10 ms·

Inside the Marriott-Starwood Loyalty Program Turbulence

82 points by jedwhite 8y ago

jpatokal 8y ago
One data point: I'm a former Marriott loyalist and was Platinum for many years in my 100% travel days. I travel less now, so I was down to just Gold, which was still fine... but when the plans were merged and that became "Gold Elite" (read: the new Silver), they stripped away lounge access: no more free breakfast, no more access to a quiet place to work, have a drink or coffee with a friend, etc. So now I don't book with Marriott/SPG anymore. Why would I?
- cletus 8y ago
  Me too, basically. I had Gold status (30 nights) with lounge access, which was super-useful. Now that got shifted to Platinum (50 nights), Marriott is a much tougher sell. But there are credit cards that will (as of 2019) give you 15 elite qualifying nights per year so Platinum will be "only" 35 nights... not that much different. The SPG Gold status was about the last useful benefit I got from Amex platinum though so that card is probably dead to me now.
  - JumpCrisscross 8y ago
    > I had Gold status (30 nights) with lounge access, which was super-useful. Now that got shifted to Platinum (50 nights) Marriott seems to be running into the same problem as American airline rewards: counting nights and miles, only, doesn't adequately differentiate between high-spend and low-spend nights and miles. So you have to set the nightly rate such that someone staying at your cheapest property can access perks at the most-expensive property. That, in turn, ends up making the perks less valuable for those who frequent your pricy properties. (This is Gresham's Law [1].) The loyalty programs should have been kept separate, with the benefit of high-value programs getting credit at low-value ones (but not the other way, at least not at parity). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gresham%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gresham%27s_law
    - bdod6 8y ago
      This sounds like a misinterpretation of Gresham's Law. That's specifically talking about currency, which I suppose in this case would be the reward points. There is no "good" vs "bad" version of the currency though. Certain types of points are not driving other types of points out of circulation. The value of the points depends on how you use them, with people more eager to spend points on high-value redemptions.
      - JumpCrisscross 8y ago
        > There is no "good" vs "bad" version of the currency though. Certain types of points are not driving other types of points out of circulation Imagine Marriott has two brands: Fairfield Inn and Ritz-Carlton. They each have a rewards program which grants one free night for every night stayed. Now suppose, in a fit of idiocy, the rewards programs are made cross-compatible. So a Ritz-Carlton reward night can be spent at Fairfield Inn and vice versa. Where do you think the rewards will be earned? Where do you think they'll be spent? The "bad" (Fairfield Inn rewards) drove out the "good" (Ritz-Carlton rewards). I accentuated the number of brands, magnitude of their value difference and rewards program juiciness. This was to bring into relief the resulting effect. In reality, these terms--and the effect--are smaller. Still, Gresham's law applies if one treats rewards nights earned at different hotels as different currencies. They've simply, now, been brought into a currency union.
        cthalupa 8y ago
        I'm having trouble seeing this as anything new or different. These rewards programs were based on on nights or stays prior to the merger. SPG had no minimum spend requirements, and was widely considered the best hotel rewards program out there. And SPG had "low-end" properties as well, and there was no differentiator. I could earn all my rewards at an Aloft or Element and redeem them at a W or St. Regis. If anything, Marriott had a higher quantity of "low-end" hotels and unless I'm significantly misremembering, you could always have earned points at the Fairfield Inn and used them at the Ritz-Carlton. I don't understand what you think changed with this merger in that regard.
        8y ago
- graupel 8y ago
  Wait, if you were platnium for many years, you should be a lifetime platnium under the new program? I am just shy of LT plat and have LT gold, which is basically useless.
  - jpatokal 8y ago
    Just checked my profile: I've spent 4 years as Plat and 2 more as Gold, but I'm only Lifetime Silver, which is completely useless. ("Priority" but non-guaranteed late checkouts, woo!)
    - cthalupa 8y ago
      You just need 1 more year of gold+ and 400 total nights and you'll be lifetime gold.
- Aloha 8y ago
  I'm a former Marriott guy who came in with quals to get Platinum + Ambassador. I'm not super happy with the transition, specifically the removal of the rollover nights - my stays this year should guarantee my continued participation thru the end of 2020 with the same status, but no longer. I also feel like I'm competing among too many people now for upgrades. I'm a rare beast with like more than 200 nights on property this year, and well more than 100 last year. I just wish I felt more appreciated by the company.
pdx_flyer 8y ago
