On February 13th, Marriott will discontinue the Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest, and Ritz Carlton Rewards names.
Replacing those names will be the new unified program name, “Marriott Bonvoy.” Which is the worst name in loyalty since American added a Platinum Pro level or Hyatt Gold Passport became World of Hyatt with elite titles going from Platinum and Diamond to the awkward Explorist, Discoverist, and Globalist.
There’s a boring new logo to boot.
And to think there are consultants out there that are getting paid millions to come up with this stuff!
The bottom line is that Marriott is now truly massive in scale and they can do pretty much whatever they want without repercussion. And that includes ridiculous program names and logos.
On 2/13 Marriott will change their elite tier names to Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite, Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite, Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite, Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite (Currently Platinum Premier Elite), and Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador EliteĀ (Currently Platinum Premier Elite with Ambassador).
I’m not quite sure why Titanium, which is worth significantly less than Silver, is the new level above Platinum. I supposeĀ Titanium is stronger thanĀ Platinum, but then again Silver is stronger than Gold.Ā Ā Nothing here seems to makes much sense.
Marriott originally had 3 levels of of Platinum to placate SPG loyalists who didn’t like that top-tier SPG Platinum was being downgraded to Marriott mid-tier status. But sure enough, the old SPG Platinum is now mid-tier Platinum status under Titanium and Ambassador. And the highest level you can earn from credit card spending is now mid-tier versus top-tier with Hilton or Hyatt.
The Starwood and Marriott credit cards will be rebranded asĀ Marriott Bonvoy.
The SPG and Ritz apps will be discontinued.
The new devalued 2019 award chart with 8 categories of hotels and peak date pricing will go into effect on a yet to be determined date in March, so there will still be time to lock in future hotel bargains.
Marriott has managed to completely bungle the Starwood merger. IT issues have plagued Marriott.com since the merger and those still have not been resolved. Marriott phone agents are undertrained and can’t seem to resolve any account issues.
I wrote about many of the issues they were facing here, 2 weeks after the merger.Ā Aside from IT issues, Marriott faces a loyalty disconnect. They tricked people about lifetime elite benefits and about their travel packages and frankly aren’t worthy of loyalty.
I still have my Starwood cards for the new annual free nights that they come with. But they no longer get any of the swiping action like they used to. The value for actually using the card for spending, especially after category 8 goes into effect, just isn’t there anymore.
I’ve come to terms with the death of SPG. Starwood cared about their guests without needing to claim that they live by the #GoldenRule.Ā Marriott simply does not care.
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49 Comments On "Marriott Rewards Will Be Renamed Marriott Bonvoy As They Are Big Enough To Call Themselves Just About Anything"
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There’s a reason I didn’t post it š
Sorry just realized
Amazing post. Laughing at my desk
Hi Dan. I have a basic Starwood card that I have had for years. Does it now come with a free night? I didn’t see any update telling me this. Thanks for everything!
Is it the regular one with the $95 annual fee
I have the SPG Amex that is $95 annually but on my account I don’t see my free night……
Eighth at 10 weeks After the annual fee is billed you would see it on your SPG account
awesome. thanks š
How long ago did you get charged the annual fee. It would be in your spg.com/Marriott account under certificates
Call and make sure that you get it posted to your account. My husband got his automatically, mine we had to call for.
Bonvoy might be the worst name for this program they could’ve thought of. Such a boring name
Any credit cards we should get before this goes into effect?
After Gillette anything is possible
As in Bon Voyage to the benefits of the SPG program?
Sounds about right to me :/
How is it to transfer Marriott points to another household account? is there a limit, and what’s the process?
100k per calendar year
So true Marriott doesn’t care about their customers, I recently had an issue and it took me days of calling and waiting on the phone to be able to talk someone who actually had a ‘slight’ clue as to what they were talking about, and then after all that they were not much help
“The Starwood and Marriott credit cards will be rebranded as Marriott Bonvoy”.
How do you know this?
Also which cards will Chase have, which will Amex have?
Also what happens to my current SPG card?
Please explain if itās only the app for SPG and Ritz are being discontinued or also the website accounts?
Should I merge my accounts or just leave them linked
Even with the SPG points being devalued by a third, theyāre still worth close 1 point per $ spent for airline transfers. Since Aegean Airlines and others have such value for international business class travel, and arenāt available on other cards, do you think itās still worth spending on this card?
