I have been at the Ambassador Elite level for the past 2 years. I have tried numerous times to leverage the ambassador service, but I am disappointed every time. I am close to achieving that status again this year, but as others have noted on this forum, it's not worth even trying.
Examples of my ambassador experiences include:
1. I let me ambassador know that I would be staying for a week at a property in Tampa, and how great it would be to get an upgrade. She said she would reach out to the hotel, then she got back to me and said that they couldn't upgrade me. She suggested I use my "suite nights." I reminded her that my stay was for 6 days, and I only had 5 suite nights. There was no follow-up response.
2. I was evacuated from the Sheraton Agoura Hills in California at 2:00am due to a fire. I took an Uber to another Sheraton a couple of towns away. I told them I was just evacuated by my previous hotel, and the staff said there were no rooms available so that I could get back to sleep. I had to wait until 9:00am for a manager to arrive so they could prioritize getting a room ready for me (which took about 10 minutes). Anyway, I contacted my ambassador via email (that's all I had). My ambassador responded to my email around 3:00pm that day with the fact that she would contact the hotel to get my money back (part of my request in the email). I received a refund for one night only. I could have requested that from the hotel myself just as easily.
3. I asked my ambassador to arrange transportation from the airport to the Sheraton Grand in London. I sent her all my flight details, # of passengers, etc. She said she would be "happy to arrange that." 3 days later, I received a message directly from the hotel asking for all the details I had already sent my ambassador.
The only time I have received a real benefit of the Ambassador program is when I received a bottle of champagne when I first achieved Ambassador status for 2 years ago. I also received a gift basket via the "Surprise & Delight" program a few months ago. However, I'm just not seeing any value from my actual ambassador.
The services provided by the ambassador are ambiguous, and in my experience, worthless. Has anyone else ever had a positive experience or benefit from their ambassador?
@pluto77 - I had a reservation for 6 nights in London and had 5 suite certificates. I contacted the hotel directly and was guaranteed the upgrade for all 6 nights. I was very appreciative.
Outstanding.
Good to know - thanks!
Could you please help me understand what services the ambassador is supposed to provide?
RE:
"He has helped us a lot, gone to bat for us and regularly makes our life easier. We try to keep our requests and expects reasonable, while understanding that we share our entitlement with many other Bonvoy Ambassadors in the same locales that we travel, who also want the same things that we do!"
What are examples of the kinds of requests you've had?
I second libbyrome's question. I recently reached Ambassador status and am not sure how to utilize my Ambassador. I've only asked him one thing (for the email of a hotel concierge) and he was very quick in responding, but if there is more we can use the Ambassador for I would love too do it!
Why dont you reply to your Ambassador and get a quick reply from him as to what services will he provide versus a second hand opinion from someone ? At least it will come from the source and then you can accurately assess the advantage and benefits realization of your status and this service.
pat2927 That is a great idea. Thank you
I have found like many things the Ambassador program is only as good as the Ambassador you are assigned and how they do their job. Like anything there are good ones and bad ones.
I have learned that for most things if I have a hotel GM's contact information I am better off contacting the GM directly than ask my Ambassador for anything. Just personal connections work a lot better in most of these cases.
I agree that Ambassador status seems to be completely and utterly worthless. I have also been completely disappointed by the use of my ambassador.
When I first was assigned this “perk” I assumed that they would be able to make certain things happen by leveraging back end systems to make upgrades happen, get you special treatment or something like that.
What I’ve come to realize is that they’re essentially an intermediary between you and the hotel, with no special abilities whatsoever. To someone’s point above, you’re better off contacting the hotel directly, as relaying it through the ambassador all but guarantees something will be lost in translation.
- A few examples of disappointments on my end:
tried to use my24 only to be informed that it requires 48 hours notice.
- Informed them that a trip we were taking to the carribean was for our 5th anniversary and found absolutely nothing prepared / nothing special
- Asked them to use my 24 on a stay, and they screwed up the request, granting me only a late checkout of 4pm
- Asked them to help guarantee I would get a 2 queen vs a king room, and they were unable to assist other than calling the hotel for me.
As for as I see it, they’re no better than a customer service line. Marriott would be better off replacing the perk with an addition 25% more points, more SNAs or free nights somewhere. Use the savings from the ambassadors to pay for it, because currently the status really doesn’t feel like a reward for reaching 100 nights
This is exactly what I try to tell those chasing this status level. Your experiences are on par with mine.
The program needs a complete overhaul if it is to be a valuable part of the Bonvoy program and worth attaining. It must also be costly for Marriott to run this program and offer such limited value to its top customers.
