Originally Posted by
airswim
I read it as the merger under one name is in August but effective now (next Monday after the announcement) "everything else" (able to book rewards at all 3 partners, etc) will be in place. If that is correct, there will be no opportunity to book rewards under the current redemption rules...which I assume would have been better then the new ones.
Unless Marriott is completely ignorant of case studies and doesn't care about bad publicity and blowback from existing customers I cannot imagine a scenario in which the terms of a new program are effective immediately. Look, Marriott gives several months notice when award redemption categories are changed. It gave about a month's notice when rollover nights were eliminated.
And from a branding standpoint, not having a name for a program is absurd.
I think this will be more of an evolution in the existing linking scheme with the new program to be fully announced in August.
Then again, this is the same Marriott that can't even get its website working.
By the way, I have spent most of the last hour or so browsing every section on the Marriott and SPG websites across multiple languages. I can't find anything to indicate a change is immediate. It would surprise me that the rollout is so sloppy to allow for leaks on Flyer Talk but not for an inadvertent clue on a website, even buried in the terms and conditions.