Bits: bizarre new Marriott ‘no desk’ policy, more British Airways Shanghai flights

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• RIccati says:

  11 Dec11 December 06:07

  It’s one of the biggest, huge inconveniences not to have desk space. Narrow desks, tucked in the corner, difficult to access, no power plugs nearby — we saw it all.

  Hotels also fill the desk space with magazines, folders, menus, booklets and all that rubbish — as if the sole reason for having a desk is to showcase that stuff.

  • Ed says:

    11 Dec11 December 09:46

    +1

  • Lady London says:

    11 Dec11 December 16:16

    a proper standalone desk of a decent depth (particularly) and width, perhaps even glass-topped so as not to look too bulky in the room, would be nice to have in all rooms. Surely they could get some of the lovely designs around that are light and airy from some of the major international stores that offer this type of desk. They’re cheap enough for me as a consumer. So a hotel buying 10,000’s should be able to source them really cheaply. Using your laptop on the bed is a pain.

• Alex says:

  11 Dec11 December 07:16

  OT Tesco Clubcard is now fixed on Awardwallet and all my BA Household accounts have 480 added as a miscellaneous amount to each account no matter how much was converted in the 20% Tesco bonus promotion. Most of them should have received 4800.

  • Stu R says:

    11 Dec11 December 07:53

    My bonus appeared this morning at 480 points too – that’s the equivalent of the bonus on converting £10 in club card vouchers, whilst I converted around £53. Something has obviously gone awry somewhere …. glad it’s not just me!

    • Genghis says:

      11 Dec11 December 08:03

      I received an arbitrary 480 avios in BAEC account this morning too which isn’t the 20% bonus promised. Any ideas?

      • Wally says:

        11 Dec11 December 08:29

        I’ve had this too! Transferred the full £100 from Tesco and this morning got a 480 bonus!?!?

        • Mike says:

          11 Dec11 December 09:48

          Don’t worry, it’s not personal – me too. Just sent a PM to BAmissingAvios via Flyertalk – will update as soon as I receive a reply. They’ve messed up big time !!

    • harry says:

      11 Dec11 December 08:06

      Looks like
      a) they screwed up yet again
      b) 480 will soon get corrected to 4800
      c) they are not going to give bonus more than once
      d) those of us who got the free 24000, got lucky 🙂

      • Doug says:

        11 Dec11 December 08:12

        I also got the 480 points. Spoke to them this morning and it’s being passed to the boost team for emendment (hopefully).

        • Doug says:

          11 Dec11 December 08:12

          Or even amendment

        • John says:

          11 Dec11 December 10:44

          Or perhaps even emendation

      • harry says:

        11 Dec11 December 08:13

        Interesting! My wife got 2880, which is either 1x the correct bonus or 6x 480.

        In other words, there’s hope yet… 🙂

        Of course I transferred them to avios.com as they might go after the free 24000 at some point lol

        Off to check mine now…

        • harry says:

          11 Dec11 December 08:20

          THERE IS DEFINITELY HOPE!

          I only went to avios.com to combine her avios. Now I just went to my BAEC a/c and I have 6 x 480! 🙂

          Bring out the Champers lol

          Multiples look to have worked at this point, they just added the wrong amount

      • harry says:

        11 Dec11 December 08:14

        meant to say

        b) 480 will soon get changed to 2880

        • Liz says:

          11 Dec11 December 09:20

          I just phoned BAEC and they are unaware of anything. They have completed a form to be sent to the back office with regard to my 2 transactions and missing 6840 points. He could only deal with my account for Data Protection so I have to get my husband to ring back and nominate me as the 3rd party nomination for the account so I can go through it all again for his account and my daughters – oh joy! Initially he said I needed to contact Tesco but I said it was a BA promotion – they don’t know anything about it!!!

        • Mark says:

          11 Dec11 December 09:21

          Weren’t you right the first time? 20% of 24000 is 4800.

        • Simmo says:

          11 Dec11 December 09:52

          I’ve not had any bonus for any family members account.

        • harry says:

          11 Dec11 December 09:57

          hope so!

        • harry says:

          11 Dec11 December 09:59

          https://headforpoints.com/2015/10/31/20-bonus-on-tesco-clubcard-conversions-to-avios/

          Mark you’re right! 🙂

          happy days if I get the multiples, transferred 12x so 81600 bonus points incl the 24000 freebie

      • Frankie McPolin says:

        12 Dec12 December 09:35

        Who got a free 24,000 and why? Lucky ducks. Another mistake from Tesco?

