HHonors OUTSIDER

Good work hockeyinsider. So "Multiverse of Marriott" still has a chance.

HHonors OUTSIDER

Some say on Marriott insiders that Club Marquis exsisted in the late 1970's. I am thinking that Club Marquis was an elite level of Marriott Honored Guest program.

HHonors OUTSIDER

So is asinine a polite way of saying "extremely stupid or foolish"?

mahasamatman

And for all of these, you may be right, but you may be wrong.

Not necessarily any more or less polite, just a synonym.

hockeyinsider

I like the name "Club Marriott," which is the name of its combined legacy Marriott and legacy Starwood dining loyalty program in Asia and the Pacific.

Regardless, I'm willing to bet some branding consultancy is making a lot of money (probably by the hour) coming up with name options for the new program.

C17PSGR

I received a short handwritten note from my Ambassador recently thanking me for 31 years -- so 87. I joined because I was traveling with some colleagues who pushed me to sign up for what they called the "Club Marquis" program. Seems like I used to have a black card and when checking in, people would confirm their "Marquis number" was in the reservation. Maybe it was a level but I thought it was the common name for the program. I think Marriott Honored Guest came later. I do know the program only earned points at Marriott properties. I joined the Courtyard specific program later. I can't remember the name and don't remember what the value was for paying a $10 annual fee.

PHLGovFlyer

Unless some intrepid FT'er grabs it first

It was "Courtyard Club". I think I still have my original membership card buried in a drawer somewhere. I joined around 1990 and it had been in existence for a little while (maybe 2-3 years) that point.

jeanie

One thing that I have thought about several times with all of this speculation is the wording from the email I got last year from Marriott regarding the programs for 2018:

I am noticing what is not in this statement. I have been looking through my email from Marriott, and I can't find anything explicitly stating that the programs will remain separate throughout 2018. Specifically, this just says they will remain separate without stating how long they will remain that way. It doesn't say it will remain separate for all of 2018. It just gives updates for 2018.

I also watched the link to the video posted here where Arne was talking about the program being rolled out later this year. Is there a formal document/email from Marriott explicitly saying that the programs will remain separate for all of 2018?

Thanks.

C17PSGR

Valid point but it would wreak havoc ... across the multiverse ... if they combined the program during the year. For example, would qualification be based on the lower SPG standards or the higher Marriott standards.

A name seems easy so you think they would have it down to no more than one or two at this point.
The new program design seems like they should be really close by now but not super complicated.

I'm impressed that no one is leaking either of these.

The main issue I presume is having a fully debugged reservation system that can be implemented at all properties around the world. That's pretty complicated.

Hopefully, its not being done by the same people working on the website who don't know the difference in spelling or code proofing regarding Premiere vs Premier and recognize that when people looking for ORD, they mean an airport hotel near O'Hare, as opposed to a hotel in Ordu, Turkey.

UA-NYC

At this point, you should likely assume that the programs are separate for this year, and that there will be no combining of joint SPG/MR nights for 2019 status. Crazy but we have been given no indication otherwise.

jeanie

That's a very good point. If they waited for the merged loyalty programs until the end of 2018, then the SPG and MR members could each qualify for 2019 with their own programs. But if the programs were merged in 2018, requalifying for 2019 could get complicated.

I hope they wait to combine the programs until 2019, and look forward to any clarification that will come with this party on April 16. As I have posted before, I expect a devaluation of the program. I haven't seen any loyalty/rewards programs get better over the past few years. So I don't expect this to get better, either. But it would be nice to know what is happening.

JackE

You need a darned good reason to get a trademark. It's not like reserving a hotel room.

mahasamatman

The only reason you need is that you want to protect your intellectual property.

sdsearch

It may not be a rewards program you've been paying attention to, but I would think most poeple feel that WyndhamRewards has improved over the past couple years, going from no elite status at all to at least a hint of elite status, going from redemption all over the map to a flat 15k points for any hotel in the system, etc.

But of course it's easier to go up when you start at the bottom.

HHonors OUTSIDER

My guess is Marriott may do another intermediate step in more closely aligning the two programs starting in 2019 and not doing a full merge until 2020 or 2021.