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What I learned at the Marriott press briefing yesterday

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Loyalty press conferences in the UK are a funny old thing, because there aren’t actually that many people to invite.  Thus it was that four usual suspects – plus a mysterious woman who I didn’t even notice until the end, who didn’t speak and I have no idea where she was from – turned up at the Great Northern Hotel yesterday morning to hear more about the Marriott Rewards changes.

Whilst most of the Starwood Preferred Guest management have left the business since Marriott took over, the European loyalty VP is an ex-Starwood man and someone I have known for a few years.  He seemed very happy about what Marriott has created from the combined loyalty schemes and – I have to say – he is right to be so.

Whilst there are clearly minor quibbles here and there, what many people forget is this:

Starwood was a very small hotel group which punched well above its weight by creating a very powerful loyalty programme which meant customers would go out of their way to track the hotels down

Marriott was a very large hotel group which gave the impression that – as it was hard to avoid its hotels, especially in North America – it didn’t need to try too hard, especially if you weren’t willing to give them at least 50 nights per year

The fact that virtually every key aspect of Starwood Preferred Guest has survived is a minor miracle.  Hilton Honors and IHG Rewards Club will need to do some serious thinking now.

Much of what people wanted to know was covered in my article yesterday.  Here are a few other things that came up:

The big one:  What happens to people who have SPG Gold via American Express Platinum? 

Does a Marriott Gold who matched from SPG Gold get:

Platinum in the new scheme (lounge or breakfast, 4pm check-out guaranteed) which is the Marriott Gold match or

Gold (no breakfast and no lounge access, no guaranteed late check-out) which would be the match you will get if you are seen as Starwood Gold?

This is especially important as a lot of people have made bookings for August onwards on the assumption that their Marriott Rewards Gold status would get them lounge access and/or free breakfast.

As it happens, Tom Otley from Business Traveller is, like me, a fellow Amex Platinum cardholder so we made it clear that this was a core issue for both of us ….

The Marriott team did not know, but went away to consult.  When we reconvened at a Rag’n’Bone Man private gig last night (as you do) Marriott’s European VP of loyalty confirmed that any Amex Platinum member who has matched their SPG Gold to Marriott Gold will become ‘Merged Scheme’ Platinum until the end of 2018.  Tom is my witness to this.

The UK credit card situation appears more fluid than was made out

It is currently stated that the UK Starwood Preferred Guest American Express will continue and that the Marriott Rewards Mastercard, issued by Creation, will return after a two year break. 

I got the impression that this is not as clear cut as we think.  As the return of the Creation card seems certain – given that an August date has been announced – perhaps the Amex will be dropped in the New Year?

“No black out dates” also means “last room availability”

We specifically talked about this to ensure that everyone was on the same page.  Occasionally the Marriott team was using both phrases interchangeably as if they were the same thing – and they are not.

Marriott has historically allowed its hotels to have blackout dates for rewards – that is no longer allowed.

However, apparently we will also see (as Starwood already has) “last room availability”.

This means that not only must a hotel make reward nights available, but they must keep making them available as long as standard rooms are available for cash.

There are ways of gaming the system, of course.  A hotel can create a small category of rooms – say the four rooms with a particularly bad view – and create a new category for those four rooms, charging $5 less for them.  They are then allowed to restrict ‘last room availability’ to just those four rooms.  In general, though, this is another major improvement.

Peak and off-peak dates will not be set globally

We will not get the weird Avios situation, where Dubai in August (50 degree heat) is peak pricing but the main tourist season in ‘off peak’.  The plan is that hotels will approximately set 20% of their days as peak, 20% as off-peak and 60% as standard.  There will be some standardisation – I got the impression that they want all hotels in a specific city, if not country, to be showing the same level of pricing.

You will earn points on all spending, not just your room rate

I thought it was only The Ritz-Carlton which had this exception, but I was told EDITION hotels also had the same rule.  At the cheaper end, it also impacted Moxy, AC Hotels, Courtyard, Gaylord, Protea, Springhill Suites, Residence Inn, Towneplace Suites and Fairfield Inn.  From now on you will always earn points on food and beverage spending irrespective of brand.