I travel 80% of the year and before the merger, I was splitting my stays between Starwood and Hyatt. Occasionally I would be forced to stay at a Hilton or Marriott because of smaller market coverage. Since the merger, I have barely stayed at Starwood/Marriott and don't plan on giving much business to them next year. I typically stay at hotels 150-200 nights a year and with Starwood's upper tier, I was being treated very well and never had issues getting an agent on the phone for changes. Now, at the same level (Platinum Premier w/Ambassador), I have found myself spending more time waiting to talk to an agent and basic requests going unfulfilled. Add to this that Marriott's website is one of the worst I have ever used and I just don't see much reason to stick around.
- flying_dutchman 8y ago
  This. In a few years there will be an HBS study about how they killed one of the most most loyal brand followings. I predict it will take a bit to show up in the numbers but over time alienating your vote customer base will absolutely have an outsized business impact.
- ryanmarsh 8y ago
  Spent the last few years maxed out platinum with Marriot. Aside from the snacks I felt like I was treated the same as those with less “status”. If you’re going to have a rewards program with levels of patronage... The airlines, as much as I hate them, have this much more cut and dry. With United I know exactly what I can get at each tier and what I can ask for “just this one time”. With Marriot it’s like, “fuck you have a candy bar and bottle of water”. So I fly United and stay with AirBnb[0]... who I get United miles from. Cha-ching! 0: Get the MilagePlus X app
  - gammateam 8y ago
    Just downloaded MileagePlus X, how do you use your united miles to book airbnb? not seeing it
    - vinay427 8y ago
mattlong 8y ago
Funny, I've been unable to get credit for any of my stays Marriott hotels in the last year. I rarely stay in Marriott/Starwood, so I assumed that my loyalty account had just expired or otherwise gotten in to a bad state even though I could still log in to the account online. I don't stay in hotels enough to get to higher rewards tiers so I just wrote it off. This likely explains all my failed attempts to accrue nights...
- pdx_flyer 8y ago
  You are not alone with this issue. People are even having a hard time getting stays credited that they booked logged into the correct account (which should credit without issue).
- dsl 8y ago
  At least you could log in. After I merged my Mariott and SPG accounts, trying to log in to either one is met with a "You have already merged this account" error.
ggm 8y ago
Because of stuffups I now have three Marriott account I can't merge. Nightmare of lemon scented towel proportions except for the moment of discretionary payback: choice of hotel. Vote with your feet people.
ryanmarsh 8y ago
Most involved data conversion and software bugs. I tried to book a haircut using my barber’s new online reservation thing. Of course it was all fucked up. Everything’s fucked up and no one cares. I wonder what it will take to change the mentality around quality/testing in these companies.
- whitepoplar 8y ago
  Most businesses just don't seem to respect good/working tech. Even though it's often critical to their bottom line, they'll think "$5,000?! My idiot nephew could do it for $100. Those coder monkeys think what they do is soooo hard as to charge $5,000?? Ha! Look, this guy here says he can do it for $250." <1 year later> "I hate tech and every techie. They think they're god's gift to humanity. My system never works. I paid good money for it" ($250). I think the corporate equivalent to that is, "It costs what?! Outsource it overseas right now!"
  - spydum 8y ago
    I don’t believe this is exactly right: the major problem is most businesses can’t distinguish which techies are worth $250 or $5,000 up front. So they make the choice of going cheap and hoping it works out. Some of the few do go the premium route, and still end up in a project failure or overrun. So can you fault them?
    - whitepoplar 8y ago
      You're right, but I think the general disdain for tech/techies is upstream of their inability to distinguish. Though it's a huge, huge problem trying to identify who/what is worth it and who/what isn't.
  - hnbroseph 8y ago
    and then there's the "consulting" firms that will charge you the premium 5000 then turn around and outsource for 250.
    - 8y ago
kilroy123 8y ago
I recently tried to transfer miles from Marriott to another airline. What a nightmare. The miles apparently got "lost". I had to make many phone calls which meant being on hold for 30 minutes each time. Wasted probably a full work day trying to sort everything out with them. Eventually, I just gave up as I didn't want to waste more time with this company. About 5 weeks later my miles appeared in the airline account. Very frustrating experience.
simonebrunozzi 8y ago
Then, question for all the readers: what's the best loyalty program now, for someone who doesn't travel too much? (50 nights/year).
- cthalupa 8y ago
  I would argue the SPG/Marriott program is still excellent at 50 nights a year. That's still Platinum status, and some of my other posts in here detail the benefits I enjoy from plat status.
- draw_down 8y ago
  Honestly I just don't bother with any of them. I stay in hotels even less than that though, maybe more like 25 nights a year. All this dicking around with points and Gold Elite Privileged Ambassador statuses sounds just dreadful. I hate traveling (outside of whatever I'm actually traveling for, of course). I don't want to learn more concepts and spend more time thinking about it.
