magendim

https://thepointsguy.com/news/marriott-ceo-anthony-capuano-interview/

Yeah, you will never be like SPG cause the level of Martiott service compared to SPG was abysmal before the takeover. It's all about the $ now vs actual loyal customer service and benefits....

nexusCFX

I'm pretty baffled by the admission that the SPG program was better for guests, worse for owners, and that SPG loyalists lost things with the new program. Regardless of the truth of any of those, as far as PR goes I don't think you're supposed to actually say those things aloud.

Sam P. Goodman

Captain Obvious defecting from hotels.com to Marriott?

Tanic

Forgot to mention that Marriott Rewards was a superior program to BonFire.

magendim

Yeah, they're not supposed to say those things aloud but that's the attitude at Marriott these days. Just too big to give a sh*t....

khabah

The subject matter of this thread is already being discussed in the General Discussion Thread. Mods, please merge.

khabah

khabah

More negative press about the CEO's recent comments has been bubbling out, the latest being this scathing piece from God Save The Points. I might stand corrected about Capuano staying silent – silence might serve him better than having him say inane [but ultimately revealing] things like guests have short memories, openly admitting their loyalty program is less rewarding than its predecessor and hoping that people are willing to accept diminished benefits at more properties.

Going to be hard to wash this stain out.

khabah

TBD

The CEO works for the shareholders and I'm sure their annual results show that this change is still generating profits.

UKTraveller4Fun

As much as I dislike it and the direction he is clearly saying Marriott is heading there is a logic to his statement.

The longer Bonvoy gets compared to SPG the longer it remains in the memory of people what a loyalty program can be and as such those expectations persist. By essentially admitting, Bonvoy isn't as good, but you do have far greater choice he is saying get over it and move on, but Marriott are betting when you look around you will find Bonvoy is still a better option that other choices and partly because our footprint is so large.

He is not totally wrong, equally I don't believe long term it's a great direction. Some like me will move my important (and expensive)travel elsewhere as I don't have faith in Marriott anymore and then just dip my toe in to Marriott when it suits because it's still the best option in some places for me. Others will want the ease or only have the ability to hold top tier elite with one group and as such may find Bonvoy is their choice, but do it Knowing it's no and never will be what SPG was, thus making peace with that fact, even if not liking it.

Then there are the people who loved Marriott before the merger and they will probably stick around anyway.

Beltway2A

While he's not supposed to say at, I don't mind that he's upfront about what Marriott intends the program to be. I haven't really cared about the Bonvoy program since ~2019, but at least they're not trying to pretend it's something that it's not.

He also strikes me as significantly more knowledgeable than his predecessor, Sorenson. Capuano doesn't seem to be under Sorensen's delusion that Millennials don't want desks or other hotel necessities for business travel. Given his little spiel about devices, it's even possible that he's actually spoken to one of us.

emma dog

"Capuano said he wants guests to have a much more emotional relationship with Bonvoy."

Oh, it certainly is. Just not the emotional relationship one usually hopes for.

EasternTraveler

Now before all the flaming about reading the points guy articles because he ....., I must say I read any and all articles I can find. What I did find interesting is these points:
1. As a hotel gets larger, it becomes more owner centric instead of customer centric. They feel that the wide choice of locations is more important to loyalty than the customer benefits of a program like SPG. Makes me think I would rather find smaller chains than bigger ones.
2. They use the multiple brand names to allow more penetration in markets where their contracts limit them to one X per so many miles. It's a work around for the developers.
3. The owners are fighting Marriott tooth and nail, resisting efforts to bring back services and benefits.
4. This string of comments, "Yes, Bonvoy isn’t as generous as SPG, he said, but its members now have access to a much larger pool of hotels with many more choices.“What some of those SPG loyalists may have lost, a bit, in terms of the richness of the program, we hope that breadth of choice, whether it be brands or geography, is a bit of a mitigating factor,” Capuano said." Just ugh!
5. Housekeeping is going to be on a request only basis for the foreseeable future.
There is a lot more, but you can read it for yourself at: https://thepointsguy.com/news/marrio...m_medium=email

Eastbay1K

That interview was about as enlightening as finding out from the plumber that your sewer line is backed up long after you've called because the house has poopoodoodookaka coming up out of every drain.

Owners are fighting tooth and nail? Yay, right. They may be kvetching, but "fighting tooth and nail?" Of course. The Westin Wherever is now a Best Western Plus Wherever - the owner could even re-use the West letters.

Adelphos

Hate it or love it, the interview is a candid and accurate description of the company and the industry,

margarita girl

There are already 2 threads on this topic.

Marriott General Discussion Thread

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...riott-ceo.html