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The future of Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest is revealed tonight

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At 4.30pm EST (9.30pm in the UK) on Monday, Marriott will be hosting an event to reveal the replacement loyalty scheme for Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest.

It seems that the new scheme will be introduced from August, presumably with some sort of transition period.  Everything needs to be in place for 1st January so that members know what they need to do to earn or retain their status.

There are plenty of rumours swirling around, almost all of which are unsubstantiated so I won’t bother you with them.

We WILL get clarity on the new elite tiers and what will be required to achieve them

We SHOULD get clarity on whether key aspects of the old programmes, such as Marriott Travel Packages, will be retained

We are UNLIKELY to get any clarity on whether, in the UK, American Express will remain a partner – the future of the Starwood American Express credit card, the free Starwood Gold card for Amex Platinum members and the fate of Membership Rewards points transfers to SPG and therefore Marriott Rewards will remain unknown at this stage

More on Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on how much clarity is available before I go to bed tonight.

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

There are various ways of earning Marriott Bonvoy points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

The official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card comes with 20,000 points for signing up, 2 points for every £1 you spend and 15 elite night credits per year.

You can apply here.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points sign-up bonus and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points by converting American Express Membership Rewards points at the rate of 2:3.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Marriott Bonvoy Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points indirectly:

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Marriott Bonvoy points is 2:3.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Marriott Bonvoy points. 

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Category

Marriott Bonvoy

Comments (138)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Michael says:
    16 Apr16 April 06:12

    OT: Just had a stay in a Sheraton in California where I checked in only at 3 am. The final bill showed a no show fee of about $ 70. Can they do this. After all I arrived a calendar day later but during the booked night. Seems like a big rip off to me.

    • Anna says:
      16 Apr16 April 06:33

      You need to check the Ts & Cs of your booking. Sometimes you need to notify a hotel in advance if you’ll be arriving after a certain time.

    • James says:
      16 Apr16 April 07:25

      That is a bit of a surprise 🙁

      • Tom says:
        16 Apr16 April 07:45

        I missed out on my IHG Reward Club night credit for the first night of a stay at a Novotel in Belgium because I arrived after midnight. Very irritating!

    • Sam G says:
      16 Apr16 April 07:59

      Sounds like a mistake – their audit will have run at around 2am and posted the fee and cancelled your booking. The receptionist would have re-instated it and not taken this off I imagine

      Did you pay for the nights stay ?

      If you know you are going to be late best to call ahead – they’ll check you in usually, running the risk of turning up to no room at all!

    • the_real_a says:
      16 Apr16 April 13:04

      Have you spoken to them? This sound like something that can be fixed by speaking to guest relations. If you can get through to the Americans rather than some asian call center…

  • Vistaro says:
    16 Apr16 April 06:16

    Perhaps me being overly cautious but not sure I want to fly the 787 anymore !

    Anyone know who else besides BA and VS uses the RR engines?

    • Matt says:
      16 Apr16 April 06:27

      Norwegian are a 787 shop, and they fly to South America.
      These RR 1000 engines are meant to be in the process of being replaced to updated ones, but I imagine that 1+ years work.

    • JamesB says:
      16 Apr16 April 07:44

      I’ve intentionally avoided flying the 787 since launch and will continue to do so as best I can. It is not just the engine that is an issue. There are persisting reports of battery issues, as far as I can tell that problem was never fixed, only contained.

    • flyforfun says:
      16 Apr16 April 12:46

      After hearing all the negative comments about Y class seating across numerous airlines, that sounds like a good enough reason to avoid the 787.

      • JamesB says:
        16 Apr16 April 15:15

        Yes, be at seen a more criticised aircraft but main problem seems to be lack of feet space.

  • George says:
    16 Apr16 April 06:20

    OT: Flying from T5 today in club. Have PP – what’s the recommended lounge for a (fairly) long wait?

    • john says:
      16 Apr16 April 06:43

      with PP the only option is the Aspire, it’s quit cramped and can be very crowded, I would not recommend it for a long stay, if you can get a decent seat an hour or so at most

      according to HFP the Plaza Premium lounge is better, I’ve not been in T5 since it opened to try it but it sounds much better, access options are in the article
      https://headforpoints.com/2018/03/08/review-plaza-premium-lounge-heathrow-terminal-5/

      • George says:
        16 Apr16 April 11:46

        Thanks all – will try Plaza and fall back to Galleries if I can’t get in.

