Tag Archives for marriott bonvoy.
Marriott is threatening to close a Bonvoy Ambassador member’s account, after they complained about several of the brand’s hotels. They’ve let him know that they don’t want complainers – they want customers who will accept degraded brand standards and continue handing over at least $23,000 a year.
Starting July 14 an AI will decide which rooms get assigned to guests at Marriott hotels – and who gets upgraded.
I wrote two years ago about the way that Marriott illegally hides resort and destination fees from guests who are booking rooms using points. It’s gotten worse.
You earn your points and status on business trips, slogging it out on the road, and the ultimate reward is that special trip to Hawaii. When you arrive and find your loyalty worth so little, that puts a damper on the whole enterprise.
Marriott promises that if an upgraded room is available for the length of your stay when you check in, then it is yours free if you’re a Platinum member or above. But that’s not actually how Marriott upgrades work.
Marriott Bonvoy is looking to make a couple of hires that suggest changes coming to the program.
Marriott responds that it is not a brand-wide change, but it is a change at this hotel, “This test is being run by the St. Regis Macao and not as part of a broader program change.”
This suggests that (1) Marriott is ok with the change, (2) Despite it violating the program’s terms and conditions. And it’s unclear what the result of this test will be – a permanent change at one property, or a test of a broader St. Regis change (aligning the brand closer to Ritz-Carlton)?
Every year for the past several years, Marriott has run a double elite nights offer along with bonus points. Here’s last year’s which was 1,000 bonus points per night and double elite qualifying nights on paid stays February 13 – April 29. They ran something similar in 2022 and 2023.
Marriott reset member expectations a year ago about how upgrades work, changing the name so that an upgrade isn’t necessarily to a suite and giving out upgrades only closer to check-in. Well, they’re changing upgrades again!
Marriott and United are offering bonus points for elites traveling with the other company in July and August.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