You now get 0.84 miles per dollar spent with Marriott.
Versus 1.5-5 miles per dollar spent with a Chase Quinfecta: https://www.dansdeals.com/credit-cards/ultimate-comparison-chart-chase-ultimate-rewards-cards-supercharge-earnings-creating-killer-quinfecta/
Your not stopping to promote the Chase Quinfecta, why donāt you write an Amex Quinfecta we need a solution for those that canāt have Chase due to Chase kicking them out??
What Amex quinfecta are you talking about?
Not sure about quinfecta, but maybe the best Amex for everyday spending is the Business Blue Plus (if you’re able to get a business card). 2% cashback on everything up to $50k/yr. $0 annual fee.
Sorry didn’t mean to say cashback. Meant to say 2 membership rewards points per dollar. Worth more than 2% cashback.
Simple – Blue Biz Plus is 2x on all spend up to $50k/yr, plus Amex Gold 4x on grocery (capped at $25k/yr) plus unlimited 4x at restaurants. Pretty easy to get 200K MRs a year per SSN at reasonable cost and minor hassle.
Do you mean .84 miles per dollar after factoring in the 25% airline transfer bonus?
If you have a 7 night hotel stay from a travel package booked before August, can you change dates or cancel?
is it still possible to merge two spg accounts at same address? the cs i spoke to claimed it isnt possible only with exact matching names. just wondering if its true and if there is a workaround
Tricked people about lifetime elite benefits? Please explain. Didnāt they fix LPP?
Spoke with my Ambassador. She said the Lifetime Platinum Premier (one-time qualification in 2018) will be given out at the end of January 2019 to anyone who qualified. Lifetime Platinum Premier will post in January 2019 as Long as you have 750 nights and 10 years of Platinum, you should be good. She assumed it would be called Lifetime Titanium Elite and all benefits of the Titanium level.
can i receive credit for more than 1 room by staying at 2 different Marriott hotels in 1 night?
No – just like at SPG. A member can only occupy one hotel room at one property per night.
Does anyone know what ever happen to teh certificates at the end of the day?
I redeemed one a week ago. The added in five months to the expiration too. So It was good for two years and six months. Call me
Now they just need to make a commercial telling me not to beat my wife and then they will be golden.
BonVoy(age)is what many people will be saying to the Marriott Program, realizing that Marriott thinks that they are big enough that they only have to play lip service to the loyalty program. Ignorance and arrogance are not the best way to integrate or execute new loyalty programs.
Transferred marriot points a few weeks ago to united and theh still didn’t post. Points were taken out of marriott. Called every day and tried a few managers. They all say it can take up to 6 weeks!!!! Never had that with spg
It should be called Marriott Preferred Guest, MPG.
The levels would be MPG Silverado, MPG Altima, MPG Prius and MPG Prius Prime.
Even if not funny, it will be easier to remember than this new stuff. How do you pronounce bonvoy?
They HAD to keep the Marriott name in it of course š
Bonvoy on it’s own would have been ok.
Who did they test market the names with ?
The names remind me of the bungled United Mileage Plus and Continental Presidents programs merging – they HAD to keep all the names of the levels which made each elite level like 5 words long !
And what about the grandfathered higher lifetime status – no mention of this on either website nor the new Bonvoy Intro video – which shows that Marriott really doesn’t care about lifetime loyalty…..
I have 100k starwood points. What should i do with them?
Dan, FYI Platinum is much cheaper then gold.
Bottom line, if I want to start a credit card in inorder to get rewards specifically for travel, what is the best card to apply for?
Eich Naflu Geborim
Same experience as FC above https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/marriott/marriott-rewards-will-renamed-marriott-bonvoy-big-enough-call-just-anything/#comment-1395309
Their customer service is stunningly bad.
I have a hotel reservation from the miles+nights program. It is a category 5. I booked it before we found out that Marriott went with the worst case scenario.
I cannot make it now. Is it better to cancel now and get a partial certificate on file? Or is there a benefit to cancelling when it’s called “Bonvoy.”
As someone who has been a lifetime platinum at Marriott I am puzzled why suddenly I am only a titanium level at Marriott. Clearly my status and loyalty have been devalued. Not a fan.