RogerD408

When this first tactic started I saw plenty of issues. Not surprised if many people used their email password for the accounts not knowing they could be different. I even went so far as to get my own domain and set it up with a catch all account so I can assign different user names and know where spam messages came from. Although it doesn't fit in the scheme of things with some companies. Marriott is the funniest one, I get emails saying I have an invalid email??? Samsung and Yahoo absolutely forbid you from using their name for any part of email address.

dsquared37

Both accounts have the same email (along with 99% of every other program). As I have yet to merge accounts, there's no benefit for me to do so, I'll change one, let that settle, and then combine. ^

sam007

i have spg & marriot. Any drawbacks to combining points? I may be using to book hotel nights in teh future but possbiily also transfer to airlines partners

Thx

sdsearch

It totally depends on your details and your situation.

For example, if you have a problem with something (say, points not returned for a cancelled stay) on one of the websites, you may want to wait for that to resolve before you combine. Or if something is showing incorrectly for you on one of the websites, you may to wait to see if that gets resolved, because once you combine it may be much harder to tell. Or if you're pursuing annual or lifetime legacy Marriott or legacy SPG status, that might be easier to do (and to see the progress of) with the accounts kept separate longer. Etc, etc.

So there are drawbacks for some people, but we cannot tell whether there are drawbacks for you.

RogerD408

Are your accounts showing everything as expected? Are you trying to gain status under legacy rules? Will the combination yield you a higher status, either annual or LT?

Rushing to combine accounts when there are issues with one or the other will just complicate the fix. Keeping the accounts separate will make it easier to track legacy status since they are not broken out in the combined account. If you have upcoming stays where the higher status is desired, then combining now is wise.

I just bit the bullet (last week) and combined my accounts. Everything was looking good before I did it and it's looking good afterwards. The only caution is take screenshots before and after. I also found regardless which account I was logged into the system attempted to move my SPG numbers to my MR number. Since my MR number started with a zero I did not want to go that route so I used the link in the Wiki and that caused my SPG account to survive the combination and disabled my MR account. Still waiting for my LTPP status to be applied, but not expecting it before January.

sam007

i only have basic status on both programs; about 50k spg and 200k marriott accumulated over time from credit cards. Will I stand to get a higher status by just combining?

RogerD408

Status is determined by annual and lifetime nights (stays for SPG till the end of this year, My guess from the points you've listed you probably do not have enough nights and definitely short on points. But you can check out the website to see what each of the tiers require. I would suggest to go ahead and combine your accounts so you have one place to track your progress and won't run into issues as to which account to book future rooms.

Bravada04

I will need to combine accounts to get my 50 nights. In saying that I want to keep my SPG # - My understanding is that if you log in from your SPG account, that will be the primary account # then after merging. In reading a few things there are a couple of questions:

- Both of my accounts use the same email address. Will that pose any challenges? ...
- It was mentioned you used the link in the wiki - which link is that and why should that one be used rather than just logging in from the account you want to use.
- I continue to have reservations in both accounts and am scared to bite the bullet!
- Anything else I should be aware of or prepared for when I merge other than making sure I have snapshots of my account information from both programs.

RogerD408

First read https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30332989-post890.html that explains my trials and tribulations with selecting my new home account.

If you have your actual account numbers then you can use that instead of email address to log in when needed. However, if you can, I'd suggest separating them. For example, GMail allows you to create unique addresses by adding a hyphen and words to your base name so if you have [email protected] you can create Bravada04-MR and [email protected] and all the messages will endup in your InBox. There is no setup required so you can test it before using it.

Following the links online always took me to combining my SPG to my MR account, which I didn't want to do. Usingallowed me to do what I wanted. So watch your screens if you go for it.

Your reservations under your MR account should get moved over to your SPG account. It might take a few days so leave some room there and absolutely keep your confirmation emails from the original booking to make sure they flow over. I don't know if a new confirmation number will be generated or a new email. Better safe than sorry. But would be a good reason to keep the accounts separate if they will be over before the end of the year, just in case.

Only you can determine your pain threshold. Other than making sure you combine in time to select your 50-night benefit this year and any status bump you might get, there is nothing glaring to say combine now. I read my status may go to LTPP (494 + 740 = 1234 LT nights, 12 + 13 = 25 years Platinum status, >2M MR points) sooner than later, but I do expect to see it after they do the sweep worst case.

sam007

From what I knew historically, starwood points were much more valuable than marriott points. I called the company and they said I actually have 111k spg and 194k marriott (didn't realize i had been collecting for a while) and if I merge them I'll have 305k points. That confuses me because I thought starwood points are more valuable

One more side question - what's the maximum I can merge between my wife and me - the goal is to transfer to an airline program tomorrow. Also instead of pooling, can my wife transfer her starwood/marriott points to my airline frequent flyer number?

RogerD408

Yes, and when they conducted the merger back in August, your 37 SPG points became 111 MPG points (1:3 ratio).
Looks like two questions to me, but I believe there is a 100k limit but I could be wrong. Also, I believe the airlines require the account names to match.

sam007

that I guess should be my last question. If I have pool all my accounts together, looks like keeping them separate will allow me greater opportunity to pool since each mariott and spg account will perhaps have 100k available to transfer

Boraxo

So I changed my SPG email address, and have no trouble logging into SPG (now Marriott) with my new SPG (Marriott) account #

Does it matter which number you keep?? I have an SPG award reservation that I don't want screwed up. But would prefer to keep my MR number.

cfischer

it is supposed to update all existing reservations with the new #. it did that for some of mine but not all (in the property systems that was). No issue keeping the Marriott number (this is what I did) but I emailed the hotels on the SPG side to manually update the # after a few bad experiences ... most of the reservations I simply re-booked.

cardchak

It's been 3 months and Marriott still will not give me back my Marriott number.

I've tweeted, emailed and called every number I can find.

After 1,300 stays, I am switching to a competitor in 2019.

I've been loyal but their customer service is subpar.