Is Marriott backtracking on 5-months of Platinum status for Amex Platinum cardholders?

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• Roger says:

  12 May12 May 06:09

  Wow, not an exciting news.

  I already have a booking at JMW in Singapore this October and have written email from hotel confirming free breakfast as Marriott gold (matched from SPG via Amex Platinum).
  But if I do not get upgraded, that is still fine as long as original GOLD benefit at the point of booking is honoured

  Is it too much to ask?

  • mathzjl says:

    15 May15 May 22:00

    no harm to try..I guess even Marriott or the hotel don’t know how to properly deal with this issue either. Probably it depends on the hotel, and it’s likely they will honor it.

• MissGeekChic says:

  12 May12 May 07:06

  There is one thing confusing me. The article talks about the 5 months from Aug to Dec of 2018 where we lose our current Marriott Gold benefits due to the benefits being shifted to their “Platinum” tier. But what happens from 2019? Do the Amex Platinum members who have already matched their SPG Gold to Marriott Gold now receive Mariott Platinum and get the benefits again?

  • Roger says:

    12 May12 May 07:08

    No, that is definitely back to Gold.

• Gareth says:

  12 May12 May 07:29

  Is there a way to unlink the two schemes so effectively the standalone SPG will turn into gold but the standalone Marriott will turn into platinum? You then scrap the first one and continue with the platinum for 5 months?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    12 May12 May 07:41

    if You unlink them you have no Marriott status unless you have earned it through number of nights.

    If you have 50 nights this year in the combined programme then you will be platinum either way.

    • Gareth says:

      12 May12 May 08:18

      Ahh that solves that one then!

• Paul Hickey says:

  12 May12 May 07:32

  Both Marriott & Amex should know that, if I do not retain gold as an Amex SPG match, then I will be terminating my Platinum. Save for the priority pass, it’s the lounge access at Marriotts which gives me true value. I have enough AVIOS to ensure that any long-haul flights over the next few years will be biz class and on short-haul I can live without or pay on the door if I really do require lounge access. The other lite or non-guaranteed hotel / Car benefits don’t really excite me too much.
  Since becoming Marriott Gold in October last year, we have done 15 nights in their properties and I can honestly say that I would not have chosen any if I had not been guaranteed lounge access.
  So if anyone from Amex or Marriott is reading this, think on, because I bet there are many people with my thought process.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    12 May12 May 07:42

    Because Amex or SPG promised you anything other than gold in the SPG programme?

    The Marriott status match was never part of the advertised package it was a happy coincidence

    • Paul Hickey says:

      12 May12 May 07:58

      I’m not saying it was promised. I took the Amex simpley to get the bonus points however, given I had quite a bit on none-bizzo travel I decided to keep it for the PP. I actually learned about the Marriott match a few weeks later but as I say, it’s that which has really given me true value. It’s also given Marriott true value as I have stayed 15 nights and spent a small fortune on extras whilst at the properties. Without lounge access, in most cases, there will be other branded hotels offering a better solution (like Hilton or Shangri-La)

      #justsayin 🙂

      • TGLoyalty says:

        12 May12 May 08:03

        Then what is Marriotts motivation to keep giving you the benefits for your 15-20 nights this year?

        These are benefits they want to reward people who spend 50 nights+ with them each and every year.

        If you fall into the second bracket then you’ll have platinum anyway later this year/all of next.

    • JamesB says:

      12 May12 May 08:12

      Agreed. Furthermore, I don’t see any backtracking here because I do not believe 5 months grace was ever officially promised. Rob and others were only provided with unofficial assurances while others were given the opposite information. I always thought the situation was clear from day one. SPG gold to platinum would have been nice but I had no reason to expect it and I harbour no ill-feeling to Marriott for failing to deliver on it. However, there is an issue for those who booked nonrendable stays before the changes were announced, their
      guaranteed benefits should be honoured or a refund offered.

      • Paul Hickey says:

        12 May12 May 09:24

        My argument here is not “he said, she said”. It’s putely a commercial viewpoint and from what I’m reading Marriott will lose customers if they reduce gold benefits.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        12 May12 May 09:41

        Marriott customers earned gold with 50 nights and that’s still the case in the new programme.

        Loyal 50+ night a year Marriott customers are not losing out.

      • Lady London says:

        12 May12 May 11:06

        I certainly wouldn’t do 50 nights with Marriott for that pathetic package of Gold benefits. I’m traveling to a city frequently for work now, where there are 2 Marriotts within my client’s budget. So it would be easy for me to do a 9 night challenge and get Platinum.. But if benefits are so downgraded I just don’t want to.

        Lounge access for me to the very few properties Marriott has in Europe with lounges would get them a lot of nights and other spend in those hotels. As @Paul Hickey says if you take the lounge access away, the great majority of Marriott properties are easily bettered in quality by the offerings of other hotel programs we have memberships in.

        Also I’m wondering so Marriott really have access to the data to see how an incoming SPG Gold got their status? It may be that they can’t distinguish so with their 100 million members they fear a flood of non-Amex SPG Golds could also qualify for Platinum if they can’t do the work to exclude them in time.

        • Rob says:

          12 May12 May 11:19

          Do the 9 stays, Plat until Feb 2020 (2021 if you got a soft landing) is worthwhile I think.

    • John says:

      12 May12 May 13:49

      but Gold (in the future) is essentially worthless?

      • Rob says:

        12 May12 May 13:57

        As was SPG Gold before it let you match to Marriott Gold.