kyleblarson 8y ago
I've been SPG platinum for the last 6 years and am also lifetime gold. The big pain point for me is that you can no longer qualify by stays OR nights. I don't travel quite enough to meet the platinum qualification by nights but always did with stays. Given that I have no chance of requalifying for platinum next year I'll be shifting my spend to other brands to see how they treat their frequent guests.
- cthalupa 8y ago
  The Starwood Amex is going from 5 qualifying night credit to 15 qualifying night credit next year. It might be enough to get me plat premier some years, so I'm excited about that. Would the extra 10 nights on it help you get regular Plat on nights vs. stays?
  - kyleblarson 8y ago
    Unfortunately no as the plat night requirement also bumped up to 75 from 50. I'm a big Kimpton fan so now that IHG bought them I shifted enough of my travel this year to IHG to qualify for Spire Elite. I doubt the treatment will be as good as SPG Plat but we shall see.
    - cthalupa 8y ago
      Platinum is still 50 nights, and has basically all the same perks. You do go from 10 suite night awards to 5 suite night awards The 75 night tier gets you your additional 5 awards back, and bumps you up to 75% point bonus.
cthalupa 8y ago
I guess I'm one of the odd people out that hasn't had a real problem with the merger. I'm only a Platinum member, so I can't speak to perks at highest levels, but I've had no problem getting ahold of regular Platinum customer service. I've also had no trouble getting room upgrades (I've ALWAYS had to ask for them, despite the claims of 'automatic' upgrades), no trouble getting early/late checkout, still get treated by staff like they care about me as someone with an upper tier loyalty status, etc. No technical issues, and all of my stays have recorded just fine (knock on wood!). On top of the status perks being the same, I'm loving the increased availability of hotels. There's been times where I've wanted to book at a specific Starwood property, but because it's rates were way higher than they normally are (e.g. 220/night to nearly 500/night), I'd end up fairly downmarket in comparison because I don't want any pushback on my expense report. The addition of Marriott properties has solved that for me a couple of times already this year - the W or St. Regis is way up, but the Ritz-Carlton or JW Marriott have been reasonable. I will say I have found the lounges in Marriott properties to be a little less nice than their Starwood compatriots, however.
- patio11 8y ago
  For what it's worth, I do +/- 50 days a year and haven't noticed anything aside from the migration process being clumsy from a website UX perspective.
- miles_matthias 8y ago
  Same!
cblock811 8y ago
Having worked for both companies in my old career this is unsurprising. Marriott has a history of changing things for the worse. One great example is when they bought Ritz Carlton. They said they wouldn't change much, and then did a sweeping rebranding (changing a lot of internal verbiage, changing the 20 basics to the 12 service values, etc). A lot of the veterans felt like the brand lost a core part of its identity then. Starwood's rewards program was award winning and pretty much everyone I knew considered it best in the industry. It's unfortunate that they bought such a great program and can't even integrate it with theirs. It's really sad and I can't imagine them salvaging it.
triviatise 8y ago
Loved the old SPG. By far the best perk was getting 1 point per dollar, then being able to transfer that to almost every airline. American was 20K points for 25K miles. International Business class tickets would be around 120K miles round trip, so $100K spend for $5K plane tickets (5% return). Back in the day american used to count all miles towards the 2M mile club (lifetime platinum), so I was able enter it mainly using credit card earned miles. Hotel stays were often times 12K points for a $400/night hotel in maui (3.3% return). When they converted SPG to marriott they did it at a 1spg:3marriott conversion rate, but ongoing only earns at a $1:2 point rate. The card is a significantly worse value.
neonate 8y ago
https://outline.com/cwFG2V https://outline.com/cwFG2V
gesman 8y ago
I never gave a sh about worthless hotel rewards inviting you to stick with their brand, pay more and sacrifice more important reasons for questionable (always in a future) benefits. I choose hotel for proximity or convenience to my destination, or cost. Hence this loyalty turbulence is largely a non-event for me. I never played hotel currency games and when their values goes down - it does not affect my decision to stay at that hotel or at their competition next door.
- draw_down 8y ago
  Yep, same here. These games just sound exhausting and tedious.
atlasunshrugged 8y ago
And then there's this: https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/30/starwood-hotels-says-500-million-guest-records-stolen-in-massive-data-breach/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29 https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/30/starwood-hotels-says-500-m... Tl;dr: 500m guest records stolen from Starwood in data breach

