CEC Takeover Charges Suspended Through 2019
Earlier this year, the Customer Engagement Center (CEC) issue resolution policies were revised to have hotels take greater responsibility for resolving guest issues in a timely manner. Effective April 1, 2019, in order to ensure that costs are borne by the hotels requiring case turnovers by CEC associates, cases sent to hotels and not resolved within 72 hours were taken over by the CEC, and hotels were charged a $150 USD takeover charge.
We have received feedback from hotels and the owner & franchise community on the process as well as the cost associated with the takeover charge. After review, it was determined that Marriott will credit hotels for the CEC Case Takeover charges billed to-date, and will suspend all CEC Case Takeover charges for the remainder of 2019.
- For hotels invoiced through OFB, the reversal of the $150 CEC Takeover Charges that were previously invoiced on the June 1 and July 1 invoices will be reflected on the August 1 invoice.
- For hotels not invoiced through OFB, the reversal of the $150 CEC Takeover Charges that were previously charged in the months of May and June will be recorded in the month of July.
We will be re-engaging with the owner & franchise community to further evaluate this policy and find a solution to take effect in 2020. Please note: to reduce property caseloads, CEC associates are directed to resolve property issues within their empowerment levels at initial contact, and any compensation provided for resolution (e.g. award points) will continue to be billed and appear on invoices.
The goal continues to be timely response to guest concerns. In support of this effort, and to assist hotels in managing cases sent through the CEC, it is critical that all hotels review EMPOWER: GXP daily and promptly act on cases. When hotels resolve cases, they should mark the case “Closed” in the system. If hotels have questions for CECs, they should return the case with a brief description in the “Case Comments” field. Non-GXP and seasonal hotels will continue current email-based policies.
We appreciate your partnership as we work to refine this process. We will share additional details as they become available.