CCIE_Flyer

I think I agree with your post overall, but I do believe that proper status recognition wasn't ever going to take hold until the "Plat is Plat" situation was/is resolved. So in my view this is progress, albeit minor in comparison to the scale of some of the bigger outstanding problems, a few of which you've identified in your post.

The suite upgrade and breakfast shortcomings are symptoms of the loophole disease that has taken hold within the Marriott ecosystem. I personally consider the "standard room" award availability loophole to be the most gaping and pressing, but of course different members will hold differing priorities. At the end of the day it remains to be seen if this is just a bad patch we're all going through following integration, or if Marriott has committed long-term to prioritizing the whims and baser instincts of their property managers over the supposed benefits they've promised to their most loyal customers.

But since this is the Bonvy thread - and new status tiers are incorporated into that leak - I am throwing in with the camp that the name isn't bad, and that the program represents incremental progress towards proper status recognition with the eradication of the word "platinum" in all but a single status tier.

hockeyinsider

I agree. We all have our different priorities. Loopholes will sadly always exist. What's frustrating is they close loopholes, like meetings, for us, the guests, but do nothing to close the loopholes for bad properties. Look at that whole "local policy" clause in the terms and conditions that any smart general manager will cite for their property's noncompliance.

I said it in legacy Marriott: It makes no sense (or cents) to screw business travelers when they're on their own dime or on points for their yearly vacation with the wife, husband, partner, boyfriend, girlfriend, or significant other. Like many of us, I can expense breakfast, drinks and the like when I'm traveling most of the year, staying at airport hotels or an unmemorable downtown business hotel.

Getting the excellent M Club breakfast that I do when I stay at the Marriott Georgetown in Washington, D.C., isn't nearly as important nor valuable as it would be if I would got that same breakfast at a property when I'm on vacationing and trying to keep my wife happy. The same for the very nice executive lounge at the J.W. Marriott Grosvenor House in London. As much as I complain about fake champagne I appreciate a halfway decent Spanish cava that is served on a complimentary basis when I'm on my yearly award-redemption trip to London. It means I can save $30-50 in drink expenses per night.

Look at Scrub Island, Autograph Collection. My boss has ambassador status, like me. Him and I do events. Until this year, we each did between $200,000 and $250,000 per year in events with Marriott. He spent like a million points for 10 days over Thanksgiving at Scrub Island, booking a couple of rooms for him and his kids. He even paid several hundred dollars in a co-pay for a suite. And how does the property treat him? A muffin, some bread and a cup of coffee in a box for breakfast. That's it.

nmb255

This +1000

Reward Stay should have breakfast included always. It's about the chain rewarding their patrons not on this stay, but for all the others stays used to build up the points.

soy

UA-NYC

I'd expect nothing more from Marriott

Oxon Flyer

I really do suspect that "Marriott Bonfire ® ™ ℠" will rapidly gain traction as the universal moniker of abuse for the new program ….

hockeyinsider

Funny enough, Marriott and Hyatt have used the same, outside branding agency for some things.

lost_in_translation

To me, the logo is fine, not as nice as the old SPG logo or even the old Marriott logo, but better than the weirdly-justified car crash that is the World of Hyatt Logo (Or World O F Hyatt as it reads to me). The problem with Bonvoy is entirely the name that make it sound like some kind of rare orangutan.

kaizen7

MSPeconomist

Zelucifer

Why didn't they just go with Bon voyage? It seems like that was the intent, they were attempting to convey, but it sounds so much worse.

rrgg

The crazy thing is the SPG brand is already a loved brand which they now own. Why wouldn't they use some variation on that? As for millennials, the SPG brand also addresses that issue best of the 3.

Nevsky

Just looking at my status on the app and it says that I am Titanium Elite.I am still Platinum Premier Elite on the website.

craigthemif

^ I am getting tired of being greeted as a Platinum.

hhoope01

My elite status is still showing PP on the App. But if I look at my nights details, it says "Renew Lifetime Titanium Elite at 32 nights". I didn't realize that I need to have more nights each year to renew my LT status.