Originally Posted by
paolo64
Surely those issues are long since resolved and there is no longer a compelling reason to keep them apart.
My armchair opinion is that Marriott realizes that SPG members have a much different relationship with their program than Marriott members do with Marriott Rewards. I honestly believe Marriott is still trying to figure out how to merge - or *if* they can merge - without killing the secret sauce of SPG. That is, the better on-property recognition, upgrades, and other benefits.
If heritage Starwood becomes too Marriottized, I suspect a *lot* of the SPG fans would defect to Hyatt. Footprint-wise, Hyatt isn't so dissimilar to SPG to make that a show-stopper.
Marriott is still looking for a thoughtful solution that keeps SPG fans from leaving, and it isn't easy to find. They could have legally merged programs on January 1, 2018, but they didn't. This is a genuine conundrum still to be solved.