Originally Posted by
itsaboutthejourney
Marriott may be fooling their less sophisticated original members, but I think they underestimated SPG members and their true passion and loyalty. This not very well executed merger will not be kind to Marriott's bottom line and desire to retain SPG fanatics. And that is looking past these IT problems. Who likes the Marriott website? Why didn't they use spg.com's functionality and very detailed property info?
I'm so sick of hearing this crap about Marriott members being less sophisticated. I've been staying at Marriott's hotels for business trips during the last decade because those hotels are where my clients had special rates (and therefore would not reimburse stays at other hotels, even if the rates were lower). It was more sophisticated to make the most of the Marriott Rewards program than to stay at an SPG property and eat the cost. However it certainly isn't sophisticated to overspend and go into debt just to earn Starpoints. Nor is it sophisticated to think that Starpoints could possibly be of incredible value to someone who can't earn a decent amount of them.
With that said, I do agree that Marriott has done many things wrong with this merger that could have easily been done much better. I just wish people like you wouldn't demean other members to try to make this point.