There’s a post on Flyertalk detailing ‘leaked Marriott Rewards 2.0’ and as of this writing it’s generally being assumed to be what the program becomes after Starwood Preferred Guest gets absorbed (“This does look like a devaluation for most SPG Platinums too.”)
It’s not the new program..
The document, ‘From Chinese WeChat post,’ outlines:
- Suite upgrades only for members at a higher level than Platinum
- Gold members not receiving guaranteed 4pm late checkout or guaranteed room type
Let me dispel a myth here. This is not a new document. And Marriott Rewards 2.0 does not refer to the new program which would go into effect 2018 or later.
Instead it’s a document that predates the introduction of guaranteed late check-out systemwide for Golds and Platinums.
Marriott Rewards 2.0 was a project launched circa 2014. In summer 2014 there was an internal video about it.
LinkedIn references show it as a circa 2014 technical project, that the JW Marriott Seoul was a pilot property at the time and the Singapore Marriott also.
There are things Marriott could do which would make their program the best and this document — which I believe is quite dated — doesn’t address any of them. It doesn’t factor the things that were unique in Starwood’s program. So it doesn’t appear to address what are precisely the questions Marriott is working through (regardless of where Marriott ends up for answers to those questions).
Five things Marriott could do:
1. Suite upgrades or suite upgrade instruments for platinum elite members.
2. Re-flag old flagship Marriott and Sheraton properties that are tired and too expensive to effectively renovate to fit the new Marriott aesthetic.
3. Ensure greater brand consistency between international properties and U.S. properties. Too many U.S. properties feel like a Holiday Inn whereas international properties are exceptional.
4. Bring back slippers, robes and mouthwash in all rooms.
Because it is so ubiquitous Marriott has many more customers that make Platinum. They also allow several shortcuts. It’s impossible to give Platinum level customers suite upgrade benefits and deliver on them. Perhaps if they limited suite upgrades to those who actually put 75 paid butt in bed nights they could deliver, but I suspect the number is 100, and that’s not including credit card, awards, rollover nights etc.
Quit it with these awful, infantile “Why do you ask?” headlines.
” Perhaps if they limited suite upgrades to those who actually put 75 paid butt in bed nights they could deliver, but I suspect the number is 100, and that’s not including credit card, awards, rollover nights etc”.
I provide more pure revenue to Marriott/RC hosting events/meetings than me personally having my butt in a bed 75 nights a year. Revenue management is not going to upset those that use another path to reach status.
“Is this a pointless article? Why do you ask?”
Gary was there a stealth Marriott devaluation? I could swear award prices for Rome look much higher today then when I searched a few weeks ago.
Can’t wait for the programs to be fully merged, for Marriott to reassert the dominance of its mature and stable legacy Rewards program, and for the end of all the wishful thinking about what MR should become in order to satisfy SPG loyalists. Most of all, I can’t wait for the day very soon when SPG — a subpar program inexplicably raised to metaphysical heights by bloggers — won’t even be mentioned at all anymore.
Isn’t this document along the same lines of what SPG was doing the revamp the Sheraton brand, which has been tarnished by spotty to bad service and aging to bad properties?
Many on here are concerned about how this merger affects the top. I don’t care about that. I care about how it affects the bottom namely qualifying for mid-tier to upper-status options by nights or stays and if so how many. There is a big difference between 25 days at SPG, which could 25 nights, and 50 nights, which means 50 nights at Marriott.
The second thing is the airline transfers on SPG. Will those remain? For some airlines, there are few to no ways to build points other than flying on that airline.
I am a representative of the bottom. That’s what part of the bottom thinks about this.
DCS, living in his impossibly small Hilton bubble as usual…must get lonely year after year
From the Hilton’s 2015 Official Form 10-K filing to the SEC: “The program [HHonors] provides targeted marketing, promotions and customized guest experiences to approximately 51 million members.”
Therefore, only one who is truly stupid would believe that it is possibly be “lonely year after year” or “living in a bubble” while part of a program with more than 50 million member.
The daily and continuing display of mind-boggling cluelessness is becoming simply too painful a spectacle…
I’m Lifetime Platinum, Platinum Premier, have been for years and upgrades are rare.
However, I’d love to have 2-3 guaranteed upgrades (of my choosing) per year rather than any amount of upgrades the remainder of the year.
DCS apparently confuses quantity with quality. AA has 100 million people in Aadvantage, does that make it the best?
You lose all credibility whatsoever when you make a claim like SPG being “a subpar program inexplicably raised to metaphysical heights by bloggers”…case closed. Was actually closed quite a while ago…
When one’s appreciation of loyalty programs is limited to what bloggers claim is high “quality”, despite repeated evidence that their notion of “quality” is based on made up standards that are simply nonsensical, one must stop pontificating. Just witness the demise of the bloggers’ formerly “best in the business” programs (throw AA in there too) and just shut the hell up!
“Why do you ask?”
Why do you keep using this phrase?