Mr Marriott, I can attest first hand the excellent services given by the JW Marriott Lima hotel staff are nothing short of the best. In particular, I want to praise the General Manager, Mr. Tom ******, who has constantly displayed an extraordinary leadership. He is well liked by customers and subordinates, and in the case of the latter it is very apparent to me that he knows his business quite well as his staff never says no even when it is difficult. My personal gratitude to him and the entire staff in Lima, Peru for having supporting my delegation for the past six years.

Mr. Marriott, I just wanted to take a moment to commend you for your hotel chain's continued commitment to quality and customer satisfaction. I am one of the many road warriors that are required to spend half or more of their time away from home and family and the consistency among your locations is definitely appreciated.
One area of recommendation that is being overlooked at the majority of Marriott hotels is the quality of non-alcoholic beers.
For those of us who are required either medically or by preference to not drink standard beer, but instead prefer better quality non-alcoholic beers, it has been a disappointment to dine at most Marriott restaurants. I've chosen to take groups away from the Marriott restaurants for this simple reason. Sounds silly?..yes..but true as the offering of budget Odoules or Sharps NA beers doesn't fill the need for most people who appreciate the taste but not the alcohol.
Just a recommendation, however I believe the majority of your fine establishments are being penny wise but dollar foolish in this area. I appreciate your hotels and services and appreciate all of your efforts to ensure that the Marriot is continually regarded as one of the premier lodging establishments.

Mr. Marriott, it is nice to see another high powered executive emerge on the blog scene to gauge customer opinion and offer/gain insight to their industry. Seizing the opportunity I have to address you, I would like to discuss the fact that the $100+ Billion Meetings and Corporate Events Industry has been widely overlooked in the modes of hotel evaluation until now. True, J.D Power conducts evaluations of how planners enjoyed their stay but the information provided is of little use to the planners in the process of planning a meeting or event. MeetingUniverse.com has emerged as the only system in the world to rate hotels according to meeting planner criteria. This, according to planners, is long overdue and an essential tool to the successful completion of their assignments. Would it be beneficial for Marriott to gain a greater market share in this industry by having their hotels rated? Would the Marriott brand benefit from knowing how planners view each individual property and how they performed for their corporate group? In an economy where corporate events and meetings budgets are increasing but ROI of these meetings is under more intense scrutiny, I believe the answer is a resounding YES. Thank you for being interested in keeping Marriott on the move.

I guess this is another statement to the confidence for the last 21 years or so.... I have placed my in your name and family service. It re-affirms my justification to always find a Marriott hotel in what ever region of the country I travel in...even if it's 50-miles away from my destination.........
Continue the excellence of great service.... I am very loyal to the brand

Thank you for the announcement of the wonderful news Mr. Marriott. Although it may be news to some, for many of us, it's no surprise at all. Just like there is rarely a surprise when we check into one of your properties. I travel for business for parts of over 40 weeks a year, and my family is lucky enough to be able to add onto some and enjoy a few weeks of dedicated time on holiday on top of that. For my business we choose to plan and stay at Marriott Hotels and have produced experiences for our staff, customers and patrons at Marriott meetings locations throughout the West Coast and in Waikiki. On Holiday we've been lucky to stay throughout the UK, Australia (loved the Surfers Paradise Buffet Dinner), Thailand, and Hong Kong on membership rewards stays and other stays. Whether for domestic or international travel, business, family, personal or meetings the one word I remember with each experience at your properties is consistency. Thank you for continuing to build on those consistent, enjoyable experiences with your staff in the US and throughout the world. My company and my family will be on the move along with Marriott as you continue to deliver the services that your worldwide team can be proud of.

As a weekly business traveler, I will only stay on Marriott properties. The Courtyards have become home no matter where in the country/world I am. My primary reason for leaving this comment is to sing the praises of the rewards program. It doesn't matter if I need assistance the day before travel or 6 months before, I am always treated with professionalism. With your program, I have not had to worry about blackout dates and feeling like beggers can't be choosers as you do with airline programs. Upon arrival the staff is courteous and the rooms are beautiful. Thank you for allowing me to treat my family to these get-aways. It might makeup somewhat for all the time I am gone.

Quality is very important, but what built Marriott was customer service. Unfortunately, yours has slipped, especially as it relates to state government workers. To differentiate between federal and state employees doing similar jobs is bad enough, but now the state employee who thinks he did right and booked what appeared to be a state rate is still sometimes left holding the bag. Your website is misleading and lawsuits will eventually happen. Your website claims in who is eligible for Marriott's govt. rate that if it's a state rate, it's open to all state employees. However, recent planned trips to NY and Chicago, I'm being told that's not true (it is limited to only that state). When I read the rules associated with the rate, it said state govt employee only with indentification. Also, while your website usually shows a state and a federal rate, sometimes shows it shows a rate supposedly for federal/state/local govt. employees. However, when you book it, you find out later it is only for federal employees. I manage a group of 50 auditors who average around 20 week long (5 day) trips a year. That's a 1000 stays (or 5000 nights). Most of us have been loyal and stayed with your company for years. However, though I hate to do it, I am at a point to avoid problems, I am going to ban them from statying there. We are just one part of one state, but I've talked to other cohorts at other states and they are concerned to. Just thought you should know.

