Originally Posted by
zachary
I agree it was an ad hoc decision once they saw the firestorm and realized they had no real defense for what they did. I'd also agree that they have and are sending up a lot of trial balloons, and that's why we have to keep telling them that their current "fix" isn't really a fix.
I'm not sure to whom their "we are the boss" message was directed. To the bloggers? To us, Marriott's customers? If the bloggers, it's sure odd for Marriott to send a message to them by hurting its own customers. If it's the customers, that's really weird marketing, especially as they try to keep the SPG loyalists. And while they'd be right about who the boss is for dollars already spent to earn MR/SPG points, they'd be wrong about future dollars to be spent. This is a marketing program that's supposed to make us want to spend more with Marriott in the future, right?
Customers who run down their account balance to zero or pretty close to it tend to be more likely to jump ship. And if such customers feel they were fleeced, they are even less likely to be as loyal ever again. This is another argument for Marriott to go back to its old ways with regard to the pre-August 18th TPs and let customers replenish their point balances and make sufficient adjustments to undermine the narrative that Marriott has become an anti-customer company that fleeces its biggest point collectors in the loyalty program.