pool with a view of the city

Milennial grey haven at AC Southbank Melbourne

 

[burneracc]

Status: Platinum
Property: W Sydney
Booked: Standard room
Received: Deluxe King Room, Harbour View, corner room
Rate: ~400/night
Welcome amenity: Jar of hard sweets
Late checkout: Not needed

 

[mushypeas]

Status: Gold
Property: Sheraton Hyde Park Sydney
Booked: Hyde Park King
Received: Hyde Park King - low level, couldn't see park just a top of a tree
Rate: $591/night
Welcome amenity: Nothing
Late checkout: 2pm

 

[muppet]

Status: Gold
Property: Mulu Marriott Resort and Spa
Booked: Premier King Room
Received: One bedroom Premier Suite
Rate: MYR $650~ pn
Welcome amenity: Fruit
Late checkout: 1pm

Excellent hotel in the beautiful Gunung Mulu Park. The hotel picks you up from the airport and has an on demand shuttle to the park entrance. Lovely staff and food. Service a little unpolished but it is in the middle of nowhere.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Property: AC by Marriott Inverness
Status: Gold
Booked: Standard King Guest Room
Received: Standard King Guest Room
Rate: 16,400 point booking (rack rate of £100/night)
Welcome amenity: N/A
Late checkout: 2pm

Needed a place to stay last weekend whilst doing a status run for QF status and decided on staying at this hotel given it was a decent hotel and good value point redemption. The hotel itself is located near downtown Inverness and within walking distance of a number of shops.

Mobile check-in was unavailable but it was quite quick to check-in at the desk (apparently the agent was from Sydney so we had a good chat). A 2 PM late check out was offered without me asking which was nice. So far as I can tell no upgrade was provided but the room itself was quite good:



The room also had one of the nicer coffee/tea setups I've seen with 6 Nespresso pods at the waiting:


The restroom was also nice as it didn't feature a shub and was well appointed:



Would I stay here again? Absolutely, albeit not at a cost of £100 (although 16,000 points is a bargain).

-RooFlyer88

 

[Kscf]

Status: Gold
Property: Mulu Marriott Resort and Spa
Booked: Premier King Room
Received: One bedroom Premier Suite
Rate: MYR $650~ pn
Welcome amenity: Fruit
Late checkout: 1pm

Excellent hotel in the beautiful Gunung Mulu Park. The hotel picks you up from the airport and has an on demand shuttle to the park entrance. Lovely staff and food. Service a little unpolished but it is in the middle of nowhere.

View attachment 482008View attachment 482009View attachment 482010

I have been eyeing this hotel. How long was the stay?? How was the park??

 

[Kscf]

Property: JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort and Spa
Status: Lifetime Platinum
Booked: Standard Double room
Received: 1 bedroom executive ocean view suite
Rate: Points
Welcome amenity: 2 bottles of wine plus a chocolate cake
Late checkout: Didnt need one

We stayed at the JW Gold Coast Resort last weekend for Sat night only to celebrate our 13th anniversary.

When I booked the hotel only the double bed room was available on points, the check in agent and the front desk manager graciously put us up in the king bedroom suite when we mentioned our anniversary and gave us 2 bottles of wine and a small chocolate cake as well.

This is a massive suite and its insanely huge with amazing views.

After staying at the other 2 marriott gold coast hotels I can honestly say this is the best marriott in gold coast, probably in Australia as well, the Port Douglas Sheraton is a very close second.

The hotel has high cash rates and frankly I think its worth it as its amazing.

We really wished we were staying longer although we probably wouldnt have gotten an upgrade then.

The breakfast was also nice with quite the spread.

My wife and I have decided we will stay here for our anniversary every year if we are in Brisbane.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Property: Courtyard by Marriott Cologne
Status: Gold
Booked: Standard King Guest Room
Received: Standard King Guest Room
Rate: 48,000 point booking (rack rate of €320/night)
Welcome amenity: Carton of water and sweets.
Late checkout: N/A

Decided to visit Cologne this weekend to see the Christmas markets. As you can imagine, hotel pricing was eye watering with most properties expecting guests to spend several hundred Euros with prices only going higher on subsequent weekends leading up to Christmas. Luckily enough there was a Marriott near the markets that had what I thought was a decent redemption of 48,000 points. Would I ordinarily burn 48,000 points on a lowly Courtyard? Absolutely not, but given the circumstances it was most certainly warranted. This trip also had the side benefit of allowing me to retain Gold for another year by filling in a missing night I needed.

