Ritz/Marriott/SPG link
 

Don't pop in here much, but thought this might be of interest to you guys - in a Marriott in Asia now and have spied some marketing material on a check-in desk which shows states that you can "link accounts" with two additional advantages:

- Elite Status Match
- Points Transfer

No information on the rates/conditions, but sends you to members.marriott.com (which says "Coming Soon").

I suspect there will be an announcement quite soon!

Wow, just ran across this. Seems odd there has been no further discussion here since it appears to be firsthand, legit(?) (we can only hope), and a reasonable first step by Marriott. Both status match and points transfer ratio seem to be a couple of the biggest issues. Anybody else out there have advance knowledge to share? Thanks for the heads up eternaltransit!

I did take one of the flyers - it is legit, or Marriott has gone to great expense to print off some shiny new cards.

I would expect that the status match would be Gold to Gold and Platinum to Platinum. As for the miles conversion rate likely 2-3MR:1SPG but that's speculation at this point until the imminent announcement.

The page is live now: http://members.marriott.com/

1 Starpoint transfers to 3 Rewards Points; Conversely, 3 Rewards Points transfer to 1 Starpoint

http://members.marriott.com/faq/#wha...rewards-points

Status match: Once your Rewards and SPG accounts are linked, you’ll instantly receive Status Match across both programs.

Linking accounts doesn't work yet (coming soon).

The status match seems a bit lopsided in favor of SPG, right? For the 50+ nights it takes to get Marriott Gold we only get matched to an equivalent SPG tier that requires 25 nights (or less, since you can also qualify with just 10 one-night stays)? It also looks like the SPG Gold tier doesn't include lounge access/breakfast. :(

Still, I really like that the range of properties that will acknowledge Marriott status just grew significantly! Some status is definitely better than no status at all! ^

SPG Gold with 10 stay per year or 1 night with world master card in AP or came with AMEX PLAT can now match Marriott Gold which require 50 nights per year? My god...

Linking accounts already works via the SPG web site: http://www.spg.com/linkmarriott

Then again, the SPG elites are probably equally appalled by the fact that every United Premier Gold and above just became a SPG Gold (potentially 500k+ people). I wonder if RewardsPlus will be renewed again next year now that this merger has gone through...

Just linked my RC and SPG accounts. Email confirmation states:

it's still way more easier to get SPG gold than UA gold.

Accounts linked between MR and SPG...but I am unable to transfer my points from MR to SPG. And the technical glitches begin.

Haha, until you realize that Marriott Gold isn't that big a deal at all...despite requiring 50 nights. The first hint that SPG was superior to customers than MR.

Now I cannot transfer MR points to SGP, getting a "technical difficulties" message...probably because so many MR members are now trying to transfer all their points to SPG! It turns out that SPG:MR is 1:3...as many expected.

Just linked my accounts. Will my SPG stays this year count towards MR?

No, the reward programs stay separate until 2018, see the FAQ.

Can I register in Delta Crossover now?