82 points by jedwhite 8y ago

One data point: I'm a former Marriott loyalist and was Platinum for many years in my 100% travel days. I travel less now, so I was down to just Gold, which was still fine... but when the plans were merged and that became "Gold Elite" (read: the new Silver), they stripped away lounge access: no more free breakfast, no more access to a quiet place to work, have a drink or coffee with a friend, etc. So now I don't book with Marriott/SPG anymore. Why would I?

cletus 8y ago
Me too, basically. I had Gold status (30 nights) with lounge access, which was super-useful. Now that got shifted to Platinum (50 nights), Marriott is a much tougher sell. But there are credit cards that will (as of 2019) give you 15 elite qualifying nights per year so Platinum will be "only" 35 nights... not that much different. The SPG Gold status was about the last useful benefit I got from Amex platinum though so that card is probably dead to me now.
- JumpCrisscross 8y ago
  > I had Gold status (30 nights) with lounge access, which was super-useful. Now that got shifted to Platinum (50 nights) Marriott seems to be running into the same problem as American airline rewards: counting nights and miles, only, doesn't adequately differentiate between high-spend and low-spend nights and miles. So you have to set the nightly rate such that someone staying at your cheapest property can access perks at the most-expensive property. That, in turn, ends up making the perks less valuable for those who frequent your pricy properties. (This is Gresham's Law [1].) The loyalty programs should have been kept separate, with the benefit of high-value programs getting credit at low-value ones (but not the other way, at least not at parity). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gresham%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gresham%27s_law
  - bdod6 8y ago
    This sounds like a misinterpretation of Gresham's Law. That's specifically talking about currency, which I suppose in this case would be the reward points. There is no "good" vs "bad" version of the currency though. Certain types of points are not driving other types of points out of circulation. The value of the points depends on how you use them, with people more eager to spend points on high-value redemptions.
    - JumpCrisscross 8y ago
      > There is no "good" vs "bad" version of the currency though. Certain types of points are not driving other types of points out of circulation Imagine Marriott has two brands: Fairfield Inn and Ritz-Carlton. They each have a rewards program which grants one free night for every night stayed. Now suppose, in a fit of idiocy, the rewards programs are made cross-compatible. So a Ritz-Carlton reward night can be spent at Fairfield Inn and vice versa. Where do you think the rewards will be earned? Where do you think they'll be spent? The "bad" (Fairfield Inn rewards) drove out the "good" (Ritz-Carlton rewards). I accentuated the number of brands, magnitude of their value difference and rewards program juiciness. This was to bring into relief the resulting effect. In reality, these terms--and the effect--are smaller. Still, Gresham's law applies if one treats rewards nights earned at different hotels as different currencies. They've simply, now, been brought into a currency union.
      - cthalupa 8y ago
