Back in the fall Marriott launched its lifetime status website. It features a thank you video from Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano and a couple of appearances from Senior Vice President of Loyalty, David Flueck. And it contains a number of statistics from your account:
- Number of points earned and number of points redeemed
- Number of nights stayed and number of Marriott brands stay at (18 for me)
- The brands you’ve stayed at the most (mine are Westin, Sheraton and W) and most visited city (my number one is Arlington, Virginia)
- They give examples of your redemptions, and then stats on how lifetime elites generally redeem.
In typical Marriott fashion it shows my having redeemed more points than I ever earned, even though I have a positive account balance.
The website also lets you order a set of lifetime Platinum (or lifetime Titanium) luggage tags. Here’s the kicker: they tell you to expect them “within approximately 12 weeks.” Twelve weeks? I ordered mine three months ago and received them this week.
These are just lifetime Platinum tags. Here are the lifetime Titanium tags, by the way, identical except that a metal attachment says Titanium instead of Platinum.
Lifetime Titanium was offered only through the start of the Bonvoy program – Marriott’s lifetime Platinums received it, and those who met the criteria from Starwood or achieved it rapidly after announcement could get it before the door shut tight on earning it via nights stayed and years of elite. There are two other ways to get ongoing Titanium status, however.
I admit, though, I have questions.
- Why do you have to ‘order’ these? It’s not as though you have a choice to make. They could send it to the address on file. They could even email you giving you the opportunity to update your shipping address, otherwise they’ll send the luggage tags automatically when you qualify. Other programs send out luggage tags without making you order them. Does this just… save them on shipping costs for those who don’t bother ordering?
- Why does it take 12 weeks to get them? The luggage tags come in a very nice box, but the tags are not customized in any way. They don’t have your name on them. All Marriott has to do, having produced the packages, is ship them.
To be honest I’d forgotten about the lifetime gift until a week or so ago when it occurred to me that I’d never received them. I hadn’t internalized the website saying ’12 weeks’ – I expect that you ‘order’ non-personalized lifetime elite luggage tags, they ship them, you receive them. Given the quality of the package, which certainly exceeds the cost of the tags themselves, they might even have… overnighted them to gain the desired effect.
In contrast waiting 12 weeks to deliver.. luggage tags.. seems like it undermines the effort. And maybe lifetime Titaniums, at least, might get something a little bit nicer? Send you a signed copy of Bill Marriott’s book (even using a book plate)? Send you a couple of their bourbon glasses? In other words, if you’re going to order something, follow Delta’s lead in letting you select a lifetime gift.
I don’t actually mean to single Marriott out, other than having just received their luggage tags. American Airlines didn’t renew my ConciergeKey status this year. The only reason I knew this is because readers who whose status was renewed told me when it happened, and my account didn’t reflect the updated expiration date.
Otherwise I’d have just seen (at some point, April 1 or whenever I checked) that my account no longer showed I was a ConciergeKey member. American never actually even told me before expiring my status. And they haven’t sent me a 2023 Executive Platinum kit, either, including the luggage tags I earned for this year back in the fall. (A week after being downgraded I received an email, offering me a consolation prize of 4 Admirals Club passes or 2 Flagship lounge visits – but AA.com errored out every time I tried to make a selection.)
Waiting months to batch ship acknowledgments of loyalty just doesn’t work in 2023, if it ever did. That’s something done for very minor budgeting (in the scheme of things) or the convenience of a staffer, at the expense of recognizing a significant loyalty investment. Communication should happen quickly, and recognition should match the level of the achievement, whatever it is.
Gary, If I had known ( we all say that ) Marriott would almost gut their program let alone make Titanium its highest lifetime status achievable I would have gone over to Hyatt a lot sooner.
Death spiral ?
You had a valid point about being Bonvoy’ed and this “milestone gift” being cheap AF, but you lost my respect after you turned it into yet another “AA revoked my fake-earned Concierge Key status and I’m gonna cry about it again” rant
305, I’m a multi-year CK and I don’t fault Gary one bit. His disappointment about losing CK is not about losing it per se but about the poor customer service process of how it was handled. I often talk with other long-tenured CKs and most agree that there’s been a clear decline in customer service over the years. Gary’s experience is not surprising to me.
