Should I book through a Marriott STARS travel advisor?
Yes if you like your hotel food and beverages (free breakfast + F&B credit). No if you won't consume hotel breakfast and other F&B daily or at all.
Details
Many hotel chains offer off additional benefits to you when you book through travel advisors. For Marriott, there is a program called Marriott STARS for travel advisors. After all, the more valuable your time is, the more likely you desire a luxury hotel, and you are more likely to delegate travel planning and booking to someone else.
You can connect to a travel advisor through Virtuoso. I will use travel advisor and Virtuoso interchangeably in this post.
Virtuoso supports booking of Marriott luxury brands:
- Ritz-Carlton
- St. Regis
- Edition
- JW Marriott
- The Luxury Collection
- W Hotels
Additional benefits when booking through travel advisors include:
- Upgrade on arrival, subject to availability
- Daily full breakfast for up to two guests per bedroom
- $100 USD food and beverage credit valid during the stay
- Early check-in or late check-out, subject to availability
- Free Wi-Fi
Are the additional benefits worth it?
Let's break it down:
Upgrade on arrival. This benefit is subject to availability. Availability depends on how full the hotel is, as well as how many Hyatt members with status there are. The upgrade may also just be a higher floor. Don't expect a suite upgrade, and if there is a suite upgrade, it's a standard suite and not premium suite.
Given the large numbers of Marriott Platinum or higher members these days, it's increasingly common to not get a room upgrade. Even as a Marriott Titanium member myself, I've gotten view/higher floor upgrades over 70% of the time during off peak. 20% no upgrades when the hotel is full. Suite upgrades maybe 10% of the time.
It's a roll of the dice, so manage your own expectations and assign this a value of $0.
Daily buffet breakfast. If you or your travel companions value breakfast, this is important. Unlike Hyatt, Marriott does not offer free breakfast to Platinum or higher tier loyalty members.
| Brand | Free breakfast for Platinum+ | No free breakfast regardless of membership tier |
|---|---|---|
| Ritz-Carlton | ✔ | |
| St. Regis | ✔ | |
| Edition | ✔ | |
| JW Marriott | ✔ | |
| The Luxury Collection | ✔ | |
| W Hotels | ✔ |
- Booking through Virtuoso, it's $471.71 total after taxes and fees for a 2-night stay in a 1 King room at the Portman Ritz-Carlton in Shanghai.
For a 1 King room with lounge access and skyline view it's $735.60 total after taxes and fees
- Booking direct yourself via the Marriott app it's $558 and $720 respectively.
Only at certain brands do Marriott Platinum or higher members get breakfast and lounge access for free. Booking the same rooms without breakfast cost $462 and $558 respectively.
$100 USD food and beverage credit. This might sound like the best benefit and reason to use a travel advisor, but this benefit isn't really free. You pay for it up front.
You should also note the fine print: this F&B credit is only available during your stay, and cannot be redeemed for cash. In other words, use it or lose it.
If there is a particularly good restaurant at the hotel you were planning on trying, this may sound pretty awesome. However, if you plan to go on a tour, were planning to eat out and savor local restaurants, or your travel schedule doesn't align, you just threw $100 away.
Many hotels will only offer the F&B credit with a 2-night minimum or even pro-rate this benefit. This means it might be $0 (no benefit) with a 1-night stay or $50. The longer you stay, typically the lower the value to you. e.g. if you stayed 5-nights, the $100 seems like a $20/night benefit. Few hotels may offer a daily F&B credit, e.g. $50/night for $250 over a 5-night stay.
Early check-in or late check-out. This benefit is subject to availability. Just like the upgrade on arrival benefit, availability depends on how full the hotel is, as well as how many Marriott members with status there are. Manage your expectations.
- Early check-in may be 2 to 3 hours earlier. Most likely noon. However, many luxury hotels do wish to please the customer, so you may be able to check-in as early as noon anyway. Unless you're in urgent need of showering, I'd value this at $0 as you can always drop off your luggage at the hotel free. I'm skeptical you'd be in this for the extra sleep time if you're a luxury traveler; you probably slept just fine on the plane.
