In today's era of technology, there's so much that can be done online. You can buy clothes, pay your bills, even book your hotel room through Marriott.com. With the popularity of the Internet, the old, conventional ways of doing things often seem to be forgotten, especially among the younger generation.
However, many people - including me - still value some of the personal connection and advice of a travel agent. We've worked closely with them for many years and really value our longstanding relationships. That's why we are excited to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our Hotel Excellence! program with them this month.
Hotel Excellence! is a program we developed as a training tool for travel agents. It's very beneficial to them because it doesn't just educate them about selling Marriott hotels - it teaches them how to sell travel in general.
At Marriott, our primary focus is making sure our guests have the best experience possible on their vacations - that means not just a terrific hotel stay, but a great trip in every way. The Hotel Excellence! program has been a great success because it has helped make travel agents our partners in sharing this philosophy. We truly appreciate everything they do for our guests and look forward to many more years of continued success.
I'm Bill Marriott and thanks for helping me keep Marriott on the move.
Marriott Helping Travel Agents Provide More Personal Service
Enjoy holiday park break, log cabin holiday or lodge park holiday and share your views, thoughts and experiences with our readers.
Posted by: Log Cabin Breaks | 04/01/2010 at 05:21 AM
Dear Mr. Marriott, Wow! It is indeed a pleasure to address this short message to you. I have been in the travel industry for 15 years and Marriotts have always been my favorite choice of properties! I always tell my clients that if you stay at a Marriott you can't go wrong. Thank you for continuing to offer to us the Travel Agent FAM Tastic special rate. The more familiar we are with your properties the easier to sale.
Kindest regards,
Sam V. Brannon
Posted by: Sam Vernard Brannon | 02/01/2009 at 02:04 PM
Dear Mr Marriott,
I want to thank you for putting out the hotel excellence program. It has helped me tremendously in closing sales. I have used the fam certificates and have gotten first hand knowledge of different resorts that Marriott has. My clients are always happy when they return from there vacations and tell me that the resorts were everything I said they were. It makes for great repeat clients and also recommends. Again thank you
Sincerely
Raya McCook
American Intl Travel
Garden City,NY
Posted by: Raya McCook | 01/31/2009 at 09:04 AM
Mr. Marriott, I have been part of your Hotel Excellence since its inception and have supported Marriott and appreciated how it has allowed me to experience the total product. Since the agency I have been with has closed, I have started my own home based business with a Clia number, not an Iata number. I am disappointed that because Marriott is the only hotel chain that does not pay commissions to or work with non-Iata agencies, I will soon not be able to be a part of Hotel Excellence. I wish that like other hotel chains, Marriott will reconsider this policy. Not having an Iata number does not mean we are any less professional than agencies that have an Iata.
Posted by: Jeanie Brown | 01/30/2009 at 06:38 PM
Dear Mr Marriott, as a travel consultant who has just completed your Hotel Excellence course for the first time, I want to thank you for putting together such a valuable tool. To provide it to the travel community free of charge, and even underpin it with the Fam-Tastic program, is wonderful. To provide a tool that not only expounds the Marriott product, but speaks more generally about the pros and cons of accommodation options in general, and is therefore even more applicable to a travel consultants' work, speaks volumes about your commitment to customer service. Thank you, sir.
Posted by: David Coffey | 01/29/2009 at 01:30 PM
Mr. Marriot, Recently stayed in rochester(mayo). I called the customer care #. please follow up on phone this call to really understand the generosity of your employees.P/ cust agent she has not heard of anyone doing this since 50's or 60's. I was overwhelmed. your employees showed great character and morals.. thnks
Posted by: nancy | 01/29/2009 at 10:23 AM
Dear Mr. Marriott,
I have just finished your book The Spirit To Serve, which was given to me by an ex-associate of yours who had a wonderful time and fond memories with your establishment for twenty years.
I enjoy your straight talk and wisdom and I wish to buy 50 copies for my friends and colleagues to share. Unfortunately, I could not find this quantity even from Amazon. I wonder if you still have some in your own inventory I may purchase.
Warmest regards
Max
Posted by: Max | 01/28/2009 at 01:00 AM
Sir, is it possible to waive the charge of internet of rmb100 per day in china hotel guangzhou? this might increase much more room nights.
Posted by: ex marriott guy | 01/27/2009 at 11:12 PM
I want to congratulate you for this interesting blog that shows us how high executives should be transparent and close to employees.
Posted by: aurora | 01/27/2009 at 06:42 PM
I have been a travel agent for 25 years and want to thank you for the support Marriott has given to agents. I have been a member of your training progam since the beginning and appreciate your loyalty to us and I try to repay it by recommending a Marriott hotel to my clients every chance I get! Thank you for your continued support.
Posted by: Donnie | 01/27/2009 at 12:31 AM
Mr. Marriott, you need to make sure that the internet works properly from your hotels. Some of the providers your franchisees use are just not up to par. I am at a competitor of yours because I had to move out of one of your properties after fighting all day to get the internet to work. I plugged in at the new hotel, no problems. However, I will be missing 3 nights of Marriott stay that I was expecting. And I lost a lot of time. Your hotel should be able to tell if their internet is working or not, and they should not expect me to wait on hold for what is a problem with the hotel's system.
Posted by: Bill | 01/26/2009 at 04:01 PM