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Marriott Bonvoy officially launches on 13th February

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It’s official – the new name for the combined Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest is, as we revealed a few weeks ago, Marriott Bonvoy.

The programme will launch on 13th February although it will clearly take a while to update all of the marketing material, credit cards and the like.

Here is the new logo which we previewed a few days ago.  Marriott calls it “simple, bold and modern”.

Marriott Bonvoy logo

Marriott Bonvoy will launch with over 120 million members.  This is a huge number (Avios has 8 million members for comparison), equivalent to the population of Japan or Mexico.

Apparently there will be a “multi-million-dollar global media campaign” starting in late February to accompany the launch, so I need to get Anika onto Marriott’s advertising department ASAP 🙂

Marriott said:

“Marriott Bonvoy marks an evolution in travel because it represents more than a loyalty programme.  Marriott Bonvoy is a travel programme designed to bring to life our extraordinary portfolio of global brands in 129 countries and territories, while also providing endless inspiration for members to keep traveling and pursuing their passions.”

In practical terms, little will change.  The ‘big bang’ was in August 2018, when Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest were aligned in terms of features and benefits and the new terms and conditions launched.  The launch of Marriott Bonvoy is just slipping a new skin over the existing Marriott website.

The one change that has been announced is the renaming of two membership tiers.

  • Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite will replace Platinum Premier Elite for members who exceed 75 nights
  • Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador Elite will replace Platinum Premier Elite with Ambassador.  This is for members who spend over 100 nights per year and spend over $20,000, who receive a dedicated ambassador to oversee their bookings.

13th February will be the day when the Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Starwood Preferred Guest brands finally disappear.  You will still see the broader Starwood name around – Starwood Capital Group still exists and is still developing hotel projects.  It recently sold Principal Hotels in the UK to IHG and owns a 30% stake in Yotel.

I think this quote from a Flyertalk poster summed it up well:

“I like the video – it’s very Starwood, with no Utah-based Tumi-tugging Accenture consultants in poor fitting suits sitting in a lounge drinking Bud Light out of plastic cups in sight.”

You can find out more about Marriott Bonvoy on the Marriott website here.

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 (70)

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

  • Mark2 says:
    16 Jan16 January 14:05

    It appears hat I have been mis-pronouncing the name, not giving enough accent to the ‘o’!

    • Peter K says:
      16 Jan16 January 16:05

      I thought you meant one of the O’s in Bonvoy but now I’ve watched the (pants) video it turns out you mean in MarriORtt !

  • Matt says:
    16 Jan16 January 14:30

    OT – I have now hit my Curve 50K limit, and won’t have any meaningful credit for another 6 months – has anyone had any success getting this reset, perhaps by paying to go onto one of curve’s paid cards?
    If paying for a new curve card, is the paid card still a debit card, which is important?
    Is it possible to have the free curve account AND a paid curve account?

    • Alan says:
      16 Jan16 January 15:24

      Apparently used to reset if the card was lost and reissued but no longer the case.
      Limits move across with upgrade to black AFAIK.
      Free and black are both debit cards. Other premium offerings not yet launched.
      Only one account per person.

    • Craig says:
      16 Jan16 January 20:49

      Curve will extend the £50k limit on request, contact their support dept.

      • Matt says:
        17 Jan17 January 10:13

        Hi Craig, have you managed to do this and by how much? I asked previously and was told that 50K was their top limit? Thanks Matt

    • Jeferson says:
      18 Jan18 January 10:06

      Are you guys using Curve with Amex to reach the spending for bonuses? Because I thought that wasn’t possible that AMEX was charging as cash withdraw, not transaction.

      • Rob says:
        18 Jan18 January 10:12

        Amex top-ups to Curve are treated as a purchase.

        Remember that Amex, when it launches, works differently. You load your Curve with Amex and then spend on Curve. There is no direct link between the transaction and Amex, if that makes sense.

        • Jeferson says:
          18 Jan18 January 11:18

          Thanks for the quick reply. Did you register for that beta program and was selected? Because my understanding is that this is not widely available yet.
          I’ve ordered a free card, but probably will upgrade to black because of % fee if I’m selected.

          • Alan says:
            18 Jan18 January 11:19

            Yep Amex support is still in beta – likely be a month or two yet I’d have thought…

          • Rob says:
            18 Jan18 January 11:50

            More like a few days 🙂

          • Alan says:
            18 Jan18 January 12:11

            They better have a massive update planned then, current Android beta has multiple regressions from previous stable version. Based on progress to date with each update they’ve released I stand by my estimate – whether they decide to wait until its ready or go down a Marriott/SPG route is of course another thing!!

        • Jeferson says:
          18 Jan18 January 11:28

          Thanks Alan for all the help as well 🙂
          I’ve signed-up to the beta, let’s wait and see then.. Cheers.

        • Genghis says:
          18 Jan18 January 11:52

          @Rob even with Curve’s reputation?

      • Alan says:
        18 Jan18 January 10:12

        No, Amex shows as spend fine & earns points and counts towards spend bonus. You can’t withdraw from Amex wallet to cash though.

        • Jeferson says:
          18 Jan18 January 11:33

          One last question Alan, did you order the free one and when you got selected by the beta you upgraded to the Black card?

  • Russ says:
    16 Jan16 January 14:42

    I think everyone will continue calling it Marriott, which was probably the idea from the start.

    See PPE’s are moving to the new titanium title. Anyone want to hazard a guess if we’ll get a soft landing to Platnum come renewal time?

  • Russell says:
    16 Jan16 January 14:53

    “Looks like we got ourselves a Bonvoy!”

  • JoJoee7 says:
    16 Jan16 January 15:46

    So I’ve been intentionally keeping my SPG account and Marriott account unmerged for now (had a higher status in one of the two and didn’t want to risk Marriott’s sh!tty IT ruining it).

    Some questions:

    -What happens if I don’t merge them before the 13th of Feb?
    -Once merged I know they add up all lifetime nights; would I lose these if the accounts are still separate?

    I’m just wondering what will constitute a greater hassle – doing this beforehand or after Bonvoy is
    spawned…

    • Rob says:
      16 Jan16 January 16:21

      You don’t have an SPG account. You have 2 Marriott accounts (your old SPG account number was changed to a 9 figure Marriott number in August, remember).

      On this basis the Bonvoy launch shouldn’t change anything.

  • AndyW says:
    16 Jan16 January 16:21

    OT – but Marriott. For those with Domes of Elounda bookings later in the year there looks to have been a pretty significant upgrade. Perhaps that is why it moved so much higher in terms of points required.

  • Ammar says:
    16 Jan16 January 16:33

    @rob – do we know when the last date to make a redemption at 60k points will be? Is it end of February or March as it’s vague in the email regarding the start date or am I reading it incorrectly. Trying to collect 240k points and make a booking as late as possible into 2020 at Al maha

  • Dev says:
    16 Jan16 January 18:06

    What a crap name! Up there with Air France Joon nonsense.

    • Bagoly says:
      16 Jan16 January 19:06

      But at least (in English) it is an obvious trade name, which I regard as more sensible sensible than “Monday”, “Orange”, “Virgin” etc
      And only two syllables, so one avoids mouthfuls like “Are you a member of iPrefer Hotel Rewards”

    • Lady London says:
      17 Jan17 January 19:07

      And. look what happened to that

      • Lady London says:
        17 Jan17 January 19:08

        Joon is being shut down not much more than one year after it started

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

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