Cheese-paring insanity at the Marriott

How not to run a rewards scheme (or a hotel)

Recently I stayed at a Marriott hotel.

I quite looked forward to it. They are a premium group, so I expected something a little special.

What I got was something more than a little stupid.

This was not the staff”s fault. They – as usual mostly immigrants (where would our service industries be without them, Brexit fans?) – were polite and helpful.

No: it was head office or wherever they cook up their offerings.

First I discovered that wi-fi was not free. Are you taking the piss, Marriott? It’s free pretty much everywhere now.

But the helpful Czech lady on reception said all I had to do was join their rewards scheme – which is free.

So I wasted time filling in a form (they had my details. Why?)

Then when in the room I found I couldn’t get movies. I rang down. Oh, I could get movies – if I joined the rewards scheme. I already had. But it hadn’t been validated, or something.

Then I found I had to pay £10 for wif-fi … which I would get back.

WTF is going on in the heads of the bozos running the show?

A great way to lose potential customers.

What they need is someone to come along and disrupt their dumb marketing arses.

 

About the Author

In 2003, the Chartered Institute of Marketing named Drayton one of 50 living individuals who have shaped today’s marketing.

He has worked in 55 countries with many of the world’s greatest brands. These include American Express, Audi, Bentley, British Airways, Cisco, Columbia Business School, Deutsche Post, Ford, IBM, McKinsey, Mercedes, Microsoft, Nestle, Philips, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, Unilever, Visa and Volkswagen.

Drayton has helped sell everything from Airbus planes to Peppa Pig. His book, Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing, out in 17 languages, has been the UK’s best seller on the subject every year since 1982. He has also run his own businesses in the U.K., Portugal and Malaysia.

He was a main board member of the Ogilvy Group, a founding member of the Superbrands Organisation, one of the first eight Honorary Fellows of the Institute of Direct Marketing and one of the first three people named to the Hall of Fame of the Direct Marketing Association of India. He has also been given Lifetime Achievement Awards by the Caples Organisation in New York and Early To Rise in Florida.

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