dayone

Primarily to "grandfather" (read: one-time grant) legacy Marriott lifetime Platinum members who had earned that "level" (75 nights) and benefits in the old program. Offering it on some basis to Starwood members is an accommodation.

CPRich

Profit is much more meaningful than revenue.

rny321

And then Starwood members wanted their 750 nights treated the same as Marriott nights. Once SPG nights counted towards the 750 needed, MPG felt the needed to allow combined nights and years of status. Then Marriott members wanted to be able to use combined nights and uncombined points. Others continue to want combined nights and combined points.

If you give a mouse a cookie.....

margarita girl

360guy

I echo thaliajen comments.I just made LTP after 20 years in the program. Still no acknowledgement from SPG/Marriott on the website or via email. Do you think they will ever send out cards?

dayone

I agree with this very succinct summary.

stant

OHHHHH. well now that I know what grandfather means, I am perfectly happy that I can spend 125 nights a year in starriot properties these days and spend tens of thousands a dollars a year with them and have been a member since the spg program started BUT not get access to ltpp just because I went from not quite making platinum for many years straight to ambassador level, just not for long enough to get my 10 platinum years in to qualify... So I'll have more nights and more spend than (at least some - maybe many) LTPPs even more total years of loyalty, i just wont ever be able to qualify. makes perfect sense.

/sarcasm

dayone

To some, it does.

bhrubin

rny321

Considering that the head of the combined Loyalty Department came from the Starwood side, it is astounding that nobody considered the backlash from SPG members who were initially not offered a path to LTPP. If SPG had simply added a 750 night Platinum level a while back that would have converted to LTPP, the perception of unfairness would have been reduced.

Anyone without 10 years of combined Platinum status certainly didn't have the 10 years of SPG status needed to qualify for LTP under the legacy SPG rules. I know that much of the following is off topic, but I didn't want to start a new topic and there are only so many ways to address the complaints of people who didn't meet the criteria for any status level before the cutoff date.

Since SNA's weren't part of the MR benefits, LTP and P were basically the same. With the exception of an unadvertised PP level that represented a very small portion of the membership base, both annual and lifetime status were close to the top of the upgrade pool. Since the merger, suite upgrades, which were common at Marriott at least in some parts of the world, were explicitly added to the program description. Whether the suite upgrade language was added due to the merger or Hilton's decision to incorporate similar language, I am glad it is current policy.

If 750 night MR members had been given the same status as 500 night members, they would be behind those PP+ A, PP members, and those P members who were using SNA's in the upgrade pool. Knowing that suite upgrades are part of the upgrade pool is of little use if you are so far down the list that you don't get them.

Although the extra points from PP are nice, I appreciate United Silver more. Although United Silver has been a benefit of P status for many years, like any aspect of a Loyalty program it could disappear at any time.

The things I believe are going away from the MR side are attractively priced travel packages, status maintenance based on the last three years, soft landings, rollover nights and the ability to earn 3 points per dollar and 10 elite nights for each group booking. I am not defending using low cost meetings for status or the precise way that rollover nights added to LT status, but I wish they had continued in some form.

I am glad that the breakfast benefit has expanded and RC's are starting to offer suites to PP and above. Although I appreciate the addition of Luxury Collection and St. Regis hotels, others whose travel plans differ will obviously have a different perspective on the value of more higher end hotels as part of the package. I have been Platinum on the MR and SPG side and I believe I understand the positive and negative aspects of the merger, but I am happy to be enlightened by those who know more about the old and new progarms.

CPRich

"I didn't meet the criteria, so I don't get it" - yes, seems to make perfect sense.

Which they changed. Why do so many people keep bringing this up?

"They made a mistake and fixed it, but I'm going to hold it against them forever as if I was actually impacted, even through I wasn't"?

rny321

Making a mistake and correcting it isn't the issue. If they had simply added a higher tier on the SPG side to match the one on the MR side, the issue would have mostly gone away. The problem is the criteria for LTPP has changed more than once and each iteration creates the impression that others might be covered in the next one. Allowing combined nights and years of status meant some who would not have been old LTP this year under SPG rules qualified for LTPP under the combined program. Once that was allowed, some MR members wanted the chance to combine nights and not points. Now we have a new topic where someone feels aggrieved because nights and points can't be be combined. Someone else is complaining about the inability to qualify even though he or she didn't have 10 years of Platinum status. We have gone from what might have been a relatively small group of MR and SPG members who would have qualified based on uncombined totals to an increasingly large pool of members, which makes those who are not able to qualify for LTPP lower on the upgrade list than they might have been with more restrictive qualifying criteria.

At the end of this year, I will have well over 2MM MR points and roughly 700 MR nights. If nights can be combined, I am way over 750 nights. Although the Lurker William posted in June that 750 combined nights and 2MM uncombined points qualify for LTPP, there is at least one blogger who claims to have been told subsequently by MPG management that only MR nights count.

stant

The ones who think it makes sense are irrelevant. The point of a loyalty program is to inspire loyalty. If the loyalty program is ticking off members - especially the most lucrative ones - then there is a problem.

I WILL meet the criteria of the program that was opened up in the spirit of 'fairness' then arbitrarily closed for additional admission after a single year cut off time. And remember, I COULD have qualified this year, like the OP, if marriot used the same guidelines as they had for marriot members in terms of nights and points.

So yeah, I dont get it, I didnt meet the rules, so i dont qualify - i just dont understand that. because thats exactly what I and the OP mean. *sarcasm* We arent at all frustrated by the fact that the rules werent written in a way that gave spg members the same opportunities that marriot members had *more sarcasm* because it's not like a bunch of people on the spg side didnt raise holy hell about not getting ANY crack at LTPP, and got marriot to reconsider on the matter. *enough sarcasm* it just so happens that me and the OP are a much smaller pool of members who are getting stiffed by the rules.

rny321

Initially, I was told that the cutoff date was in April of this year. Like other things, the last date to qualify did also. I thought it was proper to give those with 750 SPG nights and 10 years of status, even though I would not have met that standard. I agree that there should have been more notice before closing the opportunity to earn LTPP. I have earned 2MM+ MR Points and 2MM+ SPG points. By early 2019, I expected to have 750+ MR nights. By shifting stays around I could have completed 10 combined years of Platinum equivalent status in 2019. So, under every current or proposed way to earn LTPP, I could have made it

As I mentioned earlier, I am not certain that I will end up as LTPP with >750 combined nights and >2MM MR points. Since I value United Silver more than many on FT, I will miss out on more than some posters realize if I remain at LTP. My biggest complaint isn't that I may miss a final opportunity to achieve LTPP, but the changing criteria and the lack of definitive answers about what qualifies. William is a fantastic representative and I appreciate the time he has spent responding to both reasonable and unreasonable questions, but a Lurker should be a supplement and not a substitute for direct information from MPG.

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