Originally Posted by
smgainey
They're giving Marriott members perks that we may not necessarily want or care for. I'd much rather NOT have my points devalued than to have an Ambassador or Your24. If I had wanted the SPG perks then I would have stayed at SPG hotels all these years. You may find it hard to believe but there are those of us for whom SPG's program is not better than Marriott's program.
You are mentioning a devaluation that mostly hasn’t happened yet. I think you’ll find you’re complaining about something that (1) won’t be as bad as you imagine and (2) inevitably was going to happen in due course eventually anyway over the next coming years. Even so, Marriott still is nowhere near the Hilton level of massive devaluation. It isn’t even close.
If they really wanted to give us better perks then they'd do like Hyatt (which is where I would stay if their footprint was big enough) and give the top elites perks such as no resort fees and complimentary parking on award stays (I'd even go so far as to suggest complimentary parking on paid stays as well, or at the very least reserved parking so we don't have to drive all around and to the top of the garage to find a space), and maybe give top elites complimentary breakfast at all properties without exclusions. We don't yet know what their no blackout policy will look like, but if hotels are allowed to reclassify rooms as non-standard or not release standard rooms for award stays (which would essentially be a blackout) then maybe they could allow top elites to book with points even if those rooms aren't open to everyone else for points.
I'm not a fan of Hilton's program, so thanks, but no thanks.
Well, Hyatt has no economy of scale and Marriott has that. That’s a massive difference. Yet Marriott is offering almost as much as Hyatt for fewer nights and with far more properties to satisfy all spenders.
If if you are worried about Marriott and a blackout policy, then you already must know and hate Hyatt hotels and how they ridiculously categorize all but a few rooms as standard to avoid giving out free award rooms! Sorry, but Marriott BEFORE the merger was never as bad as Hyatt is even now with playing games on award availability.
If you think Hyatt’s perks are so much better, you are free to switch your loyalty to Hyatt. I’ve been there, and I know I preferred Starwood...and now Marriott. There just aren’t enough hotels in Hyatt’s portfolio but maybe that doesn’t matter to you as much as not paying resort fees and parking fees?