mia

I think this is the wrong forum in which to ask how Marriott is treating SPG Gold members who earned status through stays or nights, rather than as a credit card perq. I would research this in the Starwood forum.

Kacee

You mean the late checkout cut from 4 pm to 2 pm? Okay, I can see where you're coming from there.

conde

The US SPG Amex card has been providing Preferred Plus status, which also includes 4 PM checkout. The new Marriott Gold isn't only a downgrade to SPG Gold, but also a downgrade to the late checkout benefits provided through the current AMEX US SPG card.

Clipper801

More precisely, from a guaranteed 4pm late check out to 2pm late check out based on availability.

I don't usually need to use this benefit but I have an evening flight on an upcoming trip, so the 4pm guaranteed late check out would have been nice. As suggested by another FT'er here, I shall ask the hotel nicely at check-in to see what they can do.

H3A3H3

Anyone know if American Express/Marriott will allow you to transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to the new Marriott International brand loyalty program?

In the recent past we could transfer Membership Rewards points to SPG, but not Marriott. Years ago, we could transfer Membership Rewards points to Marriott Rewards.

Kagehitokiri

think they announced 1:1 after conversion

mia

This makes sense, because that is already the transfer rate from Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Marriott is striving to create parity between American Express and Chase. I cannot recall seeing any published statement from Marriott about this, but there are so many overlapping threads in the Marriott, Starwood, Chase and American Express forums that I could have missed an authoritative statement.

In April this was posted in the Wikipost of a thread in the Starwood forum:

sdsearch

But 1:1 is not the same thing as transferring to Marriott necessarily. There will be still be Marriott accounts and Starwood accounts, even though the points in them will be valued the same. And in case you need to get the not-available-after-2018 lifetime Platinum Premier status through 750 lifetime nights and 2 million Marriott points (Starwood points don't count!), it matters a lot whether Amex will officially transfer to Marriott accounts before the end of 2018 or only to Starwood accounts.

So what's still unanswered is whether they will add the ability to transfer to Marriott accounts directly before the end of 2018.

And beyond the legacy Marriott lifetime status issue, the other issue is people who merge their accounts and keep the Marriott account but close the Starwood, before the end of 2018, will they be able to transfer Amex MR to that remaining Marriott account?

Kagehitokiri

1:1 is official

i guess question is what happens if one "combines" their accounts into a marriott account in august

mia

Link to source, please.

Kagehitokiri

might be on amex statement?

mia

Thank you, found this on June statement for a Platinum Card:

sdsearch

I recently got that in statements (or mailing in place of statements, for no recent activity cards) for multiple Membership Rewards cards I have (Everyday, PRG, and grandfathered Blue for Business). I can't remember if I've gotten it for all 3 or just 2 of the 3 so far (because they have different times of the month for statements).

Kagehitokiri

so what happens if one combines accounts in aug, in terms of the spg account that is linked to amex?

mdcubsfan

SPG® has announced changes to its loyalty program and how its members will earn Starpoints:

Starpoints will be referred to as points. These points do not refer to
Membership Rewards points.

On August 1, 2018, Starpoint balances in loyalty member accounts will
convert to points at a 1:3 ratio (one Starpoint will convert to three points).
For example, 1,000 Starpoints will become 3,000 points. In general,
the number of points needed to redeem in the loyalty program will have
corresponding changes.

To align with this, we are making changes to the Membership Rewards
Program Terms & Conditions that impact Card Members who are enrolled
in the Membership Rewards program and are eligible for a Membership
Rewards point transfer. Membership Rewards points can now be
transferred at a 1:1 ratio into the Starwood Preferred Guest® program and
can be transferred in increments of 1,000 points.


I'm sure I'm reading this wrong but by looking at that email it seems to imply we can transfer MR points to Starwood points at 1:1 ratio now and in August they will convert at 1:3 ratio into Marriott points? Seems too good or easy to be true?