starwood

Tag Archives for starwood.

Marriott-Starwood Merger Day: Quit Gnashing Teeth

by Gary Leff on August 18, 2018

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.

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

by Gary Leff on August 11, 2018

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.

Existing Marriott Travel Package Awards: Unavailable for a Month, Uncertain After That

by Gary Leff on August 10, 2018

Aug 10 2018

Marriott is launching a new program August 18th which will be the same for all of Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest, and Ritz-Carlton Rewards.

Accessing frequent guest accounts, and even making reservations, is expected to be offline most of that day. In addition Marriott Rewards and Ritz-Carlton Rewards accounts may be unavailable during overnight hours between now and the 18th. These overnight outages shouldn’t affect Starwood accounts.

Starting August 18th though you won’t be able to use previous travel package redemptions for a month.

Starwood Is Losing a Third of Its Dubai Portfolio in One Shot, Which Chain Will Get These Great Hotels?

by Gary Leff on July 10, 2018

Jul 10 2018

Marriott is losing the St. Regis, W, and Westin in Dubai all at once. That’s a one-third hit to the number of legacy Starwood rooms in Dubai, including the same owner pulling the St Regis Habtoor Polo Resort and Spa in recent days.

Dubai was one of Starwood’s most important markets, they had a legacy Emirates partnership similar to their Delta partnership in the US and a UAE co-brand credit card.

Biggest Starwood Points Sale Before the Program Effectively Ends Next Month

by Gary Leff on June 17, 2018

Jun 17 2018

Starwood is offering a 35% discount on buying Starpoints through July 20. They’re actually letting you buy points at a price which those points are worth which is great.

Technically Starwood Preferred Guest will still exists August 1, but that’s a legal distinction. Marriott, Starwood, and Ritz-Carlton will all have the same program at this point just with different names because contractual issues prevent them from calling it one program. For all intents and purposes though this is the last sale of Starpoints qua Starpoints.

Hyatt Is Introducing Confirmed Elite Early Check-in

by Gary Leff on June 5, 2018

Jun 05 2018

Yesterday’s news about Hyatt Place simultaneously oversold and undersold the changes being made.

What they didn’t say in the release was that early check-in at Hyatt Place hotels would be confirmed in advance for Globalists and Explorists rather than offered if available when you show up at the hotel.

Marriott Thinks They Can Out-Airbnb Airbnb Even Though Their CEO’s Never Tried One

by Gary Leff on May 11, 2018

May 11 2018

Arne Sorenson thinks Marriott can out-Airbnb Airbnb by offering consistency, products, and service. His daughter tried an Airbnb once and assures him there’s nothing to worry about there.

If this is a growing piece of the market, Marriott needs to be in it. And they think that they can leverage their loyalty program to make it more attractive to customers.

Marriott Backs Down on Lifetime Elite Status for Starwood Members (and Clarifies Amex Platinum Status)

by Gary Leff on May 9, 2018

May 09 2018

Marriott’s legacy program offered lifetime 75 night elite status, and those who already achieved that status in the Marriott program, or who achieve it through Marriott-only activity by the end of the year, get to keep it. Starwood elites weren’t going to be given that opportunity.

Starwood Offering 250 Points Per Mobile Check-In

by Gary Leff on May 1, 2018

May 01 2018

Through June 15 if you check into your hotel using the Starwood Preferred Guest mobile app you’ll receive 250 bonus points. The promotion applies to St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien, Tribute Portfolio and Four Points brands only.

Marriott’s Timeshare Business Buys Hyatt Timeshares and the Starwood Timeshares Marriott Didn’t Want

by Gary Leff on April 30, 2018

Apr 30 2018

Shortly before Starwood announced a deal to be acquired by Marriott it agreed to spin off its timeshare business into a separate company, Vistana, which it sold to Interactive Leisure Group or ILG. ILG now holds the vacation ownership businesses of Hyatt, Sheraton and Westin.

Marriott Vacations is now buying Interactive Leisure Group for $4.7 billion. So an affiliate of Marriott will wind up owning the Starwood timeshare business Marriott itself was believed not to want two and a half years ago as well as Hyatt’s timeshare business.