Originally Posted by
Jaenks
Indeed.MR members would not affected, if this would be requirement for combining accounts only and they keep the night requirements at the same level in the future. In the other hand, how many SPG LT Gold or Plat members do have 555556 or 666667 SPG points in their account?
I think that when MPG is introduced all accounts both MR and SPG will be affected. This since not only SPG accounts needs to be migrated into a new program MR accounts as well. Marriott is faced with two potentially conflicting objectives
(1) You don't want to mint too many LT top-tier accounts
(2) You certainly don't want to be perceived to be moving the goal line too far away or fundamentally changing the rules of the game
With respect to (1): I think that the bigger portfolio of hotels can cushion the impact of more top-tiers, however I am sure that certain properties especially in NA can be impacted of an Elite flood
With respect to (2): This is the reason that I think that the LT tier requirement will be the common denominator between SPG and MR i.e. LT nights, they might change the definition of LT nights though and change it to actual nights at hotel etc. However I am not discounting totally some sort of variation on base points, i.e. $ spent, but I see that as quite unlikely since it may upset quite a lot of the current MR members which is not what you want to do.