I am a little concerned by the sometimes lack of personalization of the customer service staff. Having raised a question recently, the person who replied had obviously not read my concern as the reply was some canned form response. As a Marriott Rewards member and a MVCI owner, I am surprised by such a automated process from customer service. I would suggest a more personalized approach.

Interesting approach, this focus on the first sight when entering a hotel. I`ll have it in mind next time when I visit one of our hotels...

Dear Mr. Marriott,
Congratulations on your award. I wanted you to know about my recent experience at the Asheville Renaissance this past Sun.-Tues. I took my husband there to celebrate his 60th birthday. We were greeted at the door and everyone treated us like we were the only customers at the hotel. We really felt welcomed. Sunday night we met Loren Christenson (spelling?) in the Club Lounge. She was such a delight. She was so friendly and personable. She made Richard really feel special since it was his birthday. She told us all about Asheville, we asked dozens of questions, I think she enjoyed talking to us as much as we enjoyed talking with her. She told us she had just been made manager of the Club Lounge and asked if we had any suggestions. I shared mine on the comment cards (No kids under 21)and wanted to make it a special place for the Renaissance customers. She is a treasure you should know about. We try and stay at Marriott hotels whenever we travel. In my opinion they are the best!
I just had to book my boss into the Atlanta Hilton Airport and he was truly disappointed. He attended a seminar in the hotel and wanted to stay in the hotel so he could fly in attend the seminar and fly home the next day. I booked his room on the Club Level, king size bed -(terra firma). When he got to the front desk the desk clerk said you wouldn't mind if we put you in a room with double queen beds instead of a king would you? He said Yes I would. I was confirmed for a king bed She didn't say anything else just handed him the keys. She never spoke another word. He was very disappointed.
There is no place like Marriott. Maybe now he will believe me.

Congratulations on this achievement. Please do not forget the other hotel brands. I've just stayed at one Marriott, which was not what I expected.

Thank you Mr. Marriott for the opportunity to share a wonderful experience with you about our daughters recent wedding at on of your hotels and the quality of the people who work for you. We checked into the Waterfront Marriott in Seattle on July 27th of this year with numerous rooms. The staff made, what for most families is a traumatic and stressful event, a absolutely perfect day! We cannot express how devoted and caring the entire staff was from housekeeping, maids, bellmen, valets, desk clerks, waiters, bartenders, room service and maintenance. As a rule we seldom stay at Marriott hotels but from now on Marriott will get our travel business when-ever possible. We will follow up this blog with a letter with specific thanks to those who went above and beyond.
I look forward to our next Marriott stay and extend to you and your Marriott Family a hearty Thank You from The Father of the Bride!

Hi Bill,
When people feel good it's catching. When you walk into the Marriott here on the Gold Coast Australia, you can tell that the people who work there feel good about what they do.
I have a leadership development business and we often use the Marriott as an example of an organization who is competing in a very tight, low margin business, who absolutely understands that the only difference between them and their competitor down the road, is the quality of service that their people deliver.
Congratulations on holding firm to (and expanding) the vision your family has had since the inception of the chain.

Last week I stayed at the Marriott Marquis in Atlanta and it was quite disappointing. I checked the hotel's website before arriving and no mention was made of major renovations. Many of the amenities listed on the website were unavailable. I would have tried to stay elsewhere if I had known. The staff seemed harassed and were not welcoming. I was with a group and check in was a nightmare. I am not likely to stay there again. Maybe they should be reading this blog.

