Editors Note: This post is Part 1 of a 5 part series on the new Marriott and SPG merged loyalty program.
- Part 1: For Marriott Rewards Members: Everything You Need To Know About The Coming Merged Loyalty Program
- Part 2: For SPG Starwood Preferred Guest Members: Everything You Need To Know About The Coming Merged Loyalty Program
- Part 3: What You Need To Know About The Changes Coming To The Chase Marriott Suite Of Cards
- Part 4: What You Need To Know About The Changes Coming To The Chase Ritz-Carleton Cards
- Part 5: What You Need To Know About The Changes Coming To The American Express SPG Suite Of Cards
For Marriott Rewards Members: Everything You Need To Know About The Coming Merged Loyalty Program
As you’ve no doubt heard by now, the Marriott and SPG loyalty programs are set to become one on August 1, 2018. The following will outline what this will mean for current Marriott Rewards members.
Marriott And SPG Become One Program – Without A Name
The 5 Things You Need To Know About Marriott Rewards Going Forward
There is a lot to unpack here. It can’t be understated just how big of a change this will be to both Marriott Rewards and SPG Starwood members. Here is what you need to know.
Per the above, action is needed on your part. Beginning in August, you will have to manually “combine your accounts” on the website, even if you’ve already linked them.
The elite status structure is changing, for the worse. Per the chart below, you can see what your current Marriott Rewards status will become in the new program.
Its important to note that any elite status previously gained from SPG Gold and SPG Platinum members whose account was linked or matched will be lost. This means if you had SPG Gold or SPG Platinum status from an American Express Platinum or SPG card and matched status to Marriott Gold Elite, this status will NOT be matched to new Platinum Elite status in the new program, meaning you will lose lounge access and free breakfast.
For many people, myself included, this is a major point of devaluation. In fact, this could possibly be a “deal-breaker” for some in the new program. That remains to be seen.
The one [temporary] consolation prize here is you can merge your previous stays in both the Marriott Rewards and SPG programs from this year toward status, at least for the rest of 2018. This includes “doubling-up” on any status nights given automatically by the Ritz, Marriott, and/or SPG credit cards.
But as you can see, come 2019, Marriott Platinum Elite status [and above] will become much harder to achieve and any meaningful status (i.e. Platinum with free breakfast and lounge access) will almost completely be out of reach for most members.
Because of the size and depth of the new program, it will, in theory, be easier to rack up points as there are more places to stay across the world. I’d call this a minor program improvement.
The new award chart itself is perhaps not was bad as it could have been. But to be clear, it still represents a major devaluation for several reasons.
First, the once valuable SPG Starpoints are getting an instant devaluation even though they will convert to Marriott Rewards at a 1:3 ratio. This is simply because the new Marriott redemption chart is more expensive for most properties. particularly in the low to middle categories.
This brings us to the second point: Many properties are going to be more expensive to redeem, with the notable exception of many high-end Marriott properties (new Categories 6-8). This is because the current Marriott Rewards chart is being consolidated from the top down, and the luxury “tiers” will be smashed down into cheaper to redeem “categories”.
Third, surge pricing (“standard”, “peak”, and “off-peak”) is almost always a devaluation to the consumer, especially on the very dates when you would actually want to use a property.
Fourth, airline miles. SPG used to give you a 25% bonus on transferred points for every 20,000 miles you’d transfer, so 20,000 SPG points would convert to 25,000 “Airline X” miles. Technically the 25% percent bonus remains unchanged, but now you have to transfer a minimum of 60,000 points to get this bonus, and that represents an annoying devaluation in my book because it will be harder to earn 3x Marriott points.
Lastly, it’s been well documented that Marriott has actually performed somewhat of a slight of hand, whereas they actually increased many redemption prices in early 2018 just so they can disingenuously decrease them [restore them] to the pre-2018 redemption prices on August 1st – and called it a “discount” under the new program.
Chase will release new a new personal card, the Chase Marriott Premier Plus card. Additionally, there will be some changes to the current Marriott Rewards cards.
There’s a lot to talk about, so I’ll cover this in-depth in another post, but the bottom line is the upgrades and changes to the cards are a mixed bag.
The old Marriott Rewards card becomes less valuable, but the new Marriott Premium Plus card is an overall slight net positive with increased point earning potential and an increased potential for the free annual night (up to a category 5 at 35,000 points), but with an increased annual fee of $95.
For Marriott Rewards Members: Everything You Need To Know About The Coming Merged Loyalty Program
The bottom line is this, for current Marriott Rewards members most of these changes are neutral or slight devaluations. The biggest hits come to the loyalty program – specifically where Marriott Gold status earned from linking or matching will no longer match to Platinum Elite but instead match only to Gold in the new program (which isn’t really worth much of anything).
Positives for Marriott Rewards members come in the form of a hugely expanded universe of hotels and resorts to earn and redeem points and status, cheaper redemptions on high-end Marriott properties (at least through 2018), a new Marriott Premier Plus credit card with expanded earning categories, and the new ability to transfer points to airlines.
Overall, Marriott Rewards members won’t see a huge negative difference, but for SPG Starwood Preferred Guest members, that’s another story. I’ll talk about that in the next post in this series.
Cheers!