Marriott Travel Packages will remain ….

…. although the small print will change as the new hotel categories are introduced.

You can’t sign up for the Emirates and China Eastern partnerships ….

…. after 15th July.  I will do a separate article on this.  Those who sign up will continue to receive the benefits.  The Delta partnership closes full on 15th July.

No-one knew what would happen to multiple room credits

As present you can book three rooms at a Starwood hotel and it will count for three nights towards status.  Book three rooms at a Marriott and it will count as one night towards status.  To be honest, this news is mainly useful for people who do ‘mattress runs’ – booking three nights at the Sheraton Heathrow on a Saturday for £50 each is a cheap(ish) and easy(ish) way of getting to Starwood status more quickly via a Platinum Challenge.

It wasn’t clear to anyone what the situation would be going forward.  US reports I have seen say that the Marriott policy will prevail.

They genuinely do not have a name for the new programme ready to announce

The issue, oddly, is down to boring old things like the sheer volume of different items that need to be designed and printed.

And that was it.  Nothing else came up that wasn’t covered in our article yesterday.  In general, for most people most of the time, things are going to be OK – and I say that as someone who will lose the current Gold benefits of 4pm check-out and lounge access in the New Year.

I’m not giving any promises about the situation five years down the line but for now Marriott is clearly keen not to rock the boat with the Starwood regulars – even if it is being less generous to Amex Platinum freeloaders like me …..


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

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (October 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 for signing up 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

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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.)

Comments (184)

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

  • Alan says:

    Does the free breakfast benefit apply to all members of your party or is it only the status holder?

    Also, is this the same with the Hilton status?

    Going to New York in the summer and, whilst I’ve got a hotel booked via Booking.com, I’m looking at options for a better alternative. Given the prce fo food in NY, getting breakfast included with the hotel is a must for the 3 of us.

    • LawrenceB says:

      Another short queston. Do the elite status benefits apply if you book via Hotels.com etc instead of direct?

      • Alex says:

        That one is a big no. Basically, they’re paying 10-15% to Booking so you don’t get points or status perks.

        • Rob says:

          Marriott DOES give status benefits (no points) on third party bookings and, amazingly, is carrying this across to SPG too. I would have guessed they were dropping it.

    • Alex says:

      I think in the Hilton Honors scheme it’s status holder and a guest, I doubt it would work for 4 people… Also, be careful in NYC because hotels have started charging a “City fee” which isn’t shown at time of booking. It’s illegal in Europe, but apparently totally acceptable in the US, even if you booked from a UK website.

    • ankomonkey says:

      I’ve had free breakfast for 4 (2 adults, 2 children) on a one room booking as a Marriott Gold. I think some hotels might try to restrict it to status member +1. As is often the case, e-mail the hotel to ask and if they say yes take a print out with you to force the point if they try to backtrack.

  • Wally1976 says:

    Just realised we’re now entitled to free breakfast when we start at the Courtyard Marriott at Gatwick in August as wife and I will be platinum members ????. Anyone know if our 2 children will be entitled to it too (we’ve got a family room booked)?

    • Wally1976 says:

      start = stay

    • Wally1976 says:

      From yesterday’s article: Platinum members (current Gold members) will receive free breakfast or lounge access at most of the 29 brands. For the first time, free breakfast will be offered at resort properties. Courtyard, AC Hotels, Moxy and Protea will offer free breakfast for the first time. Some brands will offer a breakfast credit instead of ‘all you can eat’.

      • Bill says:

        thanks wally – i missed that

      • Alan says:

        Of course, it depends when in August the changes take place and when Wally is due to stay. The article yesterday just said “From August 2018”. That coudl be the 1st or 31st or anywhere in between

  • JPV says:

    Embarrassingly entry-level question – amex plat hotel status only applies for the primary cardholder and not the first supplementary cardholder, correct?

