Changes to Marriott Rewards - bye bye AA - Why?
 

I am hoping the Marriott Concierge can explain the detail behind why this happened.

We want to inform you of an important change to the Marriott Rewards® program. Effective July 1, 2010, the option to earn American Airlines AAdvantage® miles for stays with Marriott Rewards will no longer be available. The last day to earn AAdvantage miles on a qualified stay is June 30, 2010.

We apologize for the inconvenience and ask you visit your account profile, where you can opt to earn miles with any of our existing 30 airline program partners, or convert your earning preference to Marriott Rewards points. As a points earner, you'll have access to our current bonus promotion, offering up to 2 free nights plus up to $50 off a Hertz® car rental! Visit MarriottRewardsBonus.com to learn more and register today.

For complete program details, visit MarriottRewards.com, call 801-468-4000, or contact your local Guest Services office. We appreciate your loyalty to Marriott® and look forward to seeing you again soon.

Thank you,
The Marriott Rewards Team

Until we get the official answer, my guess is that AA raised the price of miles and Marriott opted out.

Agreed, based in part on sketchy information I was able to obtain by calling Marriott Rewards. I hope they reverse course, but unless/until they do I'm regrettably opting out of Marriott.

I have already dropped the Marriott but was going to redeem my last travel package and dump the miles to AA. Need to do this before end of June.

It looks like this impacts only EARNING AA miles for your stays, not redeeming for them. Is that correct?

If you look at the other thread, it appears that even redeeming them is gone. I just converted all my points into AA miles. It looks like I'm done with Marriott.

I blame "Up in the Air'. Everyone thinks you should fly American and stay at Hilton to meet beautiful women and get 10 million miles.:cool:

I posted this to the AA thread, and I'll post it here, too...ways to contact AA and Marriott. Please tell them how you feel about this:

http://www.aa.com/contactAA/viewAadv...eFormAccess.do
https://www.marriott.com/rewards/customer-support.mi

I confirmed with Marriott Rewards. No redemption in anyway after this time. The AA email I received was specific in that.

Maybe just time to accumulate points until they return and get a HUGE transfer in as a welcome back (though I am sure they will figure out a way to stop that).

Marriott: Please bring AA back as a partner. You only give up one stupid mile per dollar spent anyhow (2 for FS).

This is the end of the road for me and Marriott. After the big devaluation (still cinically called enhancements by Marriott reps) I was already wondering what to do with my MVCI properties. Now the trade-for-points option is definitely dead for me and with such a wide offer of amazing hotels at low rates there is no reason to stay loyal to Marriott.

I know it's not the same thing, but you can still accumulate British Air miles to use on American flights. (Of course that doesn't help you reach lifetime AA status.)

BIG SURPRISE - I called Marriott Rewards customer service as well to verify.

The CSR told me that it is AA that is pulling out of the relationship.

This means no more travel packages with AA. I think that is a big loss. I'll have to scramble and possibly change the airline that I use.

The list of the 7 night travel packages and the airlines that you can use for conversion Marriott points to frequent flyer miles is found here. Soon, AA will drop off this list:

http://www.marriott.com/rewards/usepoints/morepack.mi

Hello all,

We've had a long and successful relationship with American Advantage, but unfortunately could not agree on terms to continue the relationship. As stated in the letters received, June 30th is the last date to earn advantage miles for stays with Marriott Rewards and the last day to convert points to miles.

Members may elect to earn with any of our 30 other airline partner programs or earn points.

Please remember the Delta 60K Promotion and the Summer Promotion which are two great opportunities to earn more miles or points.

Kind regards,

Marie

AA miles are MUCH more valuable than DL or anyone else's as:

1. They are relatively much easier to redeem
2. They count towards lifetime status.

Marie, I know you are just a messenger, but there is NO way to spin this positively.

The loss of AA travel packages just made MR much less valuable.

This would have been one of my bullets on my recent dissatisfaction survey if I would have known.

This just seals the deal. PLT this year, soft-landing to Gold next year, soft-landing to Silver the year after, and no more unless it's an absolute necessity.

Yup...this is a big loss. This was one of the few shining stars Marriott had to keep my business. Platinum this year but now looking for another chain to give my business.

RATS!
 

I reached Gold for life on AA last year and could have been Platinum for life in a few more. I have been using the AA credit cards for business purchases and the Marriott Visa Card for personal purchases for over a decade. This is truly a sad day. I have e-mailed both Marriott and AA to protest, but haven't heard back from AA. Marriott sent me the company response.

Any preferences / suggestions for other mileage programs?

I know 06/30 is last day to redeem, but can I redeem for future travel dates, i.e. March next year? I too agree this will lead to fewer stays for me at Marriott. Delta's points redemption is very difficult. Is Marriott alligning itself with Delta?

No reason at all why not. Miles transfer instantly. Use them when you want. The hotel reservation can be anywhere up to a year out.

All who do not like this change, voice your displeasure to the following addresses:

[email protected]
[email protected]

Does Marriott still allow only a single year extension of the hotel portion if one cannot use in the first year? Or can one extend "indefinitely".