    • Matt says:
      16 Apr16 April 06:59

      What’s wrong with BA galleries? (Except the hospital loos).

      • Rob says:
        16 Apr16 April 08:30

        I like the Galleries, I must admit. Perhaps a bit style over substance but I am generally fine with that.

        • Matt says:
          16 Apr16 April 10:05

          John is flying Club so wouldn’t you use Galleries? Or are PP/Amex Plat lounges better in T5?

          • Rob says:
            16 Apr16 April 10:24

            Purely due to lack of people I think Plaza Premium is pleasant, but in terms of space, number of newspapers and magazines, variety of drink, variety of food (if not quantity) then Galleries is better.

            My current view is that I will use PP when on my own and Galleries Club when with the kids, where they can run riot more easily.

      • the_real_a says:
        16 Apr16 April 13:08

        No plug sockets, those that are available are usually broken (my record is trying 10 outlets and finding a working one on the 11th attempt). Food slops are grim – although i find the afternoon tea enjoyable. Also as a single traveler – considering the place is usually rammed – i’m always nervous leaving my bad out of sight whilst i grab food/coffee.

        Plaza Premium and even Aspire are worlds apart from galleries.

        • john says:
          16 Apr16 April 15:46

          Always surprised at the number of people that leave luggage unattended with all the security warnings everywhere that they’ll be destroyed. Surprised the staff don’t bother to do more about it

    • TGLoyalty says:
      16 Apr16 April 07:06

      If the PP is due to AMEX Plat then try the Plaza Premium lounge

      • James says:
        16 Apr16 April 07:28

        Hi, why would it matter whether the PP was from the AMEX Platinum or not ?
        Cheers.

        • Rob MC says:
          16 Apr16 April 07:33

          As amex platinum allows access to the plaza premium, not the priority pass.

    • Lady London says:
      16 Apr16 April 13:09

      Errrr…Gordon Ramsay 🙂

  • Jonathan says:
    16 Apr16 April 06:42

    Hi, I’m struggling to find the answer to this so thought I’d ask the group here.

    Can you accrue Marriott rewards points on stays booked through a 3rd party site (such as booking.com)? I know this isn’t often the case with hotel stays but don’t see this excluded on Marriott Rewards website. I have a Ritz-Carlton stay coming up tmrw.

  • Gumshoe says:
    16 Apr16 April 06:55

    Re Luxembourg – a return can often be had for under £60 even without the €11 one-way fare.

    It also leaves from T3 at LHR so BA would lose some serious money if everyone with status took full advantage of their oneworld lounge-hopping rights!

    • Michael says:
      16 Apr16 April 07:56

      Pricing to Luxembourg has been very competitive for a while. I go fairly regularly and used to use points but it’s not worth it any more. Even Club can be as little as £120 return.

    • Chris says:
      16 Apr16 April 08:27

      Exactly what I’m doing! €48 returns, which should earn me 2000 Avios bonus! Combined with at3 lounging and Luxembourg tobacco prices – I genuinely think I’ll make a profit ????????????

    • Rebecca says:
      16 Apr16 April 09:36

      I went in February and foolishly didn’t notice it wasn’t T5. That mistake will never happen again! Luckily I’m always early for flights so I get to spend some time in the lounge so did make the plane, but only had time for one wine in the lounge!

  • Tilly says:
    16 Apr16 April 07:18

    Think I’m supposed to be on a 787 in 3 weeks to YYZ. Should I be worried?

    • Thomas Howard says:
      16 Apr16 April 09:38

      Depends on the carrier, see who they selected for their engines: http://www.pdxlight.com/787.htm

    • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
      16 Apr16 April 10:49

      I don’t think BA have any of the C series engines affected by this particular issue.

      • Tilly says:
        16 Apr16 April 11:05

        Thanks. It’s on BA metal.

