Except that it's not a simple promotion (from a database standpoint). They don't seem to have a mechanism for counting brands (across Marriott/Rits/Starwood) automatically in the points computation process.

The incompetence was in designing a promotion this complex, at the time of the merger, since the brands may be scattered between three programs that aren't merging until this week (and whose reservation systems didn't merge until midway through this promotion ).