Someday Marriott Rewards will be the sole surviving program once the merger is completed with Starwood Preferred Guest. This process has been ongoing for some time, and presumably Starwood will go away in 2019. As a SPG Lifetime Platinum, I’ve become accustomed to good service, and I’m obviously familiar with how they do things. I’ve stayed at Marriott a fair amount through the years, but not nearly as much as some other chains.
Marriott occasionally runs promotions to earn rewards points, which are typically nice and easy. For a time a daily tweet with specific hashtags would earn 50 Marriott Rewards points. That promotion is now dead, but there were other opportunities to earn points 1000 points per week during the NFL season. While it was nice to earn those points, the process was automated. I haven’t been as successful getting assistance requiring agent interaction from Marriott Rewards using twitter.
Tweeting for assistance from travel providers
To me, Twitter is an easy way to reach out to various travel providers to get quick assistance, usually via Direct Message. I find it easier than calling, especially when on the go. This isn’t always the best mode of communication, but in my experience it works pretty well. I typically use it for minor requests for things like early check in, or getting a receipt from a stay. Maybe I’m spoiled, but normally messages I send get a quick response, at least within an hour. Often faster than that. Marriott is often much slower to reply. As in a day or more to respond to tweets or messages. Maybe this is due to changes on their social media team? Just a guess after firing an employee for liking a tweet from Tibet which angered China and led to Marriott sites being blocked there for some time?
Getting credit for a Marriott stay that didn’t post automatically
I was in South Africa for work a few weeks ago. I stayed at a hotel in the Protea brand which has more than 100 properties in southern Africa. My Marriott Rewards number was associated with my reservation, and I saw the stay online beforehand, but after checking out, the post did not stay. Marriott guests must wait 10 days after check out before requesting stay credit. In my case, those 10 days came and went, I requested stay credit and included a copy of my bill. I received an automated email reply, then nothing.
After another week with no response, I reached out again. This time using Twitter, and after a day or so, I finally got a reply:
Thankfully after this interaction, the stay finally posted to my account now nearly 3 weeks after check out. This long delay certainly isn’t typical, based on other stays with Marriott, they usually automatically post within a few days. Maybe systems at some of these Protea properties aren’t fully integrated into Marriott Rewards? That seems unlikely considering they have been within the Marriott family for more than 2 years.
Final Thoughts
More patience would help me in situations like this. Not always my best trait. That said, I don’t think this stay would have posted without my intervention after the fact. Maybe it is an issue with Protea properties, or just bad luck with this particular stay.
Have you experienced this with your Marriott stays? Any other suggestions?
