lost_in_translation

Erm, what? That's pretty much exactly what they've said, the programme is called Marriott Bonvoy...

zymm

I sing the name in my head to the tune of 'Convoy'

Makes me think of truck stops

C17PSGR

I continue to think its strange that there doesn't seem to be much focus on focus groups or research. I'm not surprised Marriott doesn't focus on FTer's as I'm not sure we're representative but it seems strange that no one from FT has been asked for input ...

From the non-working insiders page, it appears to be The Lacek Group, a Minneapolis based "customer-engagement agency that develops marketing solutions at the intersection of brands, data insights, and creativity. TLG designs and optimizes highly successful customer-relationship management initiatives, loyalty programs, and customer communications across all media for some of the world’s most respected brands. The agency’s clients include Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Carnival Cruise Lines, U.S. Bank, Enterprise Holdings (National Car Rental, Alamo Rent A Car, Enterprise Rent-A-Car), United Airlines, Ford Motor Company, DuPont Pioneer, and DuPont Crop Protection. TLG is a specialty agency of Ogilvy & Mather."

That being said, perhaps they are just running social media on insiders and elsewhere as that's something often contracted out. It's also interesting they are Starwood's agency -- continuing the Starwood diminishment of the program.

kaizen7

I would say most of Luxcols with lounge are in Asia such as : The Athenee Bangkok, Sheraton Grand Bangkok, The Prince Gallery Tokyo, Keraton Jakarta, Grosvenor House Dubai, and The Hongta Shanghai

Its not a major loss as it never guaranteed anyway even at SPG, but still it gives a bad start for the new program.

EuropeanPete

The Sheraton Grand Sukhumit has no lounge. I've been to the Hongta, Athenee and Grosvenor House but have never bothered popping into their lounge...

Smrtmom1

"From the non-working insiders page"

I have not been able to log on since the Convoy started. Glad it isn't just my computer...

WoodyWindy

My post was actually in agreement with your sentiment. I didn't comment on your experience specifically because mine has been different, except to acknowledge that this is quite variable by property, but in my experience always has been. I'm not usually one of those who jumps on the desk saying "DYKWIA?" and showing their web site indicating that a suite is available, but they didn't give it to me automatically. (Note, I'm not saying you are either, but there are definitely those on FT who do that...)

In the end, the name is what it is, and the program will have to stand (or fall) on what Marriott makes of it.

WoodyWindy

Yes, in the end Marriott is the total combined company, and Bonvoy is the resulting program, which is distinct from the component programs and doesn't have the legacy baggage.

margarita girl

It seems clear to me that Marriott had ZERO respect for FT judging by the number of representatives they had on this website. Compare that to Starwood with 4+ representatives with 30-40K posts (I didn't check the numbers, so feel free to correct me). Plenty of people on FT have confirmed that their loyalty was reaffirmed thanks to the presence of the Lurkers.

C17PSGR

Well .... I think there's a distinction between asking a property to comply with the T&C and intent of the program and jumping on a desk saying DYKWIA. There are a lot of properties who just don't care. Hoping it will get better now.

I don't think Marriott values FT either. And, in fairness, I was surprised to follow 3d quarter financial results for Marriott and franchisees and learn that there was no impact from post 8/18 and, indeed, reservations through Marriott.com were up. Operators didn't report any issues either. From reading FT and my own experiences making reservations, I had the opposite expectation.

That being said, I don't think the people at Marriott involved in program design, the website, promotions, actually travel. If they did, many of these issues would be obvious. If they had a focus group of travelers, it would also be obvious.

SanDiego1K

I'm happy to say we have the same lurkers as we did in the Starwood days. I see this as Marriott recognizing the value that FlyerTalk and the Lurker team bring to the new brand. We've gone with new titles and new beginnings for them as we felt it would make history very confusing to see an old Starwood post and a Marriott Bonvoy handle responding. I've seen William actively posting and I've seen posts by some of the other Bonvoy folks. Each was given a nominal 20 post count to get them past the software throttling that occurs for new accounts.

UA-NYC

I think Q4 will be the better indication of the post-8/18 ongoing CF than Q3 results were

C17PSGR

The lurkers absolutely bring value. The Lacek Group pins while Insiders has been down highlights that Marriott runs Insiders with an outsourced social media team, like many other companies. Obviously, that outsourced social media team has no ability to do anything meaningful for members or even identify trends.

You may be right. We'll find out on the 28th/1st. Of course, its good to see the reports to REITs and hotel operators who manage/own properties from multiple brands as they don't need to spin pro-management. Last quarter, they were pretty consistent that the 8/18 was no big deal and they weren't seeing any problems.

https://marriott.gcs-web.com/news-re...urth-quarter-6

JBord

First, let me say I understand the need to rebrand after a merger, but I think the new name is kind of dumb.

But I don't understand all the comments here about how Marriott should have done focus groups, should have listened to FlyerTalker's opinions, etc. The following things come to mind immediately as I read the thread:

- We (and I include myself) all think our opinions are more important than they probably are -- to Marriott or anyone else. Ultimately, we're a small sample of the customer base.
- Who says they didn't do focus groups? If I were rolling out new branding, it wouldn't be focused on keeping existing customers that had already proven their loyalty, it would be focused on appealing to new customers. So why would I include elites in the focus groups?
- AND, adding onto the bullet above, I suspect they were doubtful that they would lose existing loyal customers due to a loyalty program name. So a few people will complain about how stupid the name is for a while, maybe a few will even prefer it, but in the end if you leave Marriott because of the loyalty program branding, you were probably going to leave anyway.

The fact that people are discussing the name change and what it means might be exactly what they wanted -- a distraction from some of the IT problems that have affected a portion of their customers.

C17PSGR

I think FTers are definitely a small sample and our experiences may not be representative. Perhaps they did focus groups .... but garbage in/garbage out. Bonvoy is as good a name as any, even if its dumb, At least they've worked in the concept of travel is good. Definitely a better name than World of Hyatt. Frankly, I think this is all part of an industry push to capture additional revenue through Moments, etc.

That being said, I'd definitely want my best customers in any focus group. It's obvious that who ever designed the website doesn't make reservations on a regular basis. Maybe occasional travelers don't notice or care. It's obvious that some -- perhaps many -- properties aren't following the rules/concepts. If the current management team was out and about, they'd notice that. The old guys in the painting would never have allowed that to happen. I remember being in a lounge many years ago with Bill and him walking around talking to people, asking questions.

I don't like the way that some of the airline programs are going but they clearly have an understanding of customer experience, even if they decide to focus on profitability.