Originally Posted by
CJKatl
No, Marriott created a legacy tier with slightly better benefits so as to not collapse the present LTPs with present LTGS. There is no deception. It's obvious. It's upfront. What would be deceptive would be to have a plan to add more benefits as soon as it is a closed status, which Marriott does not do.
Award nights didn't used to count at MR and it used to take 10 years of membership to get LTP. Things change.
Originally Posted by
CJKatl
Also, I am confused. I always thought once someone reaches the top level the idea is you have top benefits and no longer have to worry about getting status. Under what you say above, the only reason people stay is to chase status and if there is no higher status to chase guests will go elsewhere. That makes no sense.
If travel patterns drop it does, if not (you have heavy travel) you can chase lifetime in another program and the rare occasion you end up at the original lifetime program you get treated well. A lot of people I know started chasing Hilton Status after hitting MR LTP. Generally those with 75-100% travel did so while those who stopped traveling so much just stayed at Marriott properties regularly.
MR can make LTP retroactively easier while making the teensy difference of LTPP, but then there's not much incentive to chase current status beyond 50 nights. If they continue to add differences between PP and LTPP beyond SNAs, then that just feels like a double standard where LTPP really isn't PP at all, only in name.
Originally Posted by
CJKatl
Going forward the new LTP will be the top tier with the exception of the two small benefits given legacy guests who achieved a higher level when there was a higher level. It's unbelievable that people wouldn't be happy about getting the benefits with less effort and are, instead, angry that their wonderfulness isn't getting even more recognition.
It's easier or harder depending on the program you came from. The 10 year requirement remains from SPG at the 50 night level for the new LTP, but it's 600 nights overall instead of 500. There's no longer a points requirement (which is associated with spend amounts on room + qualifying charges).
MR had the points, but no minimum number of years at a given status, rollover nights counted twice (once in the year earned and a second time in the year they rolled over to) which made it a lot easier to gain status if you stayed 100+ nights a year at Marriott as the stacking of rollover nights could allow you to earn 200+ nights a year towards lifetime.
People would be but it's in Marriott's interest to get people to concentrate their travel. As it stands, there's very little difference between MR 50 and MR 75 right now other than the five extra SNAs for current qualifiers (we've discussed the points bonus and the 48 hour guarantee to death here already).
Originally Posted by
CJKatl
Newsflash: There is almost no difference between P50 and P75. The SNAs/gift, which an LTPP does not get, the room guaranty and 25% more points.
You ignore the UA Status match being PP exclusive. Other than that, we've both mentioned this points repeatedly. No argument.
Originally Posted by
CJKatl
Marriott does not want to continue LTPP, in other words the old MR LTP. It is being ended, with those already at the level being given a small extra perk.
You take it as that. I take it as MR wanting to put a limit on lifetime status where you can achieve a lifetime status with some nice perks, but have a reason to chase current qualification. The five extra SNAs are only worth it if you have the stay activity to support it, otherwise you could buy the suite upgrades for your 1-2 weeks a year in a hotel (if not traveling much) for less than it would cost to buy the remaining nights to earn the SNAs that might not even be redeemable.
The fact that MR is discontinuing LTPP suggests to me a greater incentive to later differentiate LTP and LTPP because you want to create extra incentive for people to stay 75 instead of 50 nights in a current year (with credit card nights, that's 35 butt-in-bed nights vs 60 butt-in-bed nights).
If you want to talk a "trick" - "Platinum Premier with Ambassador" - ambassador (MR members never had except trials) plus Your24 (MR members never had). Why would someone chase the 100+night and $20K spend requirement for this? Calling it PP w/ Ambassador is a real move to make old MR LTPs feel fine because it's just their highest status "plus'. Not unless there's a published hard benefits difference. (Opinion on ambassadors here in SPG forums are highly polarized, some people think they're great and others find them useless.)
Originally Posted by
CJKatl
Marriott is no longer marketing that way. It's about marketing hotel rooms, which they have data and experience, not about making a certain guest feel superior.
Hence why benefits like check-in suite updates are "select suites". They're not going to give everything away. The whole point of elite tiers and the names is to make people feel superior, with some hard benefits as the draw and the different names (Silver < Gold < Platinum < Platinum Premier) to make people feel like they've "earned" something that puts them above the "unwashed masses".
Originally Posted by
CJKatl
Again, nobody complains about not being able to get Delta Flying Colonel anymore. The small group of people upset that they cannot be more elite will go elsewhere and Marriott will continue with its new program where LTP is the highest level with a few legacy people, fewer and fewer each year, will get 25% more bonus and nothing much else.
If you heard that Delta kept lifetime Flying Colonel and then made it legacy status only and then started adding new benefits to the Flying Colonel that only applied to Flying Colonels in a year (I'm aware that Delta FC was
not an annual qualification status, just as a hypothetical to even the analogy between PP and LTPP), would you be tempted to chase whatever lifetime status was the top instead of Flying Colonel? Or would you feel like the company will eventually drop the standards of most qualification and then place you out of benefits vs. the current travelers?
If MR starts making a difference between PP and LTPP beyond what was in the program merger, then people are going to wonder if Marriott is going to add differences between G & LTG and P & LTP in the future to the point where it's not worth chasing the lifetime status. That is the threat. It's not just saying oh, LTPP is impossible to achieve, but LTP provides most of the worthwhile benefits at this time - no argument there, it's also people wondering if they chase the new highest possible lifetime elite level, is Marriott just going to do the same thing to them in a later. If so, is lifetime status even worth chasing?