        • harry says:

          12 Dec12 December 09:39

          ahem, quite a few people lol

          that’s why the best strategy is to switch everything to avios.com in case they try to get them back 🙂

    • Thomas says:

      11 Dec11 December 10:05

      Great, not just me.
      480 for one £10 conversion.
      Missing 8 more.

      • Tilly71 says:

        11 Dec11 December 16:24

        Why would you be waiting on 8 more bonuses? Have you converted through 9 x different family members into one account?

  • czechoslovakia says:

    11 Dec11 December 13:31

    +1
    11-Dec-15 Miscellaneous 0 480
    21-Nov-15 Miscellaneous 0 21,720

• OttoMH says:

  11 Dec11 December 07:25

  Ahh… A bunch of clueless executives trying to make their mark!!

• Metatone says:

  11 Dec11 December 07:50

  I’ve worked with a couple of hotel chains on small innovation projects and largely they are boneheaded – really not good at thinking things through. So this Marriott thing doesn’t surprise me. Their biggest mismatch is between their market positioning (regular work stayers – see the setup of the loyalty program) and their dreams of who they are designing the room for.

  It would have been smart to replace big heavy desks with more flexible tables. Few people use desk drawers and it could be a big win to have a table that makes room service a more comfortable experience and is still a good place to perch for work. Alas, as so often happens, a change that probably started off with good intentions ends up implemented as “bed + couch + side table” which is basically no great use to most of their travellers.

  Still, potentially nice for families though…

  • Richard says:

    11 Dec11 December 15:48

    The Novotel at the Excel centre has brilliant is-it-a-desk-or-is-it-a-table things – never seen them anywhere else though. Basically they pivot and wheel round, so you can either push them against the wall in a desk-like sort of way, or swing them out more like a dining table. And when they’re swung out they kind-of partition the room, so you can either have the feel of a separate space for work, or swing it back against the wall and have a single more spacious room. They’re brilliant – I want one for my study at home.

    • May says:

      12 Dec12 December 07:52

      If anyone is staying there please send pics of that table

• Tim says:

  11 Dec11 December 08:02

  32 year old. Travel about once a month on business and I find the layout of hotel rooms incredibly frustrating.

  TV positioned facing the bed and not the sofa? I simply cannot sit comfortably on a bed – a bed should be for sleeping and little more than that.

  Questionable comfort of chairs for the desks – especially that plastic travelodge chair. Means that I end up in weird positions on the bed with my laptop doing work.

  No plug sockets within reach of the bed – really frustrating if I’m trying to use my laptop or want to have my phone sat next to my bed overnight

  They could do with a complete redesign and I don’t agree that the removal of desks will solve the hotel room layout problem.

  • S***o says:

    11 Dec11 December 10:08

    Plug sockets not next to the bed are something that really annoys me!

    Anybody know a logical explanation?

• James says:

  11 Dec11 December 08:14

  I was one of the under 30 Marriott regulars. (8 years ago) It wasn’t the desk that put me off and drove me away to IHG, it was the steadily increasing price tag especially in central London. Or did I just get old :-/

  • Metatone says:

    11 Dec11 December 20:37

    I was going to say something similar.
    For what Marriott give you, they are overpriced.

    Esp. if you stay enough to get status with a chain like IHG or Hilton – frequent room upgrades & lower prices more than make up for the occasional night where Marriott would have given me a better room.

    Irony to me is that they didn’t even notice what might have made them actually more attractive to all sorts, but esp. younger ones. Guaranteed high speed, reliable internet.

• Tom C says:

  11 Dec11 December 08:53

  “If you are under 30, I blame you! You were asked at some focus group why you refused to stay at Marriott hotels and you said ‘because they have desks in the rooms’. You’ve screwed it up for the rest of us now ….”

  Guilty! I also said that none of my Reddit buddies can smell me online either, so there’s no needs for baths or showers too. They’ll be gone in the next refurb.

• Tilly71 says:

  11 Dec11 December 09:23

  Slightly OT, the tesco ba bonus offer has posted only 480 avios under Miscellaneous to our accounts today, anyone else get this strange amount?

  • Tim says:

    11 Dec11 December 09:38

    yes. I got 480 Avios from Tesco today (transaction date 30 Nov Posting date 11 dec). I was due 2400. After recent fun and games with Tesco Direct, I have concluded that Tescos is run by Muppets!

    • James67 says:

      11 Dec11 December 12:05

      That’s an insult to the muppets!

  • CV3V says:

    11 Dec11 December 09:39

    see above!

  • Simmo says:

    11 Dec11 December 10:34

    Nothing for us!

    4 x £100 for different family members

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