- Late check-out is subject to availability, so there is no guaranteed availability nor definition of lateness. It could be no late check-out, 2pm or 4pm. This could be valuable as it may mean a few extra hours of using the hotel amenities such as the gym or pool before check-out if you don't already have Marriott status. Marriott may get you a late checkout, unlike Hyatt status which will get you a late checkout, not subject to availability, except at hotels with casinos and resorts. See more Marriott details here.
Free Wi-Fi. Marriott offers free Wi-Fi if you sign up for Bonvoy, so this isn't much of a Virtuoso benefit. It's only a benefit if you're too lazy to sign up for Bonvoy. As I also previously pointed out, you probably still need or want internet when you leave your hotel right? That means you have a data plan anyway, not to mention hotel Wi-Fi can be less secure. There's no way for you to verify the hotspot you connect to after checking in is really from the hotel. I'd bet you'd click on anything with the word Marriott in there.
You should buy a phone that supports eSIMs to save time and money. You also don't need to spend much time deciding on which eSIM provider.
Conclusion
The table below summarizes the benefits and costs.
- Direct - no status price is for the same room including breakfast.
- Direct - Marriott Platinum price is for the room without breakfast.
| Benefit | Marriott STARS | Direct - no status | Direct - Marriott Platinum | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Room type | King | +Skyline+lounge | King | +Skyline+lounge | King | +Skyline |
| Room upgrade | Maybe | Maybe | No | No | Maybe | Maybe |
| Daily breakfast | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No* | No* |
| $100 F&B | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Late check-out | Maybe | Maybe | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Free Wi-Fi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Total cost | $472 | $736 | $558 | $720 | $462 | $558 |
*No to breakfast because Marriott Platinum members do not get free breakfast at Ritz-Carlton.
So what should you do?
For Edition, Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis, book via Virtuoso for cheaper rooms regardless of whether you have Marriott Platinum or higher status or not.
The cheaper the room, the greater the benefit due to the F&B credit.
- If you like your views, pay for the room with the view because you don't know whether you'll get the room upgrade.
- Alternatively, pay for the basic room with the lounge access ($703) via Virtuoso as you'll get the view from the lounge, which is likely better than from your room due to a (likely) higher floor and more panoramic views. Direct cost is $688. If you don't really need both room view and lounge view, you've saved yourself $33 ($736 - $703).
| Room | Marriott STARS vs Direct - no status | Marriott STARS vs Direct - Platinum |
|---|---|---|
| King | $186 in benefits | $90 in benefits |
| King:lounge | $85 in benefits | $85 in benefits |
| King:skyline view + lounge | $84 in benefits | $84 in benefits |
For more expensive rooms at Edition, Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis, you may save money if you don't plan to eat meals at the hotel, regardless of whether you have Marriott Platinum or higher status or not.
The benefits math
King room (with breakfast): You think you earn up to $186 in benefits with Virtuoso:
- $86 savings vs booking direct on the King room
- $100 F&B credit
I say "up to" because you are guaranteed to lose $100 worth of F&B value if you don't use it. The only certainty are the total cost savings of $86, provided you're willing to deal with a person instead of using an app to book.
King room (no breakfast): This is where it gets interesting, the benefit of Virtuoso is less at $90 if you choose a room that doesn't include breakfast; the price in the Marriott Platinum column:
- -$10 savings. It's $10 more on Virtuoso ($472) than vs direct ($462)
- $100 F&B credit
-$10 + $100 = $90 in (breakfast) benefits.
For a 2-night stay for 2 people, that's $22.50 ($90/2 nights x 2 ppl), so determine whether you will make your money back based on the price of the breakfast should you choose to attend.
King room with lounge access: Up to $84 worth of benefits with Virtuoso:
- -$15 savings. It's $15 more on Virtuoso ($703) than vs direct ($688)
- $100 F&B credit
-$15 + $100 = $85 in benefits
King room with skyline view and lounge access: Up to $84 worth of benefits with Virtuoso:
- -$16 savings. It's $16 more on Virtuoso ($736) than vs direct ($720)
- $100 F&B credit
-$16 + $100 = $84 in benefits
Even if you somehow skip the F&B credit, you're only down $16 vs booking direct, unless you somehow get those room upgrade or late checkout benefits which are subject to availability. Fair gamble.