    My fiancee somehow has hilton gold and I can’t remember how I got it for her…

    • RTS says:

      Applies to supp too.

      • JPV says:

        Thank you RTS! Turns out I was just totally unable to navigate to the right part of the website since last years upgrade

    • Peter K says:

      The first supplementary card holder needs to set up their own online Amex account with that card and from there can apply for Hilton Gold, SPG gold etc

  • David L says:

    Was lifetime status discussed at all, I’m wondering what offically constitutes a year of “Gold” or “Platinum” status to qualify for it and how I can work out how many years of whatever status I have had?

    • Elaine says:

      I called MR in Cork to ask about years. He said they don’t yet know what constitutes a year. He said it could be that a year has to be a full year to count or that if you were Platinum on 31st December in a year that date is what counts or they might add up every part year and include that too. He was able to give me the dates I was Platinum from 2010 onwards but I (and they) are so far none the wiser about whether any part years will count.

      • David L says:

        Thanks, was I suspected…this is is key thing for many of us since in the past getting the total points for lifetime status, not necessarily the nights, was often more the challenge. It was pretty transparent however how you were doing whereas now it seems a bit unclear from a definition and visibility perspective.

  • RTS says:

    How long does a the Marriot Travel Package certificate last before it expires?

    • Scallder says:

      1 year, although it’s currently possible to extend them by upgrading (and previously some have reported the Marriott team being kind and simply extending it by a year).

      I call Marriott up yesterday saying that I was looking to do a travel package for staying after August, and was told that obviously the hotels would honour it, but interesting if the hotel chosen became cheaper, they would refund the price difference…

      Although not got a clue what taking a travel package now and not using it until after August would do regarding the category realignment

    • Peter K says:

      12 months though currently you can ring and upgrade to a higher level and it extends for 12/12 from the point of upgrading. You can do this once only.

      • Rob says:

        One benefit now is that you cannot upgrade an existing cert to a Ritz-Carlson cert at present. This will change after August because all hotels will be in the same category system.

        • Vin says:

          You can do this now as well. I upgraded mine to stay at Ritz Carlton in Osaka last month. I wouldn’t recommend that hotel though

    • RTS says:

      Thanks all… so do you think I should exchange for a certificate now or wait until their is a BA transfer bonus? I have no intentions to use the voucher until probably next year.

  • S says:

    OT:

    Just got a new BAPP, with an intention to chrin it for the points and cancel, however, we’re approaching a considerable points balance. How hard is it to use the 2-4-1 voucher? To say, on like a first class outbound and business return to Hong Kong? Are the redemption rules any stricter than just having the seats available?

    • mark says:

      nope same as any avois booking, as long as there are avoid seats available you can book using the voucher. First class might be a little trickier than CW but I’ve found if you are flexible you can usually make it work. The worst case scenario you can book CW and then keep watching for First to come up, this is what I did for Tokyo and it eventually popped up. BA redemption finder is your friend.

    • Rob says:

      No, normal seat availability and HK is usually fairly easy. baredemptionfinder.com can show you year-long availability in 10 seconds.

  • Nick Burch says:

    I’m guessing that any changes on credit for multiple rooms would kick in on the 1st of August? Or is there a chance that for currently-SPG properties, you might be able to keep getting night credits for up to 3 rooms through to the 31st of December?

    (I normally get ~15 of my nights for SPG Plat from booking for other members of my team when we’re all travelling, but sadly all the team trips for this year seem to be in Q4…)

    • Alex says:

      The assumption is that MR IT systems will be used from August, with the addition of the SPG rules that will be ported across, so I don’t think that’ll work. But that’s only my thoughts, not an official answer. They might align with HH, which is 2 rooms if my memory serves me well.

  • mark says:

    Sorry another questions from me Rob: If you book a Marriott room now but don’t request you ecertificate, will they apply the new points chart to the booking if you redeem it after august or do you ‘lock in’ the old rate?

    • Rob says:

      Very good question …. I imagine if it is a certificate then you pay the cost of the certificate on the day you redeem so the price may go up or down. Only a guess though.

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