Marriott hotels are a little bit special in some ways. They tend to be a little behind and want to do (technical) things their own way rather than the correct way.

Who pays their bill? Mine was always paid by… erm…

Nevermind.

When I used to stay at the Marriott and other chains I’d make a point of telling the front desk to NOT deliver newspapers. The waste & pointless costs bothered me at first and then it became a grudge match. The front desk would tell me “yes, not a problem” and the bloody paper would still turn up. I would fight this stupid fight for months and nothing changed.

It’s about time that some high-up mucky muck got involved.

Next issue: the hotels always leave notices that tell us about the costs & damage of excess laundry but at plenty of hotels towels & sheets would always be washed, regardless of what I did or what lofty ideals they’d express on plaques.

I worked for a Marriott property recently. I realize lots of people (myself included) these days get their news online, but you’d never know it from working there. Even though we delivered papers to the rooms, we’d still run out of the extra ones we had set up near the front desk. Most people would grab them on their way to breakfast; I suppose it’s more practical to read the paper during breakfast rather than risk spilling your juice on your laptop. (Maybe some people aren’t this clumsy. I, however…)

It really is good to see them finally going from opt-out to opt-in. However, I do see one problem: most travelers, especially frequent travelers, just want to get their keys and go when they check in, and yet there is already a litany of questions that must be answered before they can do so. (Most Marriott Rewards members, in my experience, will create a profile with just name, address, and usually credit card number. They don’t remember to update preferences and thus get asked these questions again and again.) This is just one more to add to the pile.

In my area the loacal newspaper, that I pay to get delivered, also was delivering a free weekly ad section to all of the home owners. By doing that they can claim a higher circulation and charge more for advertising. The problem was the free ad section was basically just thrown all over the place. The person delivering it would just throw them into the street, often not even by a driveway or house. I called the newspaper and told them if they continue to do it I would file a formal complaint against them with the Board of Health for littering. When they continued to do it, I called my town’s Board of Health and told them I wanted to file a formal complaint. They called the newspaper’s circulation department and the problem stopped.

Arthur Frommer reports that some hotels are now charging guests for the newspapers they get every morning, without explaining beforehand that there is a charge.

I’m surprised you would throw away a newspaper just because you find it infront of your hotel door. I would think, from someone I considered so forward thinking, you might, you know, just put the paper down somewhere in public. Walk by Starbucks or a small coffee shop and leave it with them. Just because YOU don’t want to read it doesn’t mean you should just throw it away.

Tsk tsk.

Er…when did this start? I’ve never seen a hotel give out free papers. Sure, you can ask at the counter for them to charge you a few bucks to deliver a paper, but that’s it.