People like me who spend over 200 paid nights every year at a Marriott hotel around the planet are very experienced travelers and the program offers very limited benefits in return.
MARRIOTT, YOU CAN START BY PUBLISHING A LIST OF REQUESTS AMBASSASORS CAN USE TO HELP UNDERSTAND HOW TO ENGAGE IN THIS RELATIONSHIP.
I emailed the ambassador program a couple of weeks ago and requested they change my assigned Ambassador. The one I had last year was only helpful in administrative type things like fixing points issues, or for instance she helped explain how to transfer points to airline miles. Basic customer service stuff I just emailed her rather than call the plat line.
I never once had a stay related perk or instance where she reached out to the property before a stay, never saw even so much as a "hi have a good stay" note.
I've had my new Ambassador just over a week now, she has reached out to all three of my stays in the past week, there is a noticeable difference. Little things like a gift basket, GM coming from the back to great me at check in, upgrades proactively offered, etc.
Maybe this is just a case of the squeaky wheel getting the grease and the personal treatment will fade off a bit, we'll see.
Same experience for me, never once had a stay related perk which was arranged by my Ambassador or the Ambassador team. One good experience I had was when they invited Ambassadors to a Dinner and Drinks event which was very well organized.
Like many above, my Ambasador experience has not been positive, until, last week when I noticed that my rewards points reservation for he Bahamas had been changed with no prior warning.
They had cheekily increased the points value of the room for the second week and increased that dreaded resort charge as well. Apparently the points can be increased if you have not "redeemed" the award in your account. I was not aware of this loophole.
Emailed my Ambassador and he immediately added the points back to my account (the difference from the increase). He also chased down the hotel and confirmed that the original resort charge would hold, not the increased value.
So credit on that one.
Overall though, I would rather have more SNAs and higher points bonuses that the Ambassador programme. Getting to know your FO anf GMs at regular hotels will reap much higher benefits + they can email othe rhotels on your behalf
I am currently Ambassador on Marriott and Globalist on Hyatt which gives you access to the Hyatt Concierge. Sad to say this but my experience with my Hyatt Concierge has been exceptional. On the Marriott side, I feel like I get more things taken care of by just directly contacting the hotel instead of my Ambassador. Another thing I experienced was that after I hit Ambassador for the first time, no one ever contacted me by phone or email to let know who they were and what they could help me with. I did not bother till I needed their help. When I actually needed help, called the general Ambassador line and was told that whoever they had assigned to be had left the firm and they never reassigned someone else. That took them another week to get done. She did reach out to me after the assignment and I needed a particular arrangement at one of the St Regis properties I stayed at. Nothing happened on that request and I ended up calling the hotel myself and getting it taken care of. No follow up after the stay either. Hyatt on the other hand is a whole different experience. She actively monitors my reservations and helps me out with useful suggestions without asking. Having said that, 1 good thing about being an Ambassador is that you get priority service and a No-Wait phone line. I am not sure if shelling out $20,000 is justified given Hyatt just gives the same service at Globalist.
I ask my Ambassador for hotel emails. It works great.
I am not seeing any value of Amb over TE. The added benefits have been unusable, my Amb is non existent. Your24 has not been successful.
I have been pretty lucky at SNAs but other upgrades are infrequent at best.
I have had 4 ambassadors over the years. Only one was only good and she was moved to another job after 3 months. The program has been a pathetic disappointment. I don't see ever stretching to make it again.
The mere fact that Marriott would ask that $20K in spend + a whacked up amount of nights and dont even offer 100% bonus points is strange.... Hilton does it for their Diamond and I think everyone in Hilton is diamond! even me with status match but they seem to extend me despite me not interesting in reaching it with stays again! In the words of Oliver Queen (Arrow) - "Marriott, you have failed these Insiders with your Ambassador benefits!"
I got my Ambassador status for 2019 and 2020. Curiosity took me the Marriott Ambassador link when I got my status, the marketing did a great job of selling it. info including the video was very impressive.
Most of us, as seasoned travelers, know what needed to be done and what channel to call when time is needed.
Ambassador is an added channel, and insurance so to speak, when we need to be heard and serious actions to be taken. Here are my inputs:
THE GOOD:
THE NORMAL:
THE BAD:
Two weeks after getting this email from my Ambassador, the app and website say, You are Ambassador Elite.
I didn't reach ambassador this year. I'll live. It's just annoying to see, You are Ambassador Elite every time I login. These seem like simple things to coordinate. Still waiting for my lifetime card too though so maybe not.
Signed, whiny old guy that liked customer service before it was commoditized