rigel

Would love to hear any analysis or news about it.

Football Fan

It would make sense. I am one of those ex-SPG Lifetime Plats who is now locked into Marriott Lifetime Plat, with no way up. How does that incentivize me to stay more at the Marriott chain?

SPN Lifer

That is a dream of so many who got Bonv°yed when Marriott announced new qualifications would cease effective at the end of Monday, 31 December 2018, a date that will live in Bonv°y infamy.

However, Marriott has consistently and persistently insisted that there will be no resumption of new Lifetime Titanium Elite qualifications. There is no reason not to take them at their word.

The pages and pages of speculation, wishful thinking, argument, and discussion on that topic in this forum are merely that.

mileageking

It was reported there may have been a way through MVC (well not really lifetime but something similar depending on your age) "Lifetime" Gold, Platinum and Titanium from Marriott Vacation Club - FlyerTalk Forums

stuartpig

I think they need to re-evaluate the levels. There are many people way over Lifetime Titanium requirements and the benefits are marginal if you are still staying 50 to 75 nights anyway. I am almost double the requirement on nights, 5 years over the years requirement. And I only stay for leisure in the UK. Sure there many, particularly in the US, who can double that.

SF1K

What do people feel is the biggest difference between Platinum and Titanium?

Is it the extra pints earning? I don’t think the room/suite upgrade is that big of a difference? I say that as a LTT but as Hyatt LTG if I have a choice I’ll always choose Hyatt as the upgrades and benefits just seem so much better. To the point that having LTP or LTT with Marriott is having almost no impact on me choosing to stay with Marriott.

DJ_Iceman

I would think that making you stay 75 nights a year to earn titanium status on an annual basis is their goal, no? Just look at the number of threads here along the lines of "I've got lifetime xxx with whatever chain, who should I focus on now?"

Alex_I

I am LFT and still re-qualifying for Titanium each and every year. The only different thing I see is a continuing deterioration of service and recognition in Marriott hotels. Yes, the point earning rate is greater for Titanium but this is not a big deal for me. But then I am not getting any personalized offers.
I do not see a reason why Marriot would not re institute LFT because of very marginal cost in extra points. But again Bonvoy is very stingy.

SPN Lifer

For me, the chief benefit of Marriott Bonv°y Titanium Elite status is the annual complimentary UA MileagePlus Premier Silver membership. I appreciate the E+ seating at check-in, which I do online 24 hours in advance. I also like getting a minimum of 500 miles per segment for UA lifetime mileage accrual purposes.

rthib

I can confirm. But it takes having 10,000 Marriot Vacation Club points.
Semi lifetime as you keep the status as long as you continue to own that many enrolled week and/or points to keep you at that level,
7,000 gets you Platinum.

myperks

UA silver, potential ritz suite upgrade, and a little more bonus points.

what Marriott should really do is to split out the Titanium benefits from the Platinum benefits. Platinums get lounge access and suite upgrades and 4pm. Same as titaniums. Might as well strip out the lounge benefits for lounge access certs (a la Hyatt) or lounge access when upgraded to room that has lounge access (a la Hilton) while making full breakfast available to platinum members. SNAs for platinum members instead of upgrade to best available including suites, and maybe 2pm checkout. That will differentiate tits and ambassadors from platinum. Lifetime members ends at lifetime platinum (minus the grandfathered LTT population) to drive more nights or credit cards to reach titaniums. That will take care of the “I’m lifetime anyways and where else can I go” with breakfast and club lounge access and SNAs for the occasional stays. While they are at it, get rid of silver.

DJ_Iceman

Those are some good thoughts, @myperks. Marriott is probably frittering away a once-in-a-generation opportunity here to revamp these levels. 2021 could be there to maintain everyone's status and offer bonuses as needed to get the numbers at each level where they want them to be. But starting in 2022 they could have a fully-tweaked program in place that balances perks for loyalty, points earning and redemption, and encouraging stays and spending. I know I'm not the only one who thinks the current program is overly complicated with too many restrictions and exemptions.

They could do whatever they want in terms of changing the names of the levels, the qualification criteria, the benefits, etc. right now while travel is so topsy-turvy. Personally, I'd like it if they changed ambassador back to an invite-only level without stated criteria (like platinum premier used to be) but provide actual, tangible benefits over and above whatever the published top tier is. I also think they need to make it harder to achieve levels that grant complimentary executive/concierge lounge access--Hilton has a good approach here where diamonds always get lounge access but golds only get it if they get upgraded to a club floor (but otherwise get complimentary breakfast in the restaurant).

I'd also like to see Marriott re-establish their control over all their franchisees. Don't comply with the T&C of the Bonvoy program? It's just like not meeting other brand standards--there are actual, tangible consequences that quickly lead to being deflagged. This would help with delivering on Bonvoy promises to various levels.

Finally, I'd like to see Marriott actually help all these hotel owners with training programs to reinvigorate the culture Marriott used to have, summarized in the book "Spirit to Serve". Marriott used to actually care about their guests as, well... as guests. It started with how they took care of their associates, who almost felt like part of the Marriott family. Nowadays everything has become very sterile and corporate--when a guest has a problem they are automatically offered Bonvoy points as compensation, whereas an empowered person used to actually listen to complaints, offer a sincere apology (and appropriate compensation if warranted), and then work to correct whatever deficiency was identified.

These are fundamental cultural issues that could be addressed and fixed over a short period of time, if the company shared my passion that they are the basic differentiators between Marriott and any other hospitality company.

myperks

Just random thoughts:

Ambassador: tit benefits plus guaranteed your24 with 72 hour notice (upgrades or late checkouts don’t apply), another 2 suite upgrade cert (a la Hyatt), ambassador service, 100% bonus, ambassador annual gift

Titanium: plat benefits plus lounge access, 4pm checkout, 2 suite upgrade cert up to XX nights (a la Hyatt), best available room including standard suites, UA silver, 75% bonus, titanium annual gift

Platinum: 2pm checkout, XX SNAs, XX lounge access award for up to xx nights, full breakfast if not upgraded to lounge access (a la Hilton),enhanced upgrades, platinum annual gift, arrivals amenity, 50% bonus

Gold: 2pm checkout, enhanced upgrades, arrival amenity, 25% bonus.

Silver: not much use, might as well get rid of this level.

Clear differentiation at each level. Implementation would be another thing. But I’m sure hotels would love cutting out platinums from automatic lounge access, especially in high lounge traffic properties. Many will be pitchforking (mostly from SPG that didn’t get in on LTT), but change is inevitable (a la United status devaluations), but probably will turn out okay as time goes by.

(Or maybe go one step further to simplify... keep only gold, platinum, and titanium and have milestone gifts past titanium...)

donotblink

Marriott's biggest issue right now is figuring out how to get business travel to return to the levels it was at pre-pandemic. Without that, they don't have business travelers to market the status tiers to.

CPRich

No news. There's a pandemic going on, so this is probably not at the top of their to do list. Probably not on their to do list