Gary’s disappointment about Marriott is also understandable. Just send the luggage tags. Stupid customer service move on Marriott’s part.
Oh to be clear I never expected CK amd figured out on my own that I lost it. It just struck me that I should be fair to say that Marriott’s wasn’t the only execution failure I’d seen this week.
I never did get my tags… I want to say it’s been more than six months now.
Looks like those tags cost less than $5. Surprisingly that people get very excited about them as if you are spending thousands of dollars a year in travel easy to buy your own for a small fraction of your travel spend.
Hey, I didn’t know about this. Marriott didn’t send anything (that I knew about).. So, I ordered them today. Something is always better than nothing.
Over the years, Marriott has given me some great moments, such as upgrading me to the Presidential Suite in Santiago, Chile (beautiful view of the Andes), and upgrading my travel companions to a suite as well. Her husband has passed (as has my wife) but she still talks about it, and the amazing service from Marriott in Santiago (too long a story for this post).
BTW, @Gary — 90 days is ~12 weeks.
P.S. I don’t feel entitled to anything I didn’t earn, unlike some of my children’s or grandchildren’s contemporaries. But I decided not to ask for a PDB on a Delta flight to PBI, even though we sat at the gate at LGA for two hours waiting for crew. I did ask for headphones to listen to the Super Bowl while we waited. I guess it was more important for safety that the FA talk with her colleague instead of passing anything out.
FWIW, as a United 1K, the airline recently asked me if I wanted a luggage tag. When I said “yes,” it took several weeks to receive it. This doesn’t really seem like something to complain about.
I am a Lifetime Titanium and got my tags 2 months ago…nice gesture but not personalized. I spent 2 weeks out this past month 11 stays and covid which the Marriotts where we friendly and took care of me with a nice room.
As someone who joined the original Westin Premier program in the 1980’s as well as Sheraton’s separate program before they merged to create Starwood and traveled a great deal in the 1980’s and 1990’s, I feel fundamentally cheated that my historical travel was never included in the lifetime calculation and that Lifetime Titanium is not even achievable to me… though I certainly had well over 600 nights between Starwood and Marriot and decades of elite status.
No interest on their part when I emailed them about this.
This issue doesn’t warrant an approximate 800 word complant. They told you it would take approximately 12 weeks to receive the tags and it did. If the 12 week wait gave you a problem why didn’t you write this post when you received the offer?
I’m Lifetime Titanium and received the tags offer and it also took about that long to get them. They were shipped UPS from the U.S. (I live in Swtizerland). Shipping cost was probably much more than the cost of the relatively unimpressive tags (and the packaging was excessive). Many people probably won’t want the tags so it makes sense only to send them to those who request them.
It’s somewhat entertaining the slow train wreck Marriott is throning into…
Mine took less than that by a lot I’ve had mine since January
What I find particularly strange is how bad the website is. It’s simply painful to research and book Marriott properties. I believe that it’s more profitable for Marriott when we book direct, rather than through an OTA or through a corporate travel agency or any travel agency that gets commissions.
Yet compared to the Starwood site or Hyatt’s site or Hilton, it’s way more painful to research and book on marriott.com It loads so slowly and takes so many steps to do anything. You pretty much have to go to another site like kayak to be remotely efficient at looking at your options.
How can the company let this PITA stand? Their management has to be completely clueless as to what customers and elite members are experiencing.
Time to take a lesson from Dara at Uber?
Good that they make you order the luggage tags rather than automatically sending them. That way only the people that actually want them for some strange reason get them. Unlike at AA where they send all EXPs luggage tags- which promptly go right in the trash.
There’s quite a obvious reason why you have to order these things instead of them being sent automatically… there’ll be a significant percentage of people who haven’t updated their physical postal address in a while and it won’t be accurate now. I mean, who even is bothered about receiving frequent flier or hotel stuff by post these days? We do it all online/app/call.