As for the hotel, check in was prompt, they just needed my ID card and could check me in right away. No need to provide a credit card as I didn't need to pay city tax (which is based on a percentage of the cost of the stay which would be 0 in this case), nor did I need incidentals.

Having stayed at my fair share of Courtyards mostly in North America, I was impressed at how more upscale this property was in comparison to the dumps I'm accustomed to in Canada:




The bathroom was good although the shower pressure left something to be desired (it was a bit on the low end, I'm not sure if it was due to the shower head having calcium build up or simply a booster pump not operating at full capacity) which is something to keep in mind. Not a deal breaker for me but it could be for some:


Oh and an obligatory photo of the Christmas markets:


Auf Wiedersehen!

-RooFlyer88

 

[burneracc]

Property: The Shanghai Edition
Status: Platinum + booked via amex FHR
Booked: City view room
Received: City view room // sadly no upgrade
Rate: ~$550 AUD per night
Welcome amenity: Fruit basket + chocolates on second day (both pictured)
Late checkout: Yes, but I believe forced via Amex FHR, not status

Notes: asked about an upgrade (I was only targeting city view -> bund view so just a view change) but got knocked back due to being fully booked, however they upped my amex FHR credit from 700 CNY to 1000 (~210 AUD) as a consolation prize for no upgrade which we spent at the in house restaurant Yone (view from restaurant pictured).

Will absolutely stay again, to the point that if I go on holiday to China and have time I would explicitly go to Shanghai just to stay here. By far the best hotel I've ever been to, nearly ended up in the J tower instead but glad I chose edition.

 

[dajop]

Property: Courtyard by Marriott Cologne
Status: Gold
Booked: Standard King Guest Room
Received: Standard King Guest Room
Rate: 48,000 point booking (rack rate of €320/night)
Welcome amenity: Carton of water and sweets.
Late checkout: N/A

Decided to visit Cologne this weekend to see the Christmas markets. As you can imagine, hotel pricing was eye watering with most properties expecting guests to spend several hundred Euros with prices only going higher on subsequent weekends leading up to Christmas. Luckily enough there was a Marriott near the markets that had what I thought was a decent redemption of 48,000 points. Would I ordinarily burn 48,000 points on a lowly Courtyard?

In my books any redemption that gets you more than 2/3 (USD) cent per point value or more than 1c (AUD) is a win these days unfortunately, and becoming increasingly rare (other than perhaps at really cheap or really expensive properties).

We stayed there 3 years ago, rates were definitely cheaper then (still a lot of post-Covid reluctance at the time). And I concur is a reasonably good option, we enjoyed our stay there. TBH, outside North America, Courtyard is a pretty solid brand with good standards, some even have exec lounges, eg. Phnom Penh.

 

[anemone1296]

Status: Gold Elite
Property: Courtyard by Marriott Melbourne Flagstaff Gardens
Booked: King Deluxe
Received: Studio King
Rate: $209 (discounted rate 1 night)
Welcome amenity: Nil
Late checkout: Not required
Hotel features: None to speak of
2 bonus points promotions were applied, 3000 points targeted + 2025 points for EOY

Late arrival of my flight meant a midnight check-in was honoured and facilitated by mobile key. One of those ‘I just want a bed’ (and the bonus points) mattress nights. In my stupor couldn’t figure out the bathroom tap, which is a ‘forward push’ not a ‘twist’ action

 

[Haplo]

Status: Titanium Elite
Property: Westin Brisbane
Booked: Base room
Received: Club room city view (3 levels upgrades)
Rate: Points redemption
Welcome amenity: Nothing

Staying with family for vacation so burning points. Club lounge happy hour serves quite substantive food with one main and two meat dish (I had butter chicken and korean beef). Choice of sparkling, red and white but no coughtail.

