I was a die-hard Starwood loyalist back in the day, I always used my SPG AMEX, stayed at SPG hotels, and earned Platinum status annually.
On my first trip to Israel in 2007 we criss-crossed the country and stayed in SPG hotels in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Eilat, Haifa, Tiberias, and the Dead Sea on point bargains.
I loved the friendly customer service phone and chat agents, and the suite upgrades that hotels generously doled out, as per the program terms. Marriott downgraded phone agent support and killed off chatting customer service.
I also loved redeeming points for SPG Moments, where I got to watch ballgames from a suite catered with kosher food, play softball in Wrigley Field with a DDF team, and throw out the first pitch before game 7 of the 2016 World Series in Cleveland.
Mergers are rarely good for the consumer. The Marriott purchase of Starwood started off promising enough. Marriott allowed Starwood points to transfer into Marriott points at a 1:3 ratio. Marriott initially had lucrative award charts. Marriott kept the Starwood promise to upgrade Platinum members to suites.
But it didn’t take long for that promise to crumble. Marriott killed the Starwood AMEX by cutting earnings by a third, while saying it was OK because the card came with a free night.
The merger was one fiasco after another.
Hotels were allowed to charge resort fees on award stays, something that Marriott didn’t previously do and that Hilton and Hyatt don’t do.
MLB Moments were killed off and were MSG Moments.
The devaluations came so fast and furious that they became known as getting Bonvoyed.
Award charts were Bonvoyed as well. As were several airline mileage transfers. Elite benefits such as free breakfast have so many asterisks that many hotels don’t bother offering them and Marriott never bothers enforcing their terms. That’s perhaps the biggest devaluation since the SPG merger. Starwood would stand up for guests when wronged by a hotel and even had social media liaisons to help when needed. Marriott only cares about the hotels and doesn’t offer any support to guests.
The Marriott program has consistently over-promised and under-delivered. Hotels that used to upgrade elites to suites under Starwood, now block all upgrades under Marriott, despite the terms stating that Platinum members and above were entitled to standard suites when they were available at check-in. And good luck asking Marriott to request that their hotels follow the Bonvoy program terms.
Gary Leff flags that Marriott has now officially changed their terms to remove that verbiage, which previously guaranteed upgrades to standard suites when available for Platinum members and above. With the change, suites are no longer guaranteed when available.
I suppose it’s no surprise that hotels stopped awarding upgrades when anyone can achieve Platinum status simply by opening a credit card. But what a long way this program has fallen since the Starwood days.
If you want a suite these days, you’ll have to pay for one, or use a nightly upgrade award, though even those rarely clear and only do so in the days before a stay. At least Hyatt’s suite upgrades can be confirmed at the time of booking!
I don’t see Marriott’s change of terms as much of a devaluation, as the terms weren’t being honored anyway, and Marriott didn’t enforce the terms.
It’s just Marriott admitting that elite status is worth very little and that they will sooner change their terms than enforce brand standards.
If a hotel wants to upgrade elites to a suite when available, they can still do so, of course. There are just no longer (unenforced) terms that require it.
What do you think of this change? Do you try to earn status with hotel chains, or are you a free agent?
As for me? I have status with several chains from credit cards, but Hyatt is worlds ahead of any other hotel loyalty program, and I’ll continue to be a Globalist for as long as they keep it up.