lexdevil

It would be funny if it were not true.

I think you're right. It just seems weird for Marriott to focus on leaving. That might make sense if they were an airline, but they are not. They are in the business of the stay, not the departure (or even the return).

If I were a marketing genius I would say that the name of the loyalty program should connote rewards for loyalty. But if they want to use it to say something about their product as a whole, I would focus on the stay, not the trip. Marriott doesn't need to convince me to travel, they need to tell me why I should stay with them when I travel.

hockeyinsider

It would sure be nice if someone would leak a screenshot.

closecover

C17PSGR

I made a mistake .. it is x4. P6 is regular plat. I don't believe there is any lifetime indicator.

it's just a line of two digit codes starting with status. I sure don't understand why only half of fdas know there is a difference between p6 and x4 .....

here is a list of the codes

https://www.sporcle.com/games/BadMoodTaylor/marriott-pms-special-request-codes/results

would seem easy just to keep the codes as is, train people to recognize p6 is titanium , and move the m0 to the front as status for ambassador. Should be easy f4om a coding and training approach.

hockeyinsider

There is no way I could remember all those codes at $12 an hour, if I was employed as a front desk clerk.

I'd love to know the difference between V1 and V2.

EuropeanPete

X-ON

I having a naive question, when launching a new loyalty program why not create a interface which actually shows the actual name of tier, first time guest etc ... instead of cryptic codes

EuropeanPete

84fiero

You might be on to something here...
CB radio-like codes...
Bonvoy...Convoy...
C.W. McCall has secretly taken over Marriott!! It all makes sense now!

ethernal

Or the real reason is that changing the codes adds virtually no value and would break a bunch of things. Translation of codes into user-readable meaning is easy to implement in the UI layer and that is usually the right solution short of rearchitecting the whole system (expensive, risky, and usually not worth it).

I assume that most of the front desk systems either (a) display the meaning of the code directly, (b) provide a tool-tip when hovering over or (c) allow a drill-down to the code. Or, worst case, the low tech option is a list of codes printed out and taped to the monitor.

Oxon Flyer

I think this illustrates how different people see and use words differently : for some of us the word "despise" carries a level of repugnance and hatred that's not a fair characterisation of any of the posts in this thread.

Which is fine, but there are others who understand the critical role that branding, and the brand name in particular, plays in building emotional attachment and customer loyalty. Getting the brand name right is important, and worthy of discussion here. Best too not to dismiss anyone who expresses a negative opinion of Bonvoy as a whiner and complainer.

C17PSGR

I think the property management system (PMS - MARSHA) isn't the source of the problems we're seeing. If you read about it, I believe there are articles that Marriott was considering adopting Lightspeed, the SPG PMS but realized there were some serious issues in the Lightspeed system. I suspect the interface between Lightspped and MARSHA may be the source of the problems being reported here. Hopefully those will go away as SPG properties are migrated over.


This data isn't just used by the front desk. It's a database and the line of codes that begins with status is just one line. The database allows the rooms manager to assign rooms and... in my engaged GM theory, allows the GM to pull info on best guests. This often happened pre 8/18 where there were only a handful of Plat Premiers under the old program.

Keep in mind that the interface might make things worse ... when American created an overlay with a graphical interface to substitute for its codes, agents lost a lot of flexibility. For those of us who fly a lot, that graphical interface really negatively impacted us.

I believe they have to take tests on them. That being said, they are used to pull reports and assign rooms in the system much of which happens behind the scenes. In an ideal world, the rooms manager has received a report of the request for connecting rooms, etc.

The FD only needs to know the difference in the first codes that show on the line. But, as you know from being a legacy plat premier, that's a hit and miss.

EuropeanPete

Surely having to look up in a book what a number of two letter codes means is exactly the (ok, a) problem.

Of course there are plenty of other issues with the integration, and you can of course blame the SPG systems if that floats your boat, but I was asserting that starting a new loyalty scheme with a recognition system comprised of 2 letter codes was a terrible idea.

X-ON

I think my question was pertaining to the plentiful anecdotes that front desk staff dont know how to translate the code into which status you currently have this could be addressed with a well designed front desk user interface ...the database could keep the codes to represent whatever characteristic you want to associate with a guest ... I am quite surprised that MAR is keeping this ancient user interface ....old school

phltraveler

Cat is definitely out of the bag. FWIW, the loyalty-dev2.mi-devtest domain is where I got the leaked new August 2018 MR T&Cs from in August. I suspect that this domain (and probably internet accesible tests of new content) will not work/happen in the future.

Feel like Bonvoy is a silly name in a way to try to distance from the Rewards part of Marriott and Preferred Guest part of starwood so neither legacy side felt the other got "taken over". And of course the marketing consultants must be laughing all the way to the bank.

Distinct names for Plat Premier (as titanium) and Ambassador are welcome.