Originally Posted by
jsloan
I'm not, really, since anybody could sign up for Marriott Rewards now and link them. I agree that it's the general population that matters, which is why I think your suggestion would be a terrible idea. Look at the vitriol involving LTPP vs. LTP for SPG members, and then multiply that by a gigantic factor when you consider the much smaller number of people that have lifetime status compared to the elite population at large.
My suggestion? It's not my suggestion at all. My only suggestion here would be to avoid launching a new program in the middle of the year! I was only stating, as a possible explanation for there being a separate table for SPG members (alongside the contradictory one for Marriott), that this takes into account the fact that there are no doubt many people out there with (1) SPG and MR accounts that are unlinked; (2) SPG people who have never even bothered getting an MR account.
Originally Posted by
jsloan
If you tell someone, "if you had matched your account with a brand-new Marriott account on July 31st, you'd be Platinum, but since you didn't, you're Gold," you've lost. That statement cannot be explained reasonably to anyone -- there is no legitimate reason that people who matched should be treated differently than people who didn't. Whatever decision they make absolutely should not hinge on whether or not the member has a linked Marriott account.
It can't reasonably explained to someone whose app and online account told them they were Marriott Gold, who received regular emails from Marriott acknowledging their status as Marriott Gold (including the recent one that included a link to the Marriott conversion table telling them they can expect Platinum status on August 1st!), who were greeted as Marriott Gold at the front desk, that on August 1st they find that they were never really Marriott Gold at all, that it was only an illusion caused by Marriott agreeing to recognise their status as if they
were Marriott Gold, and that - despite all the evidence leading them to think they did indeed possess this status - some bright spark at Marriott had decided it was a better idea to dig into their account history to find out just HOW they became Marriott Gold in the first place, and ruled that it was the MANNER in which they acquired Gold status in Marriott - and not the actual fact of possessing Gold status itself - that mattered.
Do you seriously think that explaining the above situation to all those with linked accounts is any less of a problem than the one you raise?
And why go to all that bother merely for 5 months? 5 months in which those people with Platinum get the chance to see the benefits for themselves, and who therefore might be incentivized to put in the nights to get it the traditional way once they revert to Gold status in Feb 2019.