Marriott closing down Marriott Insiders (MRI) - refugees thread
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 71
Marriott closing down Marriott Insiders (MRI) - refugees thread
Hi there,
Another disappointing move from Marriott: they are shutting down Marriott Insiders later today. Only 24h notice.
While a couple of members have taken the initiative to hop over to Travellers Point, I'm not convinced it's the place for us due to their restrictions (can't tag members, not allowed to discus promotions, etc.)
Are you willing to take in some of Marriott's true Insiders? In return, you may let some of you join in the fun at the third TIPPLE meet up in Seattle this September.
Another disappointing move from Marriott: they are shutting down Marriott Insiders later today. Only 24h notice.
While a couple of members have taken the initiative to hop over to Travellers Point, I'm not convinced it's the place for us due to their restrictions (can't tag members, not allowed to discus promotions, etc.)
Are you willing to take in some of Marriott's true Insiders? In return, you may let some of you join in the fun at the third TIPPLE meet up in Seattle this September.
#3
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Orange County, CA, USA
Programs: AA (Life Plat), Marriott (Life Titanium) and every other US program
Posts: 6,410
Hi there,
Another disappointing move from Marriott: they are shutting down Marriott Insiders later today. Only 24h notice.
While a couple of members have taken the initiative to hop over to Travellers Point, I'm not convinced it's the place for us due to their restrictions (can't tag members, not allowed to discus promotions, etc.)
Are you willing to take in some of Marriott's true Insiders? In return, you may let some of you join in the fun at the third TIPPLE meet up in Seattle this September.
Another disappointing move from Marriott: they are shutting down Marriott Insiders later today. Only 24h notice.
While a couple of members have taken the initiative to hop over to Travellers Point, I'm not convinced it's the place for us due to their restrictions (can't tag members, not allowed to discus promotions, etc.)
Are you willing to take in some of Marriott's true Insiders? In return, you may let some of you join in the fun at the third TIPPLE meet up in Seattle this September.
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 71
Marriott had its own discussion forum, called Marriott (Rewards) Insiders.
Have a peak while it's still up: https://insiders.marriott.com/
Have a peak while it's still up: https://insiders.marriott.com/
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: LGA/JFK/EWR
Programs: UA 1K1.75MM, Hyatt Globalist, abandoned Marriott LTT (RIP SPG), Hertz PC
Posts: 21,165
Not sure what's more "Marriott" - 1) closing it down with a whole 24 hours notice, or 2) moving to a platform with it's own massive privacy issues (ironic given the recent consumer data leak)
#6
Moderator, Amtrak & Spirit Airlines
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: EWR :rolleyes:
Programs: AC 50K, AS MVP, AA Plat Pro, DL Plat, UA Silver, IHG Spire, Marriott Titanium, Hertz PC
Posts: 9,529
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Saipan, MP 96950 USA (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands = the CNMI)
Programs: UA Silver, Hilton Silver. Life: UA .57 MM, United & Admirals Clubs (spousal), Marriott Platinum
Posts: 14,820
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: TOA
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott LTPP/Platinum Premier, Hyatt Lame-ist, UA !K
Posts: 20,061
One might assume that there's a cost savings component to the shutdown of Marriott Insiders. If so, how much has Marriott been spending to maintain their own self controlled forum not to mention its original development costs? Must have been sizable.
David
David
Last edited by DELee; Apr 3, 2020 at 3:12 pm Reason: fix typo
#9
Join Date: Mar 2017
Programs: AAEXP, BonvoyLTT, UAS, SW A-list
Posts: 27
Hi there,
Another disappointing move from Marriott: they are shutting down Marriott Insiders later today. Only 24h notice.
While a couple of members have taken the initiative to hop over to Travellers Point, I'm not convinced it's the place for us due to their restrictions (can't tag members, not allowed to discus promotions, etc.)
Are you willing to take in some of Marriott's true Insiders? In return, you may let some of you join in the fun at the third TIPPLE meet up in Seattle this September.
Another disappointing move from Marriott: they are shutting down Marriott Insiders later today. Only 24h notice.
While a couple of members have taken the initiative to hop over to Travellers Point, I'm not convinced it's the place for us due to their restrictions (can't tag members, not allowed to discus promotions, etc.)
Are you willing to take in some of Marriott's true Insiders? In return, you may let some of you join in the fun at the third TIPPLE meet up in Seattle this September.
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Wanting First. Buying First.