        I'm having trouble seeing this as anything new or different. These rewards programs were based on on nights or stays prior to the merger. SPG had no minimum spend requirements, and was widely considered the best hotel rewards program out there. And SPG had "low-end" properties as well, and there was no differentiator. I could earn all my rewards at an Aloft or Element and redeem them at a W or St. Regis. If anything, Marriott had a higher quantity of "low-end" hotels and unless I'm significantly misremembering, you could always have earned points at the Fairfield Inn and used them at the Ritz-Carlton. I don't understand what you think changed with this merger in that regard.
      - 8y ago
graupel 8y ago
Wait, if you were platnium for many years, you should be a lifetime platnium under the new program? I am just shy of LT plat and have LT gold, which is basically useless.
- jpatokal 8y ago
  Just checked my profile: I've spent 4 years as Plat and 2 more as Gold, but I'm only Lifetime Silver, which is completely useless. ("Priority" but non-guaranteed late checkouts, woo!)
  - cthalupa 8y ago
    You just need 1 more year of gold+ and 400 total nights and you'll be lifetime gold.
Aloha 8y ago
I'm a former Marriott guy who came in with quals to get Platinum + Ambassador. I'm not super happy with the transition, specifically the removal of the rollover nights - my stays this year should guarantee my continued participation thru the end of 2020 with the same status, but no longer. I also feel like I'm competing among too many people now for upgrades. I'm a rare beast with like more than 200 nights on property this year, and well more than 100 last year. I just wish I felt more appreciated by the company.

pdx_flyer 8y ago

I travel 80% of the year and before the merger, I was splitting my stays between Starwood and Hyatt. Occasionally I would be forced to stay at a Hilton or Marriott because of smaller market coverage. Since the merger, I have barely stayed at Starwood/Marriott and don't plan on giving much business to them next year. I typically stay at hotels 150-200 nights a year and with Starwood's upper tier, I was being treated very well and never had issues getting an agent on the phone for changes. Now, at the same level (Platinum Premier w/Ambassador), I have found myself spending more time waiting to talk to an agent and basic requests going unfulfilled. Add to this that Marriott's website is one of the worst I have ever used and I just don't see much reason to stick around.

flying_dutchman 8y ago
This. In a few years there will be an HBS study about how they killed one of the most most loyal brand followings. I predict it will take a bit to show up in the numbers but over time alienating your vote customer base will absolutely have an outsized business impact.
ryanmarsh 8y ago
Spent the last few years maxed out platinum with Marriot. Aside from the snacks I felt like I was treated the same as those with less “status”. If you’re going to have a rewards program with levels of patronage... The airlines, as much as I hate them, have this much more cut and dry. With United I know exactly what I can get at each tier and what I can ask for “just this one time”. With Marriot it’s like, “fuck you have a candy bar and bottle of water”. So I fly United and stay with AirBnb[0]... who I get United miles from. Cha-ching! 0: Get the MilagePlus X app
- gammateam 8y ago
  Just downloaded MileagePlus X, how do you use your united miles to book airbnb? not seeing it
  - vinay427 8y ago

mattlong 8y ago

Funny, I've been unable to get credit for any of my stays Marriott hotels in the last year. I rarely stay in Marriott/Starwood, so I assumed that my loyalty account had just expired or otherwise gotten in to a bad state even though I could still log in to the account online. I don't stay in hotels enough to get to higher rewards tiers so I just wrote it off. This likely explains all my failed attempts to accrue nights...