I work for Solution Tree, an educational publishing company in Bloomington, Indiana. We recently ran one of 26 annual institutes at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. Throughout the entire planning process, it was a pleasure to work with the Marriott team, and they made my job relatively easy. However, it was not until the institute itself that I truly noticed the dedication to excellence.
Due to adverse weather conditions, Logan airport was shut down several times and almost half of my team was delayed more than 10 hours, if not for an entire day. To make matters worse, one of my key staff members was stricken with the flu and unable to assist with our pre-conference workshop or set up for the main institute. Every person that you remove from our set-up process exponentially increases the amount of time required to complete the necessary tasks. With no other options, I asked my Event Services Coordinator if the hotel had any staff members that we could hire to help. She said that she would look in to the matter. After tending to several other critical tasks, I returned to find twelve members of the Marriott Copley Place helping us unpack pallets, open boxes, gather registration supplies, stuff bags, and move these registration bags (which are heavy by this point) to the appropriate locations. Please keep in mind that all of them are in their business suits, lifting and sweating along side our own team. I had requested to hire staff, but was amazed by the refusal of these volunteers to accept any form of payment for services rendered.
My expectations are always high for the venues that we contract for our institutes and this one was no exception. To say that the Copley Place team far exceeded my expectations would be a gross understatement. This is a sentiment that is shared, across the board, by everyone from Solution Tree. I continue to hear reports of our institute at the Copley Place being by far the best that people have attended/worked in the history of Solution Tree's events. Not only did the Marriott team work very hard, but were extremely personable as well. We could not have asked for anything more from the Marriott Copley Place to improve our experience.
I would like to personally recognize all of the following people for their amazing work ethic, dedication to customer satisfaction, and commitment to quality to fulfilling our Gold Keys: Teamwork, Timeliness and Flexibility-
Jenna *******, Banquet Services Manager
Teresa **********, Banquet Services Manager
Lindsay ******, Event Manager
Maggie *****, Event Manager
Gina *****, Director of Event Planning
Joseph *****, Senior Event Manager
Iraiset *******, Event Management Assistant
Tricia ********, Event Management Assistant
Tiffany *******, Event Management Assistant
Lourdes ******, Event Management Assistant
David ******, General Manager
Dominic *******, Faculty Intern Greater Lowell Technical High School
It will be more than a pleasure to bring this institute back to the Boston Marriott Copley Place for our contracted dates of August 7-9, 2008!
With more gratitude than could possibly be expressed in words, from myself and every member of my staff,
Thank You!
Sincerely,
Daniel Stones
Institute Coordinator
Solution Tree

Great news. What about the rest of us, the non-uber wealthy, the working man that use the other brands in your portfolio of hotels?

Congratulations on this result! These accolades are well deserved for a company so intentionally built on delivering excellent service. It's by far and away the most important important aspect of any hotel stay. I love the Ritz Carlton philosophy - the Gold Standards and the way staff are truly empowered to treat guests with dignity, respect and the utmost care. Keep it up!

Altough I am in Limited service, the full service segment of Marriott thrills me very much and I'm glad to here the Ritz and JW brands ranked so HigH.. I couldn't agree with you anymore Mr M... When you initally walk up to and into the hotel it has to WoW you.. everything after that is just reinforcement that you've made the best choice possible by choosing that hotel.

I can not agree more!! Appearance is EVERYTHING and Mariott is well known for understanding that. When a client walks through the doors of your hotel they must know that they are special and (just as you so simply put it) somebody cares. We all know that somebody includes not only all the front line staff but all those working hard in the background. We all MUST care. Congratulations on the survey results. A deserved reward.
HW
www.hotelwarrior.com/blog/

PS Forgot to add, the use of the disposable coffee tray instead of the glass coffee pot is a shame - more plastic to throw away! Please revert and decrease the usage of non-renewable oil for plastic disposables!

Dear Bill
I am pleased your company has received a quality award and would echo their positive sentiments.
May I, without wishing in any way to criticise (as I have had some very recent stays where the staff have been excellent and the hotels fine) offer some suggestions/requests?
a) Change the toilet paper! I kid you not - the stuff in the Courtyards in particular seems to be the finest, most fragile toilet tissues available - which is a false economy as one ends up using 3-4 times as much!
b) The coffee condiments in the room: please stop the use of the powder creamers - they're full of additives, trans-fats and other artificial ingredients. Just have the little pots of half and half or skimmed milk - they last as long and are far healthier!
c) IN two recent gyms it was obvious to me that the fitness equipment had not been inspected let alone maintained and in the Houston Courtyard/Residence Inns, the two gyms had 4 running machines of which 3 were faulty and two of these positively dangerous!
d) Please plant more trees! I'd support any chain of hotels that offsets it's energy usage by planting more trees outside in their grounds - not only will they consume CO2 but offer shade, coolness and soften the sometimes harsh outlook.
Please forgive me posting this and I will understand if this is not published but would appreciate this reaching Mr. Marriott for his awareness - shame to have good hotels, good staff and the little things spoil the customer stay!
Regards
Richard Painter
Marriott Rewards No 845183854

But, you know, when you walk up to the front door of a hotel, the hotel has to sparkle and shine and look like somebody really cares.
I recently made a reservation at the Courtyard Marriott in Fort Wayne. The management of this hotel obviously had not read your statement I quoted above.
I found the lobby to be quite uninviting as it did not appear to be clean. Dingy would be how I would describe the entrance and lobby area. The staff did not seem to be very friendly or maybe it was their indifference that made it seem that way. After a brief perusal of the situation, I canceled my reservation and went a few miles away to a Hampton Inn. The Hampton Inn was very inviting as was their staff.
I definitely would never reccommend your hotel to anyone that I care about.

Marriott is the only Hotel my husband uses. He is a platinum member and has always recieved excellent service. This past weekend we stayed in Baltimore. The hotel had the worst service I have ever experienced in a Marriott. The front desk was rushed and inexperienced. There was not a turn down service. The maids knocked on our door very early (Saturday) and were terribly loud in the halls. The only helpful friendly people were the bell hops. This will not deter our business but we thought you should know.