Marriott lays off Ambassadors; top tier status may now be without dedicated agents
With hotel demand in the U.S. remaining low and leisure travel tapering off as fall approaches, it seems some temporary changes hotels made to their loyalty program to cut costs are going to become permanent.
View From the Wing reports that Marriott has laid off a number of its dedicated Ambassador agents, charged with taking care of Marriott's most valuable customers, after temporarily suspending assigned Ambassador agents back in March.
No numbers are available yet as to how many Ambassador agents have been let go. TPG requested comment from Marriott and will update this post with additional information.
Marriott had previously said elite members who stayed 100 nights in a year in addition to spending $20,000 would have the Ambassador team as a whole to help them. It seems that with the Ambassador team getting smaller, elites having a dedicated agent may not be a perk of the status moving forward.
The permanent cuts follow a series of changes this year to the Marriott Bonvoy program. In July, Marriott issued an extension to the suspension of elite benefit guarantees through September 15. But, not all changes are negative: Marriott extended elite status until Feb, 1, 2022, free night certificates through Jan. 31, 2021, and points expiration through Feb. 2021.
I find it curious Marriott would cut its best reservation agents that keep its most valuable members happy. It effectively de-incentivizes Titanium elites from becoming Ambassador elites as there's now no added bonus outside of Your24.
It's hard to read about people continuing to lose their jobs as the impacts of COVID-19 continue for months with no end insight. According to Ambassador agent posts on LinkedIn, many of these reservation agents had over 10 years of experience and loved their job. We wish them all the best and hope they land on their feet somewhere - perhaps as a Hyatt Globalist My Concierge whose program remains intact.
Featured image by Yuriko Nakao/Getty Images.
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The Capital One Venture X Business Card has all the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has to offer and more. It offers an incredible welcome bonus and requires an equally impressive spend to qualify. In addition, the card comes with premium travel perks like annual travel credit. (Partner offer)Pros
- The Capital One Venture X business card has a very lucrative welcome offer.
- In addition, the card comes with many premium travel perks such as an annual $300 credit for bookings through Capital One Business Travel.
- Business owners are also able to add employee cards for free.
Cons
- The card requires significant spending to earn the welcome offer.
- Another drawback is that the annual travel credit can only be used on bookings made through Capital One Business Travel.
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus miles: 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200k miles when you spend $150k in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel
- With no preset spending limit, enjoy big purchasing power that adapts so you can spend more and earn more rewards
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while earning rewards on their transactions, with free employee and virtual cards. Plus, automatically sync your transaction data with your accounting software and pay your vendors with ease
- Redeem your miles on flights, hotels and more. Plus, transfer your miles to any of the 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Every year, you'll get 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary date. Plus, receive an annual $300 credit for bookings made through Capital One Business Travel
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. Enjoy access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month