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Does Earning Credit Card Rewards Take Advantage of Other Consumers?

by Gary Leff

credit cards
Aug 30 2018

I don’t think interest, or credit card interest is evil. I believe that consumers generally understand the choices they’re making, even if you or I might make different choices. And people do need credit. If you didn’t have credit cards, the need for credit would still be there, and consumers would be left with the next best option.

If you need to fix a car to get to work, or pay a medical bill, credit cards are a better way to do that than payday loans which are better than having your legs broken. You’re paying interest, but you’re also getting something of value in return.

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Marriott Explains What Systems Still Aren’t Working and When They’ll Be Fixed

by Gary Leff

outside marriott hotel
Aug 27 2018

On a scale of travel company IT integrations, Marriott’s new program launch didn’t go nearly as well as the largest travel program merger — American Airlines-US Airways — nor nearly as badly as the biggest debacle United-Continental.

While Marriott managed to get functionality up quickly to book reservations, even now 9 days later there are several lingering issues.

I spoke with David Flueck, Marriott’s Senior Vice President of Global Loyalty, to get a sense for where things stand — what bugs are still outstanding, and when we can expect those to be resolved.f

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Marriott Honors Mistake Award Rate at St. Regis Maldives – and How Much an Overwater Bungalow Should Now Cost

by Gary Leff

fancy hotel
Aug 23 2018

The new Marriott program rollout has been riddled with glitches. There are members who still show the wrong elite status, wrong lifetime status, and who still cannot merge accounts.

One interesting quirk of the transition that benefited members was discounted overwater villa award availability at the St. Regis Maldives.

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Marriott Starting to Allow Members to Combine Accounts. Here’s How it Works.

by Gary Leff

rewards vs spg
Aug 20 2018

When Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood first closed, they immediately allowed you to link accounts. That gave you the ability to status match and it gave you the ability to move points between accounts at a ratio of 1 Starpoint to 3 Marriott points. Linking accounts does not and will not ever automatically combine them.

Marriott tells me they are “now rolling out [the ability to combine accounts] in batches to our members through tomorrow. As a result, when members log in and see the prompt they will have the opportunity to combine their accounts.”

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New Marriott Program: Right Now Your Status is Whatever You Say it Is

by Gary Leff

diamond guest
Aug 20 2018

Starwood Preferred Guest has moved onto the Marriott IT platform. Marriott brought their system down on Saturday to transition everything over. (Loyalty programs always do these things on Saturdays for good reason.)

IT is hard, and things haven’t gone as smoothly as we would have hoped. Awards haven’t been redeemable at all properties, and for some it’s been sporadic. However for the most part systems are now largely functional on Monday afternoon. But not for members whose accounts have the wrong status.

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Marriott-Starwood Merger Day: Quit Gnashing Teeth

by Gary Leff

hotel lobby
Aug 18 2018

Marriott’s new loyalty program has launched, but as of this writing they’re still working through the IT. They told us to expect things to be down throughout Saturday. If things work on Sunday I’ll be impressed.

Compared to what might have happened I still think that the new Marriott program is about the best we could possibly have hoped for or expected. It’s stapling some version of the Starwood elite program onto some version of the Marriott redemption program (‘the best of both worlds’) along with some devaluation of each.

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Marriott-Starwood Merger Continues: the Moment a Sheraton Gets Copies of the Book of Mormon

by Gary Leff

cart with bibles
Aug 11 2018

Bibles have been in hotel rooms for over 100 years, dating back at least to 1908 at the Superior Hotel in Superior, Montana. The Gideons, which was formed by two men sharing a hotel room in 1898, give them away for free.

The average life of a hotel room bible is six years. Guests take them, even though they say ‘thou shalt not steal’ inside.

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LEAKED: New Marriott Rewards Terms and Conditions

by Gary Leff

hotel room
Aug 11 2018

Since announcing the new Marriott program in April there’s been inconsistent information about breakfast, about lounge access, and about redemptions for Starwood properties that previously charged double points compared to the standard award chart.

They haven’t been ready for prime time for instance they haven’t shared what would happen with travel packages redeemed prior to the start of the new program but where award certificates hadn’t yet been used for a reservation. And they hadn’t even published the terms and conditions for the new program. They don’t plan to share those things until the program launch on August 18.

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