Programs: Lifetime Executive Diamond Platinum VIP with Braniff, Eastern, Midway, National & Pan Am
Posts: 17,297
I was vaguely aware of Marriott Insiders but for those who were active there: why would you post/participate/browse on that company-controlled forum and not FT?
#11
In memoriam
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: MAN
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Titanium, IHG Spire, UA Silver, Dennis The Menace Fan Club
Posts: 1,457
Hi Yogi - I’m a long term Flyertalker, indeed I was a regular contributor on Flyertalk several years before I started contributing to Marriott Insiders.
Overall I preferred Insiders because it was more of a community, members knew one another and would discuss more as friends or work colleagues around the kettle, alas FT does have a snarky side. So occasionally did Insiders but it was much rarer. Furthermore, Insiders was better set up to run a blog and quite a few of the regulars had active blogs, A View from the Tower, County Collecting and of course BrightlyBob’s Blab to name but three! Marriotts moderation was very light touch and it even permitted posts that highlighted other hotels schemes, something ironically that would lead to the discussion being switched here!
I enjoy and have continued to enjoy FT, but I’m sad to see the end of Insiders which I felt was a better way to enjoy the social media aspect of hotel program sharing and discussions...
Overall I preferred Insiders because it was more of a community, members knew one another and would discuss more as friends or work colleagues around the kettle, alas FT does have a snarky side. So occasionally did Insiders but it was much rarer. Furthermore, Insiders was better set up to run a blog and quite a few of the regulars had active blogs, A View from the Tower, County Collecting and of course BrightlyBob’s Blab to name but three! Marriotts moderation was very light touch and it even permitted posts that highlighted other hotels schemes, something ironically that would lead to the discussion being switched here!
I enjoy and have continued to enjoy FT, but I’m sad to see the end of Insiders which I felt was a better way to enjoy the social media aspect of hotel program sharing and discussions...
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 71
Hi BrightlyBob, glad to see you made it to this topic too!
I think BBob has touched brilliantly on the essence of why MRI had a certain success in keeping an active community: low moderation and very little interference from HQ, the community managers were able to make a difference in certain customer service issues where dealing with central CS or the property was leading to dead ends, community members were able to sort out questions stemming from promotions or changes in policies in a relatively efficient way, the way they allowed for members to run their individual travel-oriented blogs (or use them for reviewing properties, like I did), etc.
But I have to understand the other side of the coin: they had to run a small team of community managers (not sure if they also controlled other social media, such as FB groups/pages) and the Jive engine (mostly due to having to insert some forks to interact with data from the MARSHA database) was probably a headache to maintain for an IT department that is already scrambling to make their main platform run as smoothly as possible (promotion-registration issues and point-posting headaches, anyone?)
And while, for Marriott, this cut of resources might be logical in a time of cutting costs to survive, for the members this comes in a concentration of disappointing moves from HQ.
As for FT being intimidating from time to time: yesterday there was a member with some reviewer badges that very quickly pulled out the big snarky arsenal. Luckily moderation was pretty swift in pulling it (and my reply to him) down. It's good to see that there is a decent control on keeping a positive spirit here and an open spirit to exchange. And after all: it's impossible that it's worse than Facebook, which is a free unlimited buffet for trolls.
I think BBob has touched brilliantly on the essence of why MRI had a certain success in keeping an active community: low moderation and very little interference from HQ, the community managers were able to make a difference in certain customer service issues where dealing with central CS or the property was leading to dead ends, community members were able to sort out questions stemming from promotions or changes in policies in a relatively efficient way, the way they allowed for members to run their individual travel-oriented blogs (or use them for reviewing properties, like I did), etc.
But I have to understand the other side of the coin: they had to run a small team of community managers (not sure if they also controlled other social media, such as FB groups/pages) and the Jive engine (mostly due to having to insert some forks to interact with data from the MARSHA database) was probably a headache to maintain for an IT department that is already scrambling to make their main platform run as smoothly as possible (promotion-registration issues and point-posting headaches, anyone?)
And while, for Marriott, this cut of resources might be logical in a time of cutting costs to survive, for the members this comes in a concentration of disappointing moves from HQ.
As for FT being intimidating from time to time: yesterday there was a member with some reviewer badges that very quickly pulled out the big snarky arsenal. Luckily moderation was pretty swift in pulling it (and my reply to him) down. It's good to see that there is a decent control on keeping a positive spirit here and an open spirit to exchange. And after all: it's impossible that it's worse than Facebook, which is a free unlimited buffet for trolls.
#15
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,761
Interesting; I had always heard that it was heavily censored and that's why I'd never bothered to join the community.