Boo. I think I've redeemed Marriott Travel packages for at least six AA+hotel packages, including my last one.

While even 40k AA miles can get me between the US and Europe roundtrip this summer, DL wants 60k -- or more likely 70k+ -- miles for the same kind of trip. Thanks for the information about the promotion, but I'll pass on that.

DL miles are worth a lot less than AA miles when it comes to flight redemptions, and it's probably reflected in DL miles costing Marriott less than what AA may want.

I believe you can extend it many times as needed. I have just converted all my points into travel packages so I will stock a few hotel certificates.

I'm not so sure about that. My understanding is that a travel package is good for 1 year. I believe that you can call Marriott Rewards during that year and ask to have it extended for another year. (This is the same as what travelexpert said earlier in this thread.)

If I'm wrong, someone please correct me.

Bummer, I am going to have dump all my points to AA, I think I am going to switch over to Hilton, you can hit Diamond Club with 28 stays which appears to be on Par with Marriot Gold. I really like the Renaissance, and prefer Courtyards to Hampden Inn's, real bummer.

This is HUGE for me.

Very, very upset about this and I will have to completely reevaluate my loyalty to Marriott. Not saying I'll completely abandon them, but I'll definitely be looking at other options now.

This is a BIG :td: from me. I am relatively new in terms of using Marriott's travel package redemption for AA miles, but I absolute love it. Frankly, if not for AA"s lifetime status, I would not have used AA at all (since AS has a lower redemption chart). If not for AA, I would have sold the MVCI properties and spent my travel money somewhere else, NOT even a regular stay, which I have been happily paying Starwood. Now I need to think of a different strategy.... :mad: I will for sure let them know my voice. :td:

That might be, but I don't understand why Marriott is the only one pulling out (or we just haven't heard from other programs' devaluation announcement with AA yet?) Or does AA hate Marriott and only raise its price, or Marriott was attempting to lower the price it is paying to AA but failed?

Regardless, I am very disappointed. :(

I'm not an insider, but that sounds ludicrous on its face. AA is simply selling miles to Marriott. Why would a vendor want to discontinue business selling to a customer? I would assume they couldn't agree on a contract renewal price.

To Marriott Concierge:

I suggest Marriott find a way to "agree on terms to continue the relationship." It seems to me that Marriott is getting pretty arrogant, and thinks that its brand stands on its own merits. I think that's a pretty cocky attitude to have, particularly in a down economy. I personally believe that partnerships are essential to a company's well being. Although Marriott had not alienated me up until this point (but came close), the loss of Marriott's partnership with American Airlines is the icing on the cake. The Marriott Rewards program has gone to hell. One of the remaining few benefits (and I hesitantly say "few") was one's ability to derive AA miles in a travel package.

This comes on the heels of Marriott allowing the owners (Host) of the JW Marriott Desert Springs (California) to retract (not renew) the spa/recreational privileges for Desert Springs Villas I timeshare owners. This, to me, is further evidence of the erosion of the Marriott brand.

I keep on hearing rumors from Marriott staff that J.W. Jr. is nearing retirement, and that with his departure will come the loss of "Marriott (family) values." I'm not certain who's calling the shots today, but Marriott's senior leadership is left to answer the question how did this occur.

To Marriott, I bid farewell.

What are travel packages? Can one buy one even if one does not know where one wants to go? Then set the destination later on?

This blows for me as well

I really do need to rethink my relationship with MR now as well.. this was one of the MAJOR reasons I stick/stuck with MR despite all the issues I have with the MR program

I can't say I"m leaving but I sure will think about it

on that note

Can I make a double redemption for points to Miles? .. i.e. redeem for two packages to get the miles in now to my AA account?

Over at the AA forum, someone mentions Marriott may be the one lowering the price it is willing to pay for the AA miles, and AA would not budge. Anyway, I sent both of them an email to let them know how disappointed I am.

With a MVC membership, I only see the management fee going up while the value of experiences/products/services going downhill. I am not happy with Marriott at all. :td:

Of course!

Looks like the concierge lounges are going to be less busy going forward.

Hopefully they won't close them.

http://www.marriott.com/rewards/usepoints/morepack.mi

One can redeem a TP, receive the hotel certificate, and decide on the destination/hotel later. Although the hotel certificate is valid for one year, many people say it can be extended indefinitely. I haven't tried it, so I don't know.

Could be the other hotel chains haven't changed anything because their contracts w/AA(and, for that matter, other airlines w/Marriott) are not yet up for renewal. You can be sure they -will- be watching to see how this affects biz, + as well as -.

There's probably not too much diff at the corporate bean counter level between any of these outfits. If Marriott/AA can part ways, all of the other hotels/airlines will be running spreadsheets and cost benefit analysis out the wazoo to see if they can get away with dropping this too.

Thanks.

Is the 7 nights consecutive at one hotel or can one break it up into multiple trips at different facilities?

This is simply awful news! Add my name to the list of dissatisfied soon to be ex-Marriott customers!

A crippling blow to the Marriott Rewards program.