Dear Mr. Marriott:

My comment is not about Marriott's strategic growth strategy per se, but it is the only was I thought I could possibly communicate with you directly. I am a Marriott Platinum Premier member who was in the Santiago Marriott the morning of the earthquake on Feb. 27th. You need to know that your staff in that hotel made you proud that morning. Elias Navarette, the night manager was immediately supervising the effort to help guests outside. We were given water, blankets, bath reobes and bedrooom slippers (some guests had walked down 25 floors without shoes). After only 10 minutes, Peter Giacomini, your General Manager at the hotel was on the scene. He was very visible to your guests and was constantly moving around the property, assessing the situation, directing the staff and reassuring the guests. All of the staff were very professional, calm, helpful and made us feel much better in a very difficult situation. As the morning progressed, the day staff arrived and added the effort to the recovery process.

I just really want you to know what a terrific job that Peter and his team did in Santiago for Marriott after the earthquake. If you wish to contact me for further information, I can be reached on my US cell phone at ***-***-****.

Marriott's new meeting sales approach is a disaster because sales contacts are no longer on property to service the meeting planner. There is no service once a contract is signed.

The company must show loyalty to the customers, but the same stands true for the customers. Just like we stand by our sport team when the times are bad and don't cheer to other team, we must show the support for a company we admire. So, a slight change in reward or price policy should not take us instantly to another company. The loyalty should work in both directions, it's not right to demand all the time and not show the support when needed.

Until June 2008 I was on the road 50% of the time. Since then I've cut way back on travel, but not because of the economy - my business is doing just fine. I've cut back because of the misery of the travel experience. Hotels were happy to kill my business with corporate rates that were regularly dishonored, with little unbundled charges for everything, with CSRs who couldn't say anything but there's nothing we can do about that, and with rooms dingy from years of underinvestment in cleaning staff. They knew I wouldn't be back, but they figured there were more where I came from. They were right. There were lots of angry business travelers just like me, figuring out how to avoid hotels that billed them for a movie they never watched and a drink from the minibar they never consumed. Like me, other business travelers were sick of the hypervigilance required to stay ahead of the endless petty (and not so petty) chiseling. Now I do about two-thirds of my business using web conferencing, and I don't expect that to change. When I travel though, I do stay in Marriotts. They've fixed the erosion of value and the disrespect I started to see creeping into their business practices, and they've kept the good practices they clung to when other hotels were downgrading everything but their profits. I started staying at Marriott regularly when the chain took the risky step of banning smoking in their hotels nationwide. That was a principled act, and a very welcome one, and it meant (for a change) there was one less thing about which I had to be hypervigilant. I wasn't happy when Marriott started shilling frequent-stayer points for pay, and one hotel began to regularly dishonor my corporate rate. But the maid service was as frequent as ever, the rooms were spotless, they upgraded the bedding, the 6 pm cancellation day-of-arrival policy was unchanged, and the staff were clearly treated with a respect that they passed on to me. I couldn't say any of that of other hotels in the area. Since the recession started, Marriott has obviously re-evaluated and gone back to core principles. They've been proactive about fixing the annoyances without affecting the value. Because I've seen a move back to respect and value in Marriott, last week I walked out of a customer-paid hotel, and moved to the Union Square Marriott in San Francisco on my own dime. In large part, that move was made possible by Marriott's steadfast adherence to a 6 pm day-of-arrival cancellation policy. There were no shenanigans, and the hotel was an excellent value: in fact I'm bringing my husband back for a few days holiday later this year.
The whole point of this screed is: Greed and profiteering don't pay long term. Respect and value do. When you kill the goose that lays the golden egg, it's dead. Marriott has avoided that and as long as they continue to avoid it, I'll keep using its hotels.

I have enjoyed great service at a number of Marriott's in China on my visit there every year. There is a choice of many full service facilities in most major cities including Beijing. I also visit India every year. This comment is about the lack of a Marriott preferably a full service Marriott facility in New Delhi, India. After waiting many years Marriott opened in New Delhi, where I stayed every year while the Marriott sign was on the building. In about three or four years the Marriott name was removed. I anxiously await a Marriott to open ever since. A Courtyard in New Delhi, suburban Gurgaon was scheduled to open last year, the opening moved to March 2009 and delayed to summer and November 2009. I have no idea how firm this date is. I had to make a back-up reservation at a competitor property. If the Courtyard opening slips again, I will have to pay a high price to competition for waiting. Some day you are going to have a full service Marriott in New Delhi. In the meantime I will settle for the Courtyard in Gurgaon if it ever opens.

Perhaps as things improve, the Wall Street Journal will reappear as the morning paper ...in the many Residence Inns I have stayed in.

I am frustrated with trying to book online for my timeshare in Maui. I managed to get to chose the date I needed and when I clicked on 'book reservation' your system locked up. I was unable to get back on again until all available dates are no longer available. I could not reach anyone online nor 'click to talk' until after the dates are no longer available. It seems suspicious and I would like to discuss further.

The key to stabalizing occupancy worldwide is to solidify your relationship with your mot loyal and core business traveler. As a Lifetime Platinum member, You have severed that loyalty by recent changes to your rewards program. I travel worldwide and used to never imaging staying anywhere other than a Marriott, now I stay at InterContinental, Hyatt and others 100% because of the changes to your loyalty program. How unfortunate!

I would love to spend a day of my life with the likes of a Bill Marriott or a Bill Gates or even Warren Buffett. These great men of our day know that the purpose of work is not just for financial income. The work that they do involves the fulfilling of their God-given gifts and talents. They are using much more of their potential than the majority with their abilities, creativity and imagination. I am very hopeful that their example should encourage ALL of us to press in and do what we were designed by God to do and become.

Do you think that a huge run up in rates over the last 5+ years to $300+ per night hasn't scared off the corporate business traveler? Might want to check that out first...