Marriott International has made itself a hospitality goliath, but some travelers might be surprised to learn that not every Marriott is made equally.
In fact, when you examine Marriott’s portfolio in detail, it becomes clear that there’s a pecking order in its nearly three dozen brands. Most of this is obvious to the lay consumer. After all, not all hotels can be “premium” and “luxury.” Not every hotel brand can be the Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, or EDITION.
And really, there’s nothing wrong with that; I generally prefer more affordable hotel chains since I like to spend the day out and about. Others might prefer a more expensive hotel if they tend to live it up at the hotel.
However, what you might not expect is that some of Marriott’s more “premium” properties come with more restrictions on customers — particularly customers with status. In fact, given some of these restrictions, I would argue that you might want to steer clear of certain Marriott brands.
Many get hotel status through credit cards
It’s important to know that hotel status is not like airline status. In fact, many hospitality giants happily hand it out in exchange for the pittance of a modest credit card annual fee. Many premium credit cards, like the American Express Platinum Card®, offer comparable status at Marriott and Hilton.
Hotel cobranded cards usually do these premium cards one better. The Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card offers the company’s entry-level Discoverist status. Hilton’s respective cards confer status based on how much of an annual fee you’re willing to saddle.
In Marriott land, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card grants Platinum status outright, two steps above the entry-level Silver Elite and next-up Gold status. That means you wouldn’t just get free Wi-Fi, but also upgrades at many hotels, a guaranteed 2 p.m. checkout, and 25% more points on stays. Of course, there are quirks to those rules.
Some Marriott brands don’t participate
Marriott’s offer for status members can be a relatively attractive return on investment for frequent travelers. After all, you give them a few hundred bucks and score benefits like early or late checkout, free credits, and more points on stays, to name a few things.
Only, not all of the brands in Marriott’s vast brand collection participate in these status benefits the same way. And if you’re hoping to get the full extent of your benefits, you might have to cut some brands from your list.
One example is Marriott’s Design Hotels brand, many of which are beautiful, but are “skip” for some avid travelers as they do not honor various benefits for the hotel chain’s status program. That’s especially surprising since “lower” hotel classes offer more benefits by contrast.
You’ll still get the points bonus, but for most people who have hotel status, the benefits you get while you stay are generally seen as more valuable than the points you receive after the fact.
Of course, there are some reasons you might throw an exception here. For example, some of the Design Hotels.
It happens to the best?
Design Hotels might be unique in the way that they shrug off Marriott status. Sure, you might be able to haggle for your guaranteed 2 p.m. checkout if you have some status worth a darn, but as most benefits are at the hotel’s “discretion,” it might be out of your hands.
It turns out, Design Hotels aren’t the only hotels where you might run into restrictions. In fact, most of the luxury and vacation club properties exclude many status benefits you might enjoy at, say, the Residence Inn.
The Ritz-Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, and EDITION don’t generally offer complimentary breakfast or suite upgrades due to the high concentration of status members staying at these luxury destinations. Nightly Upgrade Awards (NUA) also won’t work here.
Restrictions might also apply at the JW Marriott, Marriott Hotels, Delta Hotels, Renaissance Hotels, and others. Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy will also, evidently, exclude housekeeping. Marriott all-inclusive resorts might also be subject to the limits.
This is why it pays to get familiar with the specifics of the hotel you’re picking out: not just the fare, but any “destination fees” or brand-specific quirks that might preclude you from getting the full value you’d otherwise get at another branded hotel.