The club lounge overlooks the swimming pool, it is a bit awkward for the people in the lounge and people in the pool.

Breakfast in the main restaurant is very good, a blend of standard American breakfast with Italian option (it is in an Italian restaurant). Egg benedict with smoke salmon is excellent.

A bit strange in that there is no welcome amenity, in majority of Marriott I stay in APAC I get something token like two bottles of water and a pack of chips, but nothing at all in this hotel. Maybe they just expect you to go to club lounge and grab whatever you want?

 

[I love to travel]

Status: Titanium Elite
Property: Westin Brisbane
Booked: Base room
Received: Club room city view (3 levels upgrades)
Rate: Points redemption
Welcome amenity: Nothing

Staying with family for vacation so burning points. Club lounge happy hour serves quite substantive food with one main and two meat dish (I had butter chicken and korean beef). Choice of sparkling, red and white but no coughtail.

The club lounge overlooks the swimming pool, it is a bit awkward for the people in the lounge and people in the pool.

Breakfast in the main restaurant is very good, a blend of standard American breakfast with Italian option (it is in an Italian restaurant). Egg benedict with smoke salmon is excellent.

A bit strange in that there is no welcome amenity, in majority of Marriott I stay in APAC I get something token like two bottles of water and a pack of chips, but nothing at all in this hotel. Maybe they just expect you to go to club lounge and grab whatever you want?

I got wine earlier this year as a plat on a paid stay

 

[Haplo]

I got wine on paid stay half of the time but I would be traveling for work so I would just give to someone in the local office.

The logic is that if I am on points stay that means i am on my personal time so i want the free upgrade and amenity, but i dont get it because its on points stay.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Property: Moxy Hotel Frankfurt Flughafen (Airport)
Status: Gold
Booked: Moxy Queen Sleeper
Received: Moxy Queen Sleeper
Rate: €79/night
Welcome amenity: Carton of water and sweets.
Late checkout: 2 PM requested & received

Decided to stay overnight at this airport hotel ahead of the trip my partner and I took to Lisbon. We live about an hour north of the German capital of Frankfurt and this flight was scheduled to depart at 5:30 PM. Nonetheless, we decided to arrive the night before given the uncertainty surrounding DeutscheBahn with trains spontaneously getting delayed, cancelled or skipping stops. At the same time, I was just 1 night away from keeping my Gold status next year and so that tipped things in favour of booking it. I'm glad I did book this (more on that in a moment):

Check in was uncomplicated and all done via the Marriott app. Indeed, the electronic key for the room was available in the app around 10:30 AM on the day of check in. We ended up getting to the hotel around 9:30 PM having left at 7:30 PM thanks to that DeutscheBahn reliability.

The hotel itself is located in a very good location. It's about a 5 minute walk from the Frankfurt Gateway Gardens stations which if you are taking the S-Bahn to the airport is the stop immediately before the flughafen (airport) station if you are coming in from Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (main station).

The room itself, while modern and edgey for the time (i.e. mid 2010s) is now starting to show its age:


One thing I must give credit to Marriott for is how consistently they offer 2 PM late check out, even to their lowly Gold elites which ended up being clutch as I could use the small work area in the room for the 1 PM teleconference I had:


The bathroom is fairly modern and again does not feature those nasty shubs.


One nice benefit of the hotel is it is located directly beside a Rewe grocery store (open till 10 PM except Sundays because in Germany stores are closed on Sundays) which provided food options aside from the usual hotel fare:


Lastly, this brings me back to the start of the review. My partner and I were originally scheduled to fly TAP to Lisbon at 5:30 PM. Unfortunately the flight got delayed and ended up departing closer to 11 PM owing to mechanical issues and crew timing out. Fortunately, we managed to secure 400 Euros in compensation per passenger under EU261 for the trouble. With that being said, having stayed the night before, this drastically reduced the amount of stress we would otherwise have since we only needed to worry about our flight, and not navigating the often confusing and disrupted German rail network the same day.

Would I stay here again? Absolutely!

-RooFlyer88