Srisarin

joshua362

Most people simply want what is promised. I steer most or all my business to your chain, likely going out of my way to do so, playing by YOUR rules and achieving YOUR status milestones to differentiate me from another guest walking through the door. Then its a hassle to collect on said promises.

That is the root of the issue. What the Corporation promises, the Franchisee has to (reluctantly) deliver at some cost.

PopTartAddict

Pardon the interruption, but I'm Lifetime Platinum at SPG and MR.
I appreciate where you're all coming from, but this dilution impacts my level the most.
Instead of carping, it's given me pause to appreciate what's really important in life -- family, friends, health, happiness.
I wish you all the same in 2018!

booatx

It’s not exactly 18 nights. You have to have already been a gold elite member first. Of course that means that you were already a good customer of Marriott. I am a gold elite and I was sent this offer myself. I haven’t really wrapped my mind around the SPG line of hotels quite yet. I have used them a few times though.

tbuccelli

And for those of us that travel 100+ nights, Marriott would be much easier. Sure, you need 75, if you roll over 50 - then you get the CC bonus, and birthday bonus and you are down to under 10 nights for Plat?

Each program had ways to work it. Making LTP on SPG was much more difficult as you needed to have 10 years of Platinum status.

Srisarin

and until a few years ago, so did MR but is it all 10 years for SPG?

CCIE_Flyer

I've noticed several references to rollover nights in these endless MR vs SPG debates. I doubt that very many people have a clear understanding of how rollover works, however - esp on the SPG side (where I now spend 90% of my hotel dollars/nights, incidentally). Let's be clear with an example:

Year 1: 125 nights credited
Year 2: 50 rollover nights to start the year, then 75 additional nights credited on top of the beginning rollover balance (total 125 nights credited)

Any takers how how many rollover nights carry forward into Year 3?

CCIE_Flyer

That's nice, but this would be a pretty pointless forum if we all just logged in and posted about our families, friends, health, happiness, and all that. This is a forum where the minutest of details regarding travel and travel-related programs are dissected and endlessly (admittedly often times pointlessly) debated. Welcome to the party.

Yeah, but it's like that old Yogi Berra quote:

"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

joshua362

00 in binary.

hhoope01

I do believe rollover nights disappeared with the new year (2018). https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...r-changes.html

jtp1947

I thought the rollover nights counted from 2017 into 2018 but not into 2019.

pvn

Kinda weird assumption in this thread that SPG plats are "flooding" into Marriott properties but all the MR plats are staying put and not trying SPG properties. Seems to be a lot of "well I had to wait 10 seconds to get my bacon so it must be those moochers to blame" and zero data to support any of it.

More people are traveling. It's crowded everywhere.

bhrubin

I think this is largely true. There have been many MR members and SPG members who have crossed over to the other brands, but I suspect a large proportion of both groups have stayed largely loyal to their own original brands--mostly because the two loyalty programs are still separate. That being said, I am told by corporate contacts at both MR and SPG that far more MR elites are staying at SPG hotels than the other way around.

I won't necessarily assume this is directed at me, but I do believe that SPG has vastly superior benefits for Platinums than MR...and that is particularly true for those who are more affluent and stay more often in the higher end luxury brands like St Regis, Luxury Collection, W, Ritz Carlton, Edition, and JW Marriott.

It is a very small percent of posters because understandably it is a smaller percent of SPG elites and MR elites who stay more commonly at the more costly luxury brands. I can say that my contacts at both MR and SPG tell me that it is a significantly higher proportion of SPG elites that stay often (no definition for what qualifies as often, however) at the luxury brands than it is for MR elites. RC elites combined with MR elites still is smaller proportionally than the SPG elites who stay often at luxury brands.

Most people in this thread speak to the more common and abundant brands like Courtyard, Fairfield, Marriott, Sheraton, Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Four Points, etc. That is understandable. I seem to be one of the very few who posts herein that more often stays at the luxury level brands. Those of you who stay more often at the midscale and upscale brands are entitled to share your perspective. So am I.

Whether one likes it or not, for those of us who do spend more than average and stay more often in luxury level brands, SPG is vastly superior in that its obviously more generous benefits are also extended through the luxury brands in a way that Marriott/Ritz Carlton are not. Whether one likes it or not, those of us who do spend more than average and stay more often in luxury level brands are an important part of the SPG elite membership and an important part of the reason why SPG was so valuable to Marriott in its purchase. Whether one likes it or not, there are more affluent customers in the SPG elite membership than the Marriott elite membership for exactly those reasons.

I can tell you that for those of us who do stay more often in the luxury level brands like StR, W, and LC in SPG and RC, Edition, and even JW in MR/RCR, there are far more MR/RCR elites staying at SPG luxury hotels than there are the other way around--because the elite benefits are so much more generous with SPG than they are with MR/RCR.

You are welcome to ignore my thoughts or falsely believe that my identity is somehow wrapped up in my belief that SPG is superior for those staying in luxury level brands. But SPG is superior for those of us staying in hotels in the luxury level brands. And that puts the OP's premise to shame even for those in this group.

MSPeconomist

True, but even if we weren't talking about the end of rollover (so that hypothetically Years 1, 2, and 3 were in the past), the answer is still zero rollover in Year 3 because rollover can't roll over.

hockeyinsider

That's absurd. If you're paying $500-$1,000 (or more) per night for a room at the St. Regis you aren't doing it because they're giving you a continental breakfast consisting of coffee, a croissant, and orange juice.