CJKatl

Deleted. I got an email saying the article would say one thing but it can be interpreted to say the opposite.

EuropeanPete

Has anyone else noticed that (almost?) all the featured properties on the new Marriott members' page are Starwood hotels? It's almost like they've noticed that Marriott lacks the aspirational type properties. It does make me wonder if Starwood hotels might dominate the highest tiers - it would mean existing Marriott members don't have to suffer devaluations on their favourite JW Marriott properties and Starwood properties can continue to go for the existing ~35K equivalent points, or higher for all suite properties.
The SPG page has had a number of conversations which list some of the most expensive Starwood properties - the Gritti Palace, Al Maha, St Regis Maldives, W Maldives, St Regis New York, St Regis Bora Bora, etc. Does Marriott have much (any?) at that level? The most expensive Marriott property I've been to is the RC Naples which I think is often >$1,000 for a base room, maybe the RC HK as well?

Troopers

I read "going forward" to mean after August.

Btw, how do you know the article was corrected, and that paragraph will be removed?

CPRich

Did you mean to say "I'll just assume it's a devaluation". Because it's hard for something that doesn't exist to appear as anything.

margarita girl

I think part of the problem is the poor English and run on sentence. I keep reading it and it's very confusing. Perhaps it should say:

CJKatl

The article's author is a terrible writer and the information can be read both ways. I will await more information.

CPRich

This was a big miss. There are rumors on MI that it will be out in 6 weeks. If accurate, there really was no value in releasing the actually point levels. Note that 21 different levels will be compressed to 7, but leave points TBD along with the new categories.

Troopers

Along with no name for the new "one powerful program "with 3 separate branding credit cards earning a to-be-named program points.

zachary

I'm sorry. Read the entire question and answer (my bolding below). There's nothing ambiguous about it. It says you're wrong.

This article may turn out to be wrong, but it says what it says. I've always said that I don't know what Marriott intends. You're the one who thought it was always clear. Then again, you seem to have sources that I lack.

cruisr

I’m sooooooo confused ��

yurtripper

I interpreted it as referring to 2019, as others have stated, and I don't think anyone here questions that the likes of Amex Plat holders will only get Gold in 2019. The horrible confusion solely relates to the status conