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How Bad Do You Estimate The IT Rollout Will Be?

Old Aug 23, 2018, 9:22 am
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Last edit by: jspira
Marriott began the IT integration of its 3 loyalty programs on August 18 with a goal of combining them into one unified program. It told members to expect websites and apps to be inaccessible that day and problems stretched into the middle of the week. By Thursday, the dust seemed to settle although members continued to report specific issues.
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How Bad Do You Estimate The IT Rollout Will Be?

Old Aug 24, 2018, 2:58 am
  #196  
 
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Originally Posted by Antarius
Zero ultra high net worth individuals even care.
Which is highly relevant because Marriott/Starwood/LD isn't focused on ultra high net worth individuals and is never likely to be.
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Old Aug 24, 2018, 3:26 am
  #197  
 
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Originally Posted by Antarius
This is nothing but a tiny blip with mass hysteria on FT. The vast majority of non travel obsessed people (which is the vast majority of people) barely know this is going on. Zero ultra high net worth individuals even care.

marriott has done a poor job of communicating issues, but come on, acting like this will lead to mass defections due to Lifetime Status being wrong for a few days? Only the handful of people here have even noticed.

simply put, unless merging etc is necessary, just wait. Why does it matter to the Platinum Premier member if they are Lifetime platinum right now.. vs in 2 weeks? It doesnt.
Very true. This is a niche hobby on a forum (which I do like, mind you) made of an even smaller niche of power-users who like, use, and understand this stuff.
We all want this merger to be smooth and seamless, but it's best for everyone to lower their expectations (even just a bit).
Helpful information to aid other users' navigation of the issues is very good; the drama is, of course, not.

Let's not forget, at its core, this is all imply about picking a hotel room.
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Old Aug 24, 2018, 10:14 am
  #198  
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Originally Posted by yurtripper
Which is highly relevant because Marriott/Starwood/LD isn't focused on ultra high net worth individuals and is never likely to be.
Maybe not the top 20 on the Forbes list, but the clientele at the Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, W, JW etc. tend to have significantly more purchasing power than the average.

All I am saying is, acting like the sky is falling due to some IT issues is pretty silly.
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Old Aug 24, 2018, 10:18 am
  #199  
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Q: How has the loyalty program integration gone? Were there any unexpected challenges?

Marriott International’s SVP of Global Loyalty David Flueck: “While we are not at the finish line yet, by all accounts, the loyalty integration has gone exceedingly well.

HNN - Marriott merges loyalty platforms, looks to next steps
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Old Aug 24, 2018, 1:14 pm
  #200  
 
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I just spoke with Marriott Platinum customer service — she said she’s getting inundated with calls from people who’s accounts are not working — IE: incorrect information, cannot login, etc. She told me she could not log into mine as an example due to an error. She said there was an unknown time to get this fixed and to just keep trying to check.
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Old Aug 24, 2018, 2:57 pm
  #201  
 
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Originally Posted by Antarius
This is nothing but a tiny blip with mass hysteria on FT. The vast majority of non travel obsessed people (which is the vast majority of people) barely know this is going on. Zero ultra high net worth individuals even care.

marriott has done a poor job of communicating issues, but come on, acting like this will lead to mass defections due to Lifetime Status being wrong for a few days? Only the handful of people here have even noticed.

simply put, unless merging etc is necessary, just wait. Why does it matter to the Platinum Premier member if they are Lifetime platinum right now.. vs in 2 weeks? It doesnt.
I mean you could say this about a lot of things; Hotels, airlines, cell phone providers, ISPs. When you have a giant customer base which spends more on value than loyalty, its easy to think you are too big to fail. Eventually there is a straw that breaks the camels back. Look at cell phones for example. A decade ago switching carriers required a new phone, contract, and new phone number. Now it is amazingly easy to switch to another company. More importantly easy for enterprises to switch.

The purpose of loyalty programs have changed in the information age. Now the big benefit isn't return customers, its collecting the data on them. Seeing what they spend, how they spend it, when, where, etc. Customer data is priceless to them. Google and Amazon already smell blood in the water, and these legacy hotel chains are clenching their cheeks. Why do you think suddenly there is such an emphasis to book direct? All its going to take is another company like uber to come along and completely change how hotels are booked. If you go to marriott's website right now you can't sort by price, you can't filter unavailable properties, half the site still looks like spg. The problems go way beyond reflecting loyal customer data correctly.

So no, this "little" problem isn't going to bankrupt Marriott, but could be symptoms of larger problems to come. SPG properties were popular for a reason. Just like anything in a capitalist society, if Marriott F's this up too badly, someone else will move in and provide an alternative.
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Old Aug 25, 2018, 4:48 am
  #202  
 
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Originally Posted by osotoc
Will this cause you to leave the New Marriott program and focus on another hotel chain? If so, which one?
I am wondering about Hyatt, since I need a backup hotel, that I will use mostly at airports or some big cites. I like the Hyatt MCO and PIT since they are attached to the airports, but those are the only two I am aware of.
SPG was my backup hotel, I would do 75 nights a year with them for the bonus pts, but was mostly a Hilton guy, with about 125 nights a year. SPG had the smaller more personnel feel then Hilton or Marriott, but had a lot smaller foot print. Marriott and Hilton are very similar, the reason I choose Hilton was for the Hampton inns, that is their low end hotel, but they are everywhere and in a lot of small towns. In the bigger cities I usually have a favorite hotel where I visit, whether it was a Hilton or SPG.
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Old Aug 25, 2018, 5:02 am
  #203  
 
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Originally Posted by Antarius
This is nothing but a tiny blip with mass hysteria on FT. The vast majority of non travel obsessed people (which is the vast majority of people) barely know this is going on. Zero ultra high net worth individuals even care.

marriott has done a poor job of communicating issues, but come on, acting like this will lead to mass defections due to Lifetime Status being wrong for a few days? Only the handful of people here have even noticed.

simply put, unless merging etc is necessary, just wait. Why does it matter to the Platinum Premier member if they are Lifetime platinum right now.. vs in 2 weeks? It doesn't.
I agree with you that this will all work out, now with that being said the challenge, is as a Sheraton person how loyal am I to Marriott? If the point of buying SPG was to get a larger member base that catered to the higher end, you are driving those people away. Unsure what percent's were used for the customer base or was this deal 100% about the real-estate and hotel footprints. When this all works out I will have lifetime plat premier, now is a good time for me to try Hyatt for a backup hotel since I have nothing to loose. It I don't like it I can always go back, to Marriott or in my case Hilton where I also have lifetime status.
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Old Aug 25, 2018, 5:14 am
  #204  
 
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I knew it was never going to be done in a day but with things down again a week on with little to no warning I think it's safe to say Marriott have completely misread the situation. With over 2 years to prepare I would suggest there is no excuse for this and actually they need to come out and whole heartedly apologise whereas there as been essential radio silence from the top of Marriott. To me that speaks volumes about what they think of loyalty program members.
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Old Aug 25, 2018, 6:25 am
  #205  
 
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This is the biggest cock up in the history of technology and the hospitality industry.
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Old Aug 25, 2018, 6:40 am
  #206  
 
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Originally Posted by tfong007
This is the biggest cock up in the history of technology and the hospitality industry.
​​​​​in regards large hotel groups I would have to agree, the fact they have had so long to plan it really should have been better than this. There have been bigger IT migration messes in the world, but nothing in this industry that springs to mind.

​​​An apology and information from high up in Marriott would help rather than leaving the Platinum line and Ambassadors basically taking the flack. Come on Arne stand up and be counted should some responsibility!
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Old Aug 25, 2018, 7:00 am
  #207  
 
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Marriott official : no ETA


Now its clear. They have no idea of when and how problems will be fixed.
Should be nice they update the useless status page with the following informations.

We are working quickly and diligently to solve all issues that have been identified. Given the complexities of a huge integration like this, we prefer not to give deadlines, but rest assured that are completely on top any issue that has arisen, said John Wolf, vice president of loyalty, digital marketing and innovation PR at Marriott

full article : https://skift.com/2018/08/20/marriot..._hsmi=65443795
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Old Aug 25, 2018, 7:03 am
  #208  
 
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Nicely put their IT organization is a Mickey Mouse operation. Seriously - SPG was so much better. Marriott has always had crap technology and been playing catch up.
Originally Posted by frenchft

Now its clear. They have no idea of when and how problems will be fixed.
Should be nice they update the useless status page with the following informations.

We are working quickly and diligently to solve all issues that have been identified. Given the complexities of a huge integration like this, we prefer not to give deadlines, but rest assured that are completely on top any issue that has arisen, said John Wolf, vice president of loyalty, digital marketing and innovation PR at Marriott

full article : https://skift.com/2018/08/20/marriot..._hsmi=65443795
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Old Aug 25, 2018, 7:10 am
  #209  
 
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With todays IT update all my stays prior to the merger (33 nights) are now showing on the activity tab, however the nights ytd counter was not updated with these new posted stays and is at the exact same count as it was on Aug 18 (33 nights fewer than it should be).

Last edited by MePlatPremier; Aug 25, 2018 at 7:16 am
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Old Aug 25, 2018, 7:44 am
  #210  
 
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That quote is amazing. If you prefer not to give deadlines, you are essentially admitting you have no idea the scope of the problems or the resolution.
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