Tag Archives for marriott.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
I’m not sure why Marriott didn’t announce a promotion to coincide with the launch of their new program name, why they are spending money on printing and postage to announce the promotion, or why they’ve failed to get up the promotion website that they’re mailing members about — other than to say of course that’s what happened.
Marriott let me know that the hack of their systems released my unencrypted passport number and unencrypted credit card number. Even this information isn’t helpful because they don’t let me know which number or whether or not it’s expired.
The data breach compromised 383 million records including 5.25 million unencrypted passport numbers and 8.6 million payment cards. Marriott claims most credit cards were expired which means they have that information, but even though they’re telling me my credit card number was compromised they aren’t telling me the expiration date of the card.
Significant cash deposits are being required by some Marriott properties when booking an award. They say they’ll charge you cash up front and give it back at the end of your stay.
What’s more these are very poorly disclosed during the booking process, the credit card charges would come as a complete surprise to most people.
If you have the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card you might not even know it because you still think of it as the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Card — and your card still says SPG on it.
One of the biggest criticisms of the new program is that the value of points earned via credit card is one third less than Starwood Amex cardmembers are accustomed to. They’ve solved that through the rest of the year.
Marriott’s new program doesn’t just require 100 nights a year to earn top tier elite status, it also requires $20,000 in spending. That’s odd for a loyalty program with so many hotels in China and elsewhere that rates are super cheap. It’s possible to stay nearly 300 nights with Marriott in a year and still not be a top tier elite.
One man probably wasn’t testing to see whether tips would count towards qualifying spend, though Marriott is at least in the process of rolling out points-earning for food and beverage while not a guest on property (something that Starwood offered for years).
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
There’s a new website managed by OneTrust that lets you check if your information was part of the Marriott data breach.
In all 383 million records were hacked including 5.25 million unencrypted passport numbers, 8.6 million payment cards (most expired). Marriott has not revealed whether the notes they’ve taken on you were revealed.
ilton’s CEO suggests that Marriott’s troubles have been Hilton’s gain.
Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta said on the company’s earnings call on Wednesday that the Honors program added 14 million new members last year, a 20% increase to a total of 85 million. He attributes that to guests shifting from Marriott. But that’s not at all suggestive of what he thinks it is.
Marriott has officially launched a new name for its loyalty program today. There’s no more Marriott Rewards, Ritz-Carlton Rewards, or Starwood Preferred Guest. There’s now only Bonvoy.
We knew what Rewards meant. That’s all about earn and burn. Preferred Guest was all about how a loyal member is treated. Bonvoy literally has no meaning. It is not a word.
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 »
