Orange County Commuter

Yes! And had I managed this during the promo we would have analyzed the data so we knew what needed to pulled together and tested the program! (What a concept!)

Considering the complaints on the Fall Promo (which I am not even playing in) it seems that things are not running efficiently there!

sdsearch

Well, with all its faults, so far Marriott is still doing its promos somewhat more competently than IHG does some of its targeted Accelerate promos. They give people who have never used a corporate account and don't have access to one a requirement to use one to get a bonus. They tell people they'll get bonus if they use their Chase IHG credit card for the stay, and one of the recent times they did that (about a year ago) just like Marriott now they waited until well after the promo had ended before doing exactly one "sweep" for this (comparing points earnings from the credit card to reservations) and then finally awarding that bonus. They give some people requirements like 15 Saturday stays or 110 nights in a 4-month promotion .

OTOH, it could be simple like Hilton, where (except for the top tier) the promo is basically always the same and super simple: Double points. (Well, it's not super to explain, because only some of your points get doubled, but it's simple to execute.) Except they even get that wrong for some people!

So IMHO only having to wait the full T&C-specified wait time is not the worst thing in world. Not knowing whether the much-delayed Q3 "unlocked" promo would be retroactive is much worse IMHO. Having some members every MegaBonus cycle not have the promo show up in their account and have to call (but only if they read FT and thus know they have to call!) is much worse IMHO.

So I'd rather Marriott fix those worse problems first, and then they can see about optimizing the timing of "sweep" aspects of promos. But if the only problem with the brand promo is having to wait, that's a problem I'd much rather live with than some of the other problems (at Marriott and elsewhere) with promos.

bergamini

Who cares how efficient their back end systems are? The optional promo said points would not post until X and we are many days before X and people are complaining about the horrors. When they don't meet the T&C then we can complain but we know going in that's what they said. I don't care how long it takes the back-end systems to integrate and calculate as long as I get the points when they said. It does not change my view of them one iota when they tell me a date and keep it. How can we ding them for not being early?

Srisarin

oh, excuse me, 4001 points 😁

Orange County Commuter

First you accuse me of posting things I didn't post and then you decide the way to respond to that fact is an attack?
(Don't bother responding, you just went on my ignore list )

txpenny

I don't disagree with this.

I don't know what's going on in the back office. I could imagine a scenario where one of the marketing geniuses came up with the idea of the brand bonus and the IT people pushed back with lack of programming in place. The compromise could have been that adequate time for program changes would be provide to IT, thus the 6 to 8 weeks.

I'm not a Marriott apologist. Quite oppositely actually as I have frequently ..... (you can't use the term for a female dog here?) about the latest promos. I couldn't stand this one as I stay in the same hotel during the work week, and often for two week stretches. I only stray from the Autograph Collection brand when my wife and I steal a weekend getaway. So the brand bonus for me would be minimal, and I can't for the life of me figure out why Marriott is pushing stays as opposed to nights. I'm not a fan of the current promo either. I rarely take the opportunity to use a cat5 or less cert, and because of "stays", I'll earn a whopping 17K point balance while staying 69 nights. I .....(moan) about stays not posting, which is frequent in my case.

I simply think MR shouldn't be called out for brand bonuses not posting yet.

Orange County Commuter

Well technically yes they are in compliance with the T&C. But it's not really leaving a good impression is it?

And technically the T&C give them up to 10 days to post regular points for a regular stay. But they generally post prior to that so it's not unrealistic for people not to realize they planned to use every day they had for this one. (http://www.marriott.com/rewards/hotel-rewards/faq.mi)

fordan

But Marriott also has a problem with late-posting and missing stays. I had a stay in a unique brand for me that ended on Labor Day, I just got it posted last week after submitting a missing stay request 10 days after checkout and then calling in 15 days after submitting the missing stay request (“we’re really backed up in dealing with missing stay requests and we apologize”) and was worried the sweep for unique brands for this bonus would happen during that time.

If I were the Marriott person responsible for flipping the switch to process the brand bonus, I’d probably want to wait as long as I could too if I knew there were a lot of outstanding missing stay requests, since fixing a missing brand is almost guaranteed to require the customer to call in.

bergamini

So in essence we degrade how we perceive them because since they are early before we want them to be early now?

Brendan

Not really, Bergamini! Those 'Allow x days/weeks for posting' lines are pessimistic estimates which allow extra time for the awarding hotel/ airline to cover its butt if something goes wrong.

bergamini

I have no good argument for non-linear logic. Marriott explicitly stated 6-8 weeks after promo ends for points to post. The current bonus states 3-5 days. Them stating 6-8 weeks meant something, there's a reason and IDK/IDC, it's there reason. My choice was to accept it, enroll, spend and wait (which I did). If you didn't like those terms then you shouldn't have signed up for the bonus and instead done a Diamond challenge with Hilton or something. The fact that the current bonus is explicit about days and it is a very different date range than the 6-8 weeks for this means that there's a reason and I agreed to it, and won't even think of getting upset until 8 weeks have passed.

Kacee

You've picked a very strange topic for self-congratulatory self-righteousness. It's a 2000 point per stay promo . . . lighten up, Francis.

bergamini

I don't believe I'm being either self-*. I'm pointing out that it's not worth something to get upset about, or ding Marriott about. I really think we can all be "strong" and wait these 8 weeks.

uclacolumbiaunc

Still no brand bonus for me yet... anybody got theirs already? Aren't they supposed to post it in first week of October?

Srisarin

6-8 weeks (see numerous previous posts) from the closing date of the past bonus conclusion is still 10 days+ away