So to bite the trolling.. because I can, and apologies for the long post but I thought I'd try and contribute to a single point on the forum related to the change, rather than just providing general comments on many.
I am a Marriott Lifetime Platinum. I currently sit around 1300 nights to date over about ten years of travel. I have also legitimately earned Marriott Platinum Premier historically when it was an unpublished benefit (believed to be top 2% of Marriott spenders worldwide), in the new world it would have likely been Ambassador status as I was averaging over 150 nights/year. Currently I probably don't currently stay quite as much to earn the new Platinum Premier status (seniority has led to more focused travel rather than living in a hotel), and so I probably only make 40-50 nights a year now. However I'd have been very disappointed to not still be top tier in a combined programme, as I got used to that previously, and unpublished/levels that did exist were often confused - associate recognition didn't do me much good (I think as the previous Plat Premier I was treated slightly worse as many people had no idea what the level was, excluding the hotel I visited in Georgia, the country, where the staff were delighted to let me know I was the first PP to visit their hotel). In return for this treatment I do get a far number of more junior staff hooked to the hotel programmes, and spend many nights at a Marriott on personal travel :P
Now I'm not saying that a loyal SPG customer doesn't deserve some route to this level, I am just saying that there is a reason that Marriott did the match the way they did... it keeps members like me loyal and as brand ambassadors, in a way that a 'downgrade' to Platinum wouldn't. As a note, to hit lifetime Marriott Platinum I did it on the old system before the tiers were revised (1000 nights, I forget how many million points, 2, 3?), which differs significantly from the equivalent SPG level, in manycases an SPG Platinum with a stay based qualification would have struggled to hit Lifetime Marriott Gold due to the different treatment of stays vs nights (to be clear, I don't mind this, I'm ex-Hilton Diamond as well, I used to use this to my benefit, at the time of doing 150 nights at Marriott I'd make sure I did my 28 Hilton stays, but it is a different level of commitment from 75 nights a year). Based on my age and love of travel the chances are that I will stay at a Marriott brand hotels perhaps another 2000 nights before retirement.. if they'd downgraded me to a lower level perhaps that could have taken a 20-30% hit, not an insignificant amount of cash into their franchise.
However, having said all this (which I wanted to do to counter a more SPG focused view), I do think it is fair of Marriott to recognise that if you did 1000+ real nights at SPG (removing the multi room stays) there should be a special route to Marriott LTPP... the interesting thing is that I think there is a fair chance that this will happen (published or not), as over the years Marriott has been fairly consistent and good at listening to sites like FlyerTalk, and adjusting to genuine feedback, or individual requests. Compared to many other potential devaluations I've lived through Marriott has been fairly positive overall, especially through the SPG merger. I really dreaded the worst from this announcement, but feel that overall it is very positive and fair (as long as all the hotels don't end up category 9 peak rates, which I consider fairly unlikely), and yes, partially that is as I hit Platinum Premier again, after a four year gap :P.
So having said this, I'd add a few observations to the OP's mention of my 'new' benefits:
- Suites may not have been a published Platinum Marriott benefit but I used to have them occur fairly frequently, at least outside of the US. Formalising this is of course a 'good thing', but under the old programme my 'best' ever suite upgrade was at the Marriott Buenos Ares where I got an upgrade to the presidential suite, certainly not published as a benefit (and likely driven by overbooking), but certainly welcome
- I did very rarely use the Marriott 48 hour guarantee, and the equivalent 'get you any room when it isn't a blackout' perk, but it did occasionally come in handy - the positive is that it was automatically coded into the system and so could be used online, and unlike hilton the prices were actually the BAR. Best use ever, getting the same hotel as the UK team at the commonwealth games in Glasgow as I booked it perhaps 11 months in advance and they hadn't added a blackout date. The hotel honoured it. Otherwise, those last minute business trips for a busy town, when I got the Marriott and my colleagues ended up in the no-name 3* hotel (along with the person that Marriott probably kicked out of the hotel to give me a room) - this was appreciated and a useful benefit.
- However, I always felt 'shafted' at resorts due to the lack of perks, though I remember the Gold Coast Marriott resort in Australia giving me free breakfast even though they didn't need to, those rare rays of light.
Now you know what I appreciate the most about the merger - the St Regis.... I never really stay at the Ritz Carlton due to the lack of breakfast (silly when the room rate was measured in hundreds of dollars and breakfast would have been a portion of that, but you know, principle...). The St Regis introduced me to incredibly high quality hotels, and I'm won over by the breakfast.... such a simple addition, and my one regret in the new combined programme is the brands not offering me a breakfast, LTPP or otherwise, thanks SPG
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As such, I'd say, yes call me a Marriott defender or apologist, but honestly five days ago pre-announcement who would have thought the general perception of most FFP watchers would have been "I am a winner through this change". There is a reason that the Marriott forum is full of people desperately considering how to get X hundred thousand more points in four months as they recognise that the 'legacy' Marriott has been well treated, but honestly I think that SPG Platinums have done fairly well overall as second best tier at 6000 hotels is likely more helpful for most travellers than the best tier at 1400.