If it was my company and I knew a lot of address data was now trash, I wouldn’t send them automatically either. Let people enter the address they want to receive it to, instead of wasting money on postage sending to incorrect addresses and then having to handle returns and redelivery.
Love the articles in general, but this one seems superfluous, sorry.
What a cry baby. Get something free and then complain about it like they offended you.
They look awful . If I got them , I would probably throw them out . Maybe many more too and hence the reason they have you order them?
All rewards programs have been gutted and cheapened by the ability to “buy” your way in via credit cards.
I’ve been with Marriott since 1984 and you had to meet annual minimums to stay in the program. I’ve been lifetime Titanium, new names, for years.
Just reflecting the reality that Marriott can’t count. As an ambassador, I can’t get a simple and consistent answer to basic questions about my lifetime status. This is a well documented problem and Marriott says you can’t believe the blogs. Reached ambassador status in mid March and get zero customer service from it.
All the airlines, hotels, etc. have random fulfillment dates on contests, crediting points, shipping gifts, etc. For example, you’ll do some promo with a hotel chain for something like stay 5 nights and get 10,000 points but the fine print will say that you’ll get the points in 8 to 10 weeks. Why? It’s not 1992 or 1972. They should do it immediately or nearly. Even transactions that need manual work such as data entry or mailing something should be days not weeks in 2023.
I don’t think I will ever use those LT Titanium luggage tags because Titanium status is no longer something to brag about.
The only good thing about the new website is that brought back good memories of past stays with SPG. My stats are 1,239 nights in 21 brands with Kauai as the most visited place.
I have always been a Hilton guy, now with lifetime Diamond staus. Since I received the “lifetime “ status I have started using Marriott and building those points. However, I find the bonvoy app to be difficult at best wether it is booking or online check in. When it doesn’t cooperate I head straight back to Hilton instead of fighting with it or making a call.
BTW.. Hilton lifetime came with a big box of several things including luggage tags. Just showed up one day, that’s when I knew about lifetime diamond, very nice.
For comparison…
I did not have to order my Hilton Honors Lifetime Diamond luggage tag (singular). It was automatically shipped inside a LT Diamond welcome kit that also contained:
— a congratulatory letter from Mark Weinstein, Senior VP and Global Head of Customer Engagement, Loyalty and Partnerships;
— a metallic LT Diamond membership card (“The Black Card”);
— a Bose SoundSport wireless headphones (superior Bose sound quality!);
— a commemorative booklet title “Your Hilton Honors Travel Journey” stating how long I’d been with the program (16 years, 12 as a Diamond), number of nights (661, not stated but 2M+ base points), number of different Hilton hotels (106), first Hilton where stayed as HH member (Hilton Houston, which I do not even recall!);
— the list of LT Diamond benefits, including points that never expire, which I will “enjoy without ever having to re-qualify.”
Delivery time: just under 3 weeks… (shipped May 22, 2022 – delivered July 1, 2022), despite a note in the notification email that said:
No “fumbling” at all 😉
Just now noticed something on the back of my LT Diamond membership card. It appears that LT Diamonds have a separate support phone line that is separate from the standard Diamond Desk line I’ve used for years: 1-844-LIFEDIA. Kool 😉
I just finally received my Titanium luggage tags as well after I don’t know how long. I agree, they could have let you choose from a list of options like Delta does. Marriott is not alone, United made you order your 1K luggage tags as well. And they look a he’ll of a love cheaper. After all I spend at both Marriott and United how cheap can they be?
In an era of reduce reuse, recycle , I urge we all Rethink before we request another luggage tag. it is a waste of resources, and an unnecessary impact on the environment.,
do we throw the luggage tag after one year? may be they give an option to opt out and receive 500 or 1000 points which would be far less expensive .
just my 2 points .
Sorry: shipped May 22, 2022 – delivered July 1, 2022 is just over 5 weeks 🙂
Just say “Thank You” and leave it at that. Be grateful that they are recognizing your level/status for life. That’s an amazing perk from a company. Be .#thankful and #grateful.