JHake10

I stay at Marriotts every week for work but always thought SPG had some nicer properties in various leisure destinations. Hopefully they figure out a way to assign Categories to all the SPG hotels, then a formulas to convert SPG points to MR points. It would be nice if Marriott started doing the mini-tiers within Platinum for 100+ nights as well.

jr1202sr

Definately a Take Under http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-1...tel-take-under

jm1991

im just wondering if they will merge the rewards, if so i guess that just means more hotel choices to earn and burn points

rylan

So the hotel market is going to be like the airlines with mergers? Prepare for mass devaluations in the MR program...

Points Surfer

Ouch....first Delta Hotels in Canada now Starwood. Complicates things a bit...now what to do with the SPG points or gamble they hold value in the Marriott transfer.

hhoope01

I have to agree with others in that I really didn't see this one happening. But I can see why this might be helpful for Marriott. Marriott can use this to get a leg up over their biggest rivals. And I guess Starwood really needed someone to come in and take over, so it looks like Marriott will be it.

Personally, I wouldn't give myself an ulcer trying to figure out what the ramifications will be for the 2 programs yet. There are a lot of other, more important, hurdles the 2 companies will be dealing with first. Maybe in a year or so, assuming this keeps moving forward, we might be able to get a little more ideas on how the programs will be integrated.

CJKatl

I actually predicted this last week, while staying in a Sheraton with three coworkers. They thought I was nuts, but it seemed to make sense.

joshua362

Ho Lee Fuk, this is like armageddon to me personally. Although I'm LT Plat and used to stay exclusively at Marriott, I've accumulated some 600,000+ SPG points via credit cards over the years thinking they were the best currency for my later years. What a screwing, you know they ain't going to convert at a favorable ratio.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE stop this merger on anticompetitive grounds (like that will ever happen in the good ole USA...)

hhoope01

When you think about it, I don't disagree. I was under the impression there had been early talks with Marriott but they had fallen through. I was just surprised (and admit I probably shouldn't have been).

cova

This is going to result in more mergers. Hyatt, Hilton, IHG, Radisson, Accor, Wyndham, Omni, etc are all going to have to look for merger partners.

sanfran8080

Oh u can bet ur bottom dollar that will be the case.... We all remember how the domino effect started with the airline mergers.

alfahund

I would assume the hotel industry is trying to fend off the new kids on the block like AirBnB, and they believe that this will help them... not sure if it will do, but probably they think it's worth a try...

C17PSGR

Marriott, Hilton, and IHG all had around 750,000 total rooms. All of have been trying to grow through things like Delta, AC, and Autograph. This makes Marriott the largest but is probably more important internationally since Starwood has a stronger presence in many parts of the world. In other places in the US (like Seattle), Marriott options are pretty limited while Starwood has more options.

I'm a PP/Lifetime Plat and don't have any SPG status. There are some SPG properties that I like, and would stay but for the Marriott upgrades. Wondering if I should try them knowing that the points will eventually roll over. Is there a status match at SPG? I don't think the point conversion will be a killer ... Marriott will want to keep SPG members loyal. Any other thoughts on strategy from a Marriott elite standpoint?

christravelblog

Hmm, i think this kinda sucks. But maybe they come up with a nice loyalty program merged. I was trying to move away from IHG, but now i have to re-check all what i'm going to do.

One thing, i did NOT see THIS merger coming!

TMM1982

A major hotel player could buy AirBnB any day they choose to. I hardly think they're fearful of AirBnB anymore than they are the traditional B&Bs.