      • Nick says:
        16 Apr16 April 12:43

        You don’t need to be worried about safety, the aircraft won’t fly if there is any doubt. But yes there will be fall-out in terms of operations.

        ALL of BA’s 787 engines are affected by this. It WILL cause cancellations in the late spring and early summer. The best we can hope for is that fleet planning can accurately predict how many will be out and when, so enough advance notice is given to help you make other plans.

        • Tilly says:
          16 Apr16 April 14:03

          As long as they get me to Toronto and back safely ………..

        • Tilly says:
          16 Apr16 April 17:48

          Think it’s out on the 787-9 as I’m in F and then return on 787-8 in J.

  • Josh says:
    16 Apr16 April 07:32

    So when you say “. . . future revealed” what you really meant to say was “. . . future to be revealed”. Clickbait!

    • vincent says:
      16 Apr16 April 07:48

      wow rob, you may have increased your numbers of readers massivley over the last few years but the standard had definatley sunk down!

      • Rob says:
        16 Apr16 April 08:22

        Sorry, that is purely bad editing. We need to keep headlines short because they automatically go onto Twitter so every extraneous word is chopped.

        It was grammatically correct though – revealed is the same word whether used in the past or future tense.

        What you see is a great conspiracy is actually just the result to trying to knock something out on a Sunday whilst also juggling the demands of two kids and all the usual weekend nonsense ….

        I would expect most readers to know that the full details of the reorganisation would be a major story and not tucked away with a cheap one way Luxembourg fare ……

        • Waribai says:
          16 Apr16 April 08:52

          No confusion here. I understood it is as a pre-cursor to something to come rather than a reveal all!

      • Jackh says:
        16 Apr16 April 09:03

        Yes and funny how the quality of reader comments has drastically gone down in the same period.

        • the_real_a says:
          16 Apr16 April 13:12

          +1 although i still enjoy the comments as much as the articles generally.

    • Leo says:
      16 Apr16 April 20:06

      Pedant.

  • IslandDweller says:
    16 Apr16 April 07:51

    Planes with these engines can still get to South America, but they need to accept a slightly longer route (not pure great circle) to stay within the 140 rule. Might be an issue for flights to Santiago, because that’s already close to limit range.
    The airlines keep pushing the manufacturers for more power / better fuel economy, so we can’t be surprised that engine manufacturers are pushing right against the edge of our understanding of physics and material science.

    • Chris says:
      16 Apr16 April 08:30

      I’ve avoided the 787 since launch. Feel much happier on an Airbus (747 excluded) – there’s a documentary called 787 Broken Dreams or similar that’s a good watch…

      • JamesB says:
        16 Apr16 April 10:02

        It’s here:

        https://www.aljazeera.com/investigations/boeing787/

        Must be taken in context though, all new aircraft have teething problems. Much of these have probably been sorted already as the reports are now dated. Furthermore, although it has had a few emergencies I don’t recall hearing that the 787 has had a serious accident, On balance though there has simply been so many negative reports about this aircraft and I do not trust the regulators to put passenger safety first so I continue to be reluctant to fly on it but if I turned up at the gate to find one waiting I would not refuse to board.

      • CV3V says:
        16 Apr16 April 11:02

        I am ok putting trust into the regulators regarding air worthiness. The A380 had problems getting certification due to the escape slides being unreliable, whereas Airbus tried to argue it wasn’t a big issue (!). When Virgin took delivery of the first A340’s (someone may correct me on the model), the crew spent most of the flights running about having to check and then switch of all sort of alarms that kept going off all through the flight (can’t just reset a fire alarm without checking). The A380 and 787s have both had their issues, but it’s either that or stick to a 777/A340 for long haul.

    • Stuart says:
      16 Apr16 April 08:30

      Well said

    • the_real_a says:
      16 Apr16 April 13:14

      Do you drive to the airport? Or take the London tube? Far more likely not to arrive at the airport than be killed whilst on a plane. (I still get nervous flying Malaysian however!)

      • JamesB says:
        16 Apr16 April 15:23

        I read a safety article in Air Asia in-flight magazine where they stated more people are killed on USA roads alone every single year than have been killed in air accidents worldwide in the whole of the previous 50 years.

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