pdx_flyer 8y ago
You are not alone with this issue. People are even having a hard time getting stays credited that they booked logged into the correct account (which should credit without issue).
dsl 8y ago
At least you could log in. After I merged my Mariott and SPG accounts, trying to log in to either one is met with a "You have already merged this account" error.

ggm 8y ago

Because of stuffups I now have three Marriott account I can't merge. Nightmare of lemon scented towel proportions except for the moment of discretionary payback: choice of hotel. Vote with your feet people.

ryanmarsh 8y ago

Most involved data conversion and software bugs. I tried to book a haircut using my barber’s new online reservation thing. Of course it was all fucked up. Everything’s fucked up and no one cares. I wonder what it will take to change the mentality around quality/testing in these companies.

whitepoplar 8y ago
Most businesses just don't seem to respect good/working tech. Even though it's often critical to their bottom line, they'll think "$5,000?! My idiot nephew could do it for $100. Those coder monkeys think what they do is soooo hard as to charge $5,000?? Ha! Look, this guy here says he can do it for $250." <1 year later> "I hate tech and every techie. They think they're god's gift to humanity. My system never works. I paid good money for it" ($250). I think the corporate equivalent to that is, "It costs what?! Outsource it overseas right now!"
- spydum 8y ago
  I don’t believe this is exactly right: the major problem is most businesses can’t distinguish which techies are worth $250 or $5,000 up front. So they make the choice of going cheap and hoping it works out. Some of the few do go the premium route, and still end up in a project failure or overrun. So can you fault them?
  - whitepoplar 8y ago
    You're right, but I think the general disdain for tech/techies is upstream of their inability to distinguish. Though it's a huge, huge problem trying to identify who/what is worth it and who/what isn't.
- hnbroseph 8y ago
  and then there's the "consulting" firms that will charge you the premium 5000 then turn around and outsource for 250.
  - 8y ago

kilroy123 8y ago

I recently tried to transfer miles from Marriott to another airline. What a nightmare. The miles apparently got "lost". I had to make many phone calls which meant being on hold for 30 minutes each time. Wasted probably a full work day trying to sort everything out with them. Eventually, I just gave up as I didn't want to waste more time with this company. About 5 weeks later my miles appeared in the airline account. Very frustrating experience.

simonebrunozzi 8y ago

Then, question for all the readers: what's the best loyalty program now, for someone who doesn't travel too much? (50 nights/year).

cthalupa 8y ago
I would argue the SPG/Marriott program is still excellent at 50 nights a year. That's still Platinum status, and some of my other posts in here detail the benefits I enjoy from plat status.
draw_down 8y ago
Honestly I just don't bother with any of them. I stay in hotels even less than that though, maybe more like 25 nights a year. All this dicking around with points and Gold Elite Privileged Ambassador statuses sounds just dreadful. I hate traveling (outside of whatever I'm actually traveling for, of course). I don't want to learn more concepts and spend more time thinking about it.

kyleblarson 8y ago

I've been SPG platinum for the last 6 years and am also lifetime gold. The big pain point for me is that you can no longer qualify by stays OR nights. I don't travel quite enough to meet the platinum qualification by nights but always did with stays. Given that I have no chance of requalifying for platinum next year I'll be shifting my spend to other brands to see how they treat their frequent guests.

