As travel declines in its infancy, hotel occupancy rates have fallen. Meanwhile, Covid’s limitation is to see more people than ever before leaving the office to work from home.
For Marriott, this has become an opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade, as the world’s largest hotel group now offers a worker-friendly daily pass at several of its flagship properties.
This provides access to a room – a suite in some cases – from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with free WiFi access and business facilities (where available) such as print, fax and scan. Need some time? Go to the hotel pool or fitness center.
Marriott Bonvoy members can earn points on their stay during the day (at a rate of 5-10 points per US $ 1) and receive a “free variety of snacks”.
If you have a Bonvoy Platinum Elite, Titanium Elite, or Ambassador Elite card in your wallet, this will also open the hotel’s Executive Lounge during your daily stay.
The thinking behind the Day Pass
If you find working from home full of distractions – especially if you need to stick, focus and work uninterruptedly on that important presentation or project – then today’s ticket may be your ticket to productivity and rationality.
“Working remotely doesn’t necessarily mean working from home,” says Stephanie Lennarts, President of Marriott International. “Blurred lines between personal and professional life can lead to distraction and stress.”
“We invite guests to work anywhere with Marriott Bonvoy to help them be more productive and achieve a better work-life balance by reimagining our hotel rooms as remote, local workspaces for our customers.”
“By providing flexible booking options, our loyalty members and guests have a familiar alternative when choosing where to work.”
Marriott says its Day Pass is currently available for certain room types at select hotels in Atlanta, Phoenix, Dallas, New York, Toronto, London, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong, with expansion planned in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.
How much does it cost? Executive Traveler Check single-day ticket prices at multiple Marriott hotels in mid-November:
- Marriott Tang Plaza, Singapore (Deluxe room) S $ 155
- The St. Regis, Singapore (Deluxe Executive Room) S $ 180
- W Hong Kong (Standard Room City View) HK $ 1200
- JW Marriott, Hong Kong (Standard Room) 1,250 Hong Kong dollars
- Marriott Grosvenor Square, London (Standard room) £ 140
- Marriott Grosvenor Square, London (Suite) 190 GBP
Upgrade to Stay Pass
There’s also a residency card, which combines a working day pass with an overnight stay and a very late check-out at 6 p.m. the next day, says Marriott: It’s a full 36 hours.
This includes free breakfast and “free evening cocktails, where available” and Marriott Bonvoy members also receive Elite Night Credits.
Stay Pass is available at a wider range of Marriott hotels – nearly 2000 hotels worldwide – although it appears that not all Day Pass hotels are also available for the Stay Pass.
For comparison sake, Executive Traveler The price of a Stay Pass at Marriott Grosvenor Square London is £ 209 for a standard room (£ 140 for a day ticket) and £ 290 for a suite (£ 190 for a day ticket).
Rounding it all off is the family-oriented Play Pass, available at “luxury locations and participating resorts around the world.”
“Guests enjoy business concierge service, supervised children’s activities, preferred office / study space, along with the coordinated experiences all family members enjoy,” Marriott promises.
For more details, visit workanywhere.marriott.com.
David Flynn is the editor of Executive Traveler magazine and it’s a little tragic to travel with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and a lychee martini.