  • Leo says:

    12 May12 May 08:52

    Well you’re not wrong – but I don’t think Marriott will lose any sleep over you not booking in the future as a consequence. It’s not like they’ve lost a long term loyal customer. My stays for 2018 are already booked in non-Marriott hotels. I’d have used them in 2019 if I’d kept lounge access but I won’t so I’ll go elsewhere. And Marriott (rightly) won’t give a damn, whereas as Shangri-la might see my cash due to the breakfast. I doubt they will care much either regarding a one off booker.

    • Paul Hickey says:

      12 May12 May 09:19

      I tend to disagree. I am in my mid 30’s and will probably rack up 30 nights a year – multiply by 25 years and I’d be classed as a decent prospect. I accept that me, myself and I is a drop in the ocean BUT if another few thousand people (like some listed above) take my view then it becomes a bigger splash.
      For the sake of 3 G&T’s, 2 OJ’s a a few lite snacks per day it will cost Marriott very little to retain these people.
      Of course, it’s out of our hands and what will be will be, I’m just saying that if I was in the customer acquisition or loyalty department at Marriott then I’d be taking the views of people like me in to account. In my business I know the cost of customer acquisition and I can tell you that it’s much cheaper to keep an existing customer than to find a new one.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        12 May12 May 16:57

        Platinum gives no top level hotel status since Accor stopped platinum. They’re all mid level, granted some mid level are better than others for getting breakfast but generally lounge access is top level for most groups.

        And 50 nights will get you platinum in the future which has the equivalent benefits as gold today, if those benefits are worthless why are you so concerned with them disappearing.

    • Lady London says:

      12 May12 May 11:14

      Hotel groups give Amex Platinum customers their top level status because they know a typical Amex Platinum customer has money to spend and a higher percentage of Amex Platinum customers have large numbers of hotel nights to choose hotels for. It’s a commercial decision. Yes they let me in to the top status level without my having done the officially required nights but my spend and further nights will more than make up for it.

      I’ve lost count of loyalty schemes I’ve joined in that kind of way and subsequently fully qualified for the benefits I was initially given free, by the business I subsequently gave the hotel or airline after they gave me the initial status free.

      Alitalia a couple of years ago would only match me to their Silver equivalent level and not the top level status I was asking to match. I told them not to bother as I would not be booking any flights on Alitalia so long as I already got better benefits elsewhere. If they matched me to the level I was asking to be matched to and proved I had elsewhere, then I said I was happy to book flights with them. But I was not going to make my travel more uncomfortable just to book with Alitalia when I already received better benefits elsewhere – they had to match me.

      Luckily they didn’t budge so I am not now invested in an airline that seems to have gone bankrupt where their main investor also is having to cut back.

      So match me – or I won’t even try you if I’m already getting better benefits elsewhere. If you match me I’ll give you a fair try and you will definitely get a lot more business. And I might even end up switching to you as my main program. No match no bookings.

      • mathzjl says:

        15 May15 May 17:01

        I’d suggest you to get the Amex Hilton Aspire card, which is the easiest TOP tier hotel status you could get, though you might find devaluation in years to come when they realize they give too many people the top tier benefits.

        • Rob says:

          15 May15 May 17:40

          I’d suggest that the need to move to the USA, gain a US social security number and build up a US credit record before Amex would give you this card means that it probably isn’t “the easiest”.

• Graham Walsh says:

  12 May12 May 07:39

  Hmm not good news at all.

• Alex W says:

  12 May12 May 07:40

  I understand that compared to a year or so ago, we haven’t lost anything. But even so, an unexpected mid year demotion is a bit of a kick in the balls.

  • Graham Walsh says:

    12 May12 May 07:53

    Or at least honour existing bookings too. End of the year is a sensible change date. How much will it actually cost them to keep it like this for 5 months vs. how much will they lose if people decide to switch brands?

    • Paul Hickey says:

      12 May12 May 08:01

      If they agreed to honour bookings made over the next few months, they would be getting a total of 20 nights from me over 2 holiday in the next 12 months. If not, they won’t.

  • Lady London says:

    12 May12 May 12:30

    It’s a question of honour. They told Rob and other journalists they would honour it.
    I’ve seen comments elsewhere that the Marriott program has a history of making negative changes without notice and can’t be trusted.

    So on balance No even if I could easily divert my next 9 stays to Marriott to do a Platinum challenge I don’t trust them so I’ve stopped considering it. It will take a while now before I might consider the Marriott program again. Which means I’ll be booking hotels in programs which currently give me what they say they will. Or decent notice and no pfaffing around about what they will honour and then changing their mind.

• Andy says:

  12 May12 May 08:08

  This is, to be fair, no worse than SPG Gold used to be so no-one has lost anything.”

  Hi Rob, sorry this isn’t quite true from my understanding. As an SPG gold I always had guaranteed 4pm late checkout, the new scheme gives 2pm subject to availability which is a massive downgrade.

  • Rob says:

    12 May12 May 08:28

    Is that guaranteed?

    • Andy says:

      12 May12 May 08:33

      I think so, says subject to availability at resort and conference hotels but I’ve never not had it at an SPG one. Marriott barely manages to give a 1pm late checkout currently so not confident that 2pm will be feasible, and if late checkout is subject to availability than there is little reason to book the stay as no guarantee at all that it will be possible.
      For me it’s a massive downgrade.

  • Relaxo says:

    12 May12 May 09:06

    Not guaranteed….ever only got a fruit platter for being SPG gold , so yeah, its useless…..

• Louie says:

  12 May12 May 08:14

  More than a bit naughty not to honour promises made to Rob and the other UK/Aussie journalists.

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