cthalupa 8y ago
The Starwood Amex is going from 5 qualifying night credit to 15 qualifying night credit next year. It might be enough to get me plat premier some years, so I'm excited about that. Would the extra 10 nights on it help you get regular Plat on nights vs. stays?
- kyleblarson 8y ago
  Unfortunately no as the plat night requirement also bumped up to 75 from 50. I'm a big Kimpton fan so now that IHG bought them I shifted enough of my travel this year to IHG to qualify for Spire Elite. I doubt the treatment will be as good as SPG Plat but we shall see.
  - cthalupa 8y ago
    Platinum is still 50 nights, and has basically all the same perks. You do go from 10 suite night awards to 5 suite night awards The 75 night tier gets you your additional 5 awards back, and bumps you up to 75% point bonus.

cthalupa 8y ago

I guess I'm one of the odd people out that hasn't had a real problem with the merger. I'm only a Platinum member, so I can't speak to perks at highest levels, but I've had no problem getting ahold of regular Platinum customer service. I've also had no trouble getting room upgrades (I've ALWAYS had to ask for them, despite the claims of 'automatic' upgrades), no trouble getting early/late checkout, still get treated by staff like they care about me as someone with an upper tier loyalty status, etc. No technical issues, and all of my stays have recorded just fine (knock on wood!). On top of the status perks being the same, I'm loving the increased availability of hotels. There's been times where I've wanted to book at a specific Starwood property, but because it's rates were way higher than they normally are (e.g. 220/night to nearly 500/night), I'd end up fairly downmarket in comparison because I don't want any pushback on my expense report. The addition of Marriott properties has solved that for me a couple of times already this year - the W or St. Regis is way up, but the Ritz-Carlton or JW Marriott have been reasonable. I will say I have found the lounges in Marriott properties to be a little less nice than their Starwood compatriots, however.

patio11 8y ago
For what it's worth, I do +/- 50 days a year and haven't noticed anything aside from the migration process being clumsy from a website UX perspective.
miles_matthias 8y ago
Same!

cblock811 8y ago

Having worked for both companies in my old career this is unsurprising. Marriott has a history of changing things for the worse. One great example is when they bought Ritz Carlton. They said they wouldn't change much, and then did a sweeping rebranding (changing a lot of internal verbiage, changing the 20 basics to the 12 service values, etc). A lot of the veterans felt like the brand lost a core part of its identity then. Starwood's rewards program was award winning and pretty much everyone I knew considered it best in the industry. It's unfortunate that they bought such a great program and can't even integrate it with theirs. It's really sad and I can't imagine them salvaging it.

triviatise 8y ago

Loved the old SPG. By far the best perk was getting 1 point per dollar, then being able to transfer that to almost every airline. American was 20K points for 25K miles. International Business class tickets would be around 120K miles round trip, so $100K spend for $5K plane tickets (5% return). Back in the day american used to count all miles towards the 2M mile club (lifetime platinum), so I was able enter it mainly using credit card earned miles. Hotel stays were often times 12K points for a $400/night hotel in maui (3.3% return). When they converted SPG to marriott they did it at a 1spg:3marriott conversion rate, but ongoing only earns at a $1:2 point rate. The card is a significantly worse value.

neonate 8y ago

https://outline.com/cwFG2V https://outline.com/cwFG2V

gesman 8y ago

I never gave a sh about worthless hotel rewards inviting you to stick with their brand, pay more and sacrifice more important reasons for questionable (always in a future) benefits. I choose hotel for proximity or convenience to my destination, or cost. Hence this loyalty turbulence is largely a non-event for me. I never played hotel currency games and when their values goes down - it does not affect my decision to stay at that hotel or at their competition next door.

draw_down 8y ago
Yep, same here. These games just sound exhausting and tedious.

atlasunshrugged 8y ago

And then there's this: https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/30/starwood-hotels-says-500-million-guest-records-stolen-in-massive-data-breach/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29 https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/30/starwood-hotels-says-500-m... Tl;dr: 500m guest records stolen from Starwood in data breach