REGISTER NOW for the new Marriott and Starwood hotel promotions starting next week

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• KBuffett says:

  10 Apr10 April 06:27

  The Marriott link doesn’t work for me. It takes me to a page to log into my account. Once I do that, I get the following message:
  A Note About This Promotion
  We’re sorry, but there was an error in directing you to this promotion.
  The reason for this error could be:
  You’re trying to access a miles promotion and are a points-earner, or vice versa
  You are not eligible for this promotion
  This promotion has expired
  Updating your earning preference is fast and easy; simply sign into your account. For all other issues, please contact Marriott Rewards Customer Support.

  • JFSV says:

    10 Apr10 April 07:26

    I get the same error message too.. 🙁

  • HackinJack says:

    10 Apr10 April 08:32

    +1

• Ian says:

  10 Apr10 April 06:51

  Really disappointing promotion. Far less generous than the current one. As the promotions are identical it means that Marriott stays are once again more rewarding than Starwood.
  As a Platinum member I’ll earn 15 Marriott points per dollar (5 Starwood), compared to just 3 Starwood per dollar (9 Marriott).

  I’ll be considering doing a Hilton status match and staying with them for the next few months I think!

• Mycity says:

  10 Apr10 April 06:55

  Re Starwood, Rob have you heard anything on the rumour on FT that from 16th April transfers to airline miles stop?

  Thanks

• JamesB says:

  10 Apr10 April 07:54

  Rob, any thoughts on the forthcoming changes to Marriott elite status levels this summer and implications to us who are Marriott Gold only via the amex platinum SPG route? The way I read it, it seems likely we will remain gold and therefore almost certainly lose lounge/breakfast from August which will likely require the new lower of two platinum levels.

  • AspirationalFlyer says:

    10 Apr10 April 08:24

    I hope not! I booked two stays at JWMs at the weekend (partially on the basis of my Amex derived gold status). Not the end of the world, but I wouldn’t be in any rush to book another stay.

  • Tilly says:

    10 Apr10 April 08:24

    I hope we don’t lost breakfast and lounge access. Have a Marriott booking in early September and was counting on the breakfast. Only reason I booked room only and chose Marriott over Hilton for a change. If I wasn’t getting breakfast then I’d have booked Hilton for breakfast with gold.

  • JamesB says:

    10 Apr10 April 08:52

    The problem at the moment is that it is to good to be true for SPG member who can get Marriott platinum status so much easier than Marriott members due to the status matching between schemses. The new rules will deal with this but it would not make sense unless existing SPG gold changes to new gold too which requires 25 nights if I understand it correctly. Lounge and breakfast require 50 nights (gold) under current Marriott rules so it is probably going to requure the new lower platinum level after the changes. For us on the amex, I guess it will all depend on whether the platinum benefit stays gold or changes to the new lower platinum level. This is the way I am understanding it, apologies if I have got it wrong, the Marriott expers can correct.

    • mark says:

      10 Apr10 April 14:41

      what are your rights etc if you have already booked and you booked because of the benefits listed being ‘guaranteed’ surely this is breech of advertising/contract?

      • Rob says:

        10 Apr10 April 15:35

        There will be some sort of crossover period I’m sure, for stays in 2018. As it has been made very clear many times that both existing schemes will end in December 2018 you’d have no claim over a stay next year.

  • Dave says:

    10 Apr10 April 10:27

    To be fair the merger has made some serious sweet spots so it was always likely that they were going to be closed. I think the main problem with the status changes is that they look to be on there way mid-year, which would be pretty mean as a lot of people would have already booked. As for airline mile transfers, I think that is just a rumour and would be too big of a change with everything else. Furthermore, I suspect the rate of transfer will decrease as 3to1 is too high. I am currently in the process for transferring all my points over to Marriott as whilst I do not have enough to get another travel package, I will be able to upgrade my voucher to higher categories which was always likely to be the case as Cat 1-5 does not have a great collection.

    • Rob says:

      10 Apr10 April 11:06

      The 3:1 won’t change, that would be silly. They only need to ‘sit it out’ until 31st December anyway.

  • Cate ⛱️ says:

    10 Apr10 April 12:34

    Yep lot of speculation. Just got this from Amex which is interesting IF the rumor that gold won’t get lounge access is true…

    ‘We’re not making any changes {…………} to the benefits you receive with your Card’

    • Genghis says:

      10 Apr10 April 12:41

      I read this as “you will continue to get SPG Gold but it might not give the benefits what you received before”

      • Cate ⛱️ says:

        10 Apr10 April 14:27

        as did I…..

    • Rob says:

      10 Apr10 April 15:37

      Nothing to do with Amex. In my view you should consider yourself lucky to get any “Marriott Preferred Guest” (as I call it) status from Amex Plat next year.

      • Cate ⛱️ says:

        10 Apr10 April 16:10

        To be fair Amex must be at the very short end of this.

      • JamesB says:

        10 Apr10 April 19:52

        Why lucky? The card comes with a hefty fee!

      • Steve-B says:

        10 Apr10 April 21:48

        Agreed, never really intended to offer a route to Marriott Gold only SPG Gold, I consider it ‘lucky’ given the difference in tier benefits.

        Would silly of them to try and re-tier or tweak the tier benefits in-year… surely from 01/2019….

• Relaxo says:

  10 Apr10 April 08:03

  Got a Facebook message from Marriott saying they are introducing “some exciting changes next week”.

  • Pangolin says:

    10 Apr10 April 19:16

    I can get excited by watching a horror movie. That’s not exactly reassuring.

  • shd says:

    10 Apr10 April 20:31

    Perfect excuse to phone Amex, cancel my SPG card, and ask for a pro-rata refund … ?

    There’s always time to have one more go at the card right at the end of 2018 if it still exists then! 😉

• Alex W says:

  10 Apr10 April 08:59

  If Marriott takes away my lounge access and breakfast, then I take away my business. Simples.

• Andrew S says:

  10 Apr10 April 09:24

  This is really bad timing on the close of the promotion. I’m doing a trip through Europe on my way back to NZ, which includes a 3 night stay in Amsterdam at an SPG hotel before the 20th July, and then a 3 night stay from the 29th July in Venice.

• Nick says:

  10 Apr10 April 10:13

  OT

  As a Marriott Gold member – do I get free breakfast even if I booked via a hotels.com/booking.com type website?

  Are there any benefits at Marriott Vacation Clubs?

  • JamesB says:

    10 Apr10 April 10:19

    Yes, third party booking respected. However, note that ou do not get the benefits at resorts. There is now some future uncertainty as we have been discussing above. Hopefully this will be resolved next week.

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