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.
A loyalty program promises benefits in the future for your business today. It’s fundamentally based on trust. So one of the things I hate the most, even more than changes without notice, is changes that the program doesn’t even tell you about.
Marriott has just made changes to Platinum breakfast, participating properties, and earning points on spending at hotels when not a registered guest.
In yesterday’s earnings call Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson addressed how he thinks they’ve done integrating the Marriott and Starwood loyalty programs.
Just last week he referred to member frustrations as ‘noise around the edges’. He got into much greater detail with financial analysts.
When Marriott acquired Starwood, Marriott Rewards leadership expected to adopt Starwood’s SPG IT platform. They weren’t happy with what Marriott had and were looking into new solutions. Why not just take Starwood’s, after all SPG was viewed as the better loyalty program?
Once they got into things they learned the limitations of the Starwood system. The transition from Starwood to Marriott didn’t go smoothly however.
Historically the payout was less than 2%, so this is an amazing deal that probably won’t last. It’s worth it to make any Marriott (including Starwood) bookings through the site, and to make as many as you may need quickly. Indeed, making cancellable bookings that you may need can make good sense.
Since you’re sent from Ebates to Marriott’s own website you will of course earn elite credit and have elite status recognized, as well as earning Marriott points for your stay and availing yourself of their member rates.
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.
8,000 Marriott employees are on strike in 8 cities. That encompasses 23 hotels in Boston, Detroit, Oakland, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, and Hawaii out of about 6500 Marriott properties worldwide and includes housekeeping, bartenders and others represented by union UNITE Here.
Marriott’s position has been that hotels are open and they’re ready to welcome guests. Guest reports suggest otherwise. And Marriott won’t waive cancellation rules or notify guests in advance about the ways in which stays will be disrupted.
Last month Marriott launched their first promotion of the ‘new’ program. There was a companion game 29 Ways to Stay for each of Marriott Rewards’ 29 participating brands. It was supposed to launch October 4. It finally launched today.
And Marriott has added on to their MegaBonus promotion, bonus points for staying at their different brands.
When Marriott combined programs on August 18th they took all Starwood points balances and tripled them. And they kept the basics of the Starwood points transfers to miles system. So miles transfer 3:1 with most airline partners (instead of the old 1:1, but it’s effectively the same) and transfers into 20,000 miles earns 5000 bonus miles.
In other words, transferring 60,000 Marriott points yields 25,000 airline miles. When you transfer to United you also get a 10% bonus because of the Marriott-United RewardsPlus tie-in. And right now United is offering a 30% bonus on Marriott transfers up to 25,000 extra miles.
The Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands announced a plan to re-open the Frenchman’s Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort and along with it a government plan to increase hotel taxes from 12.5% to 17.5% — the highest in the United States and the highest in the Caribbean.
The governor describes higher taxes as an “economic recovery fee.” And the extra 5% will be given back to the hotels, plus interest.
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 »
