Marriott Deals Another Blow in Booking War
Jennifer Billock March 17, 2016
Marriott is introducing a new deal for loyalty members who book through the website rather than a third-party agent.
In another blow delivered to third-party discount booking sites, Marriott is debuting on April 11 a new pricing deal for loyalty program members who book either through the Marriott website, app, company’s call centers, or through specific travel agents and corporate travel specialists. Now rewards members get the lowest possible rate with a promise that if someone finds a cheaper rate within 24 hours of booking, Marriott will match the price and give an extra 25 percent off. With each reservation, rewards members will also get the standard mobile check-in, free Wi-Fi and points opportunities.
“We’re rewarding our loyal members by providing a rate exclusively designed to show them how valuable they are to us,” Marriott International’s global marketing officer Karin Timpone said in a release reported by Skift. “We also want to help dispel the myth that other travel websites offer better rates for our hotels. The simple fact is that you will find the lowest rates across our portfolio when you join Marriott Rewards and book direct.”
Large hotel companies are increasingly fighting back against third-party sites, and Marriott’s move is just the latest. In February, Hilton began a campaign to urge guests to book direct and last year, Marriott produced a YouTube video series about booking directly called #itpaystobookdirect. The campaign has six videos and about 7 million views on YouTube.
[Photo: Marriott]
SDSEARTCH, Thanks, I know that now. Last night I received an email from Marriott letting me know they bumped me to gold as a courtesy measure. I will definitely use Marriott on my trip to Europe next month but will only book directly with them on Marriott.com.
Lakeviewsteve, you generally don't get any points or credit for staying at ANY chain hotel if you don't book with the chain hotel's website (or their hotel family program's website). At ALL of them (NOT JUST Marriott), third-party sites are "not qualifying" for earning of points. So if you go to another program and do the same sort of third-party booking, you'll get the same nasty "surprise" afterwards. So why do you think this Marriott's fault? This is a standard in the hotel program industry!
I'm not happy with how Marriott treats their "loyal" members booking a vacation on the American Airlines website. I spent a lot of money for J from ORD to VIE with a 6 night stay at the Ritz Carlton and afterwords found out I would not be getting any Marriott points or credit for staying 6 nights toward the next status level because it wasn't booked with Marriott. Next vacation, I won't be selecting a Marriott related hotel because of this.
Marriott's best rate guarantee, called Look No Further (LNF), has been around for quite a few years, offering 25% off the third-party rate for the same room with the same booking conditions. I've been using it myself for at least 3 or 4 years. I don't think that LNF is changing much except that maybe somehow they may factor in these new member-only rates.
Wait, Marriott has had a 'Best Rate Guarantee' going for a couple years, where if you find a lower rate on a 3rd party site then you get 25% off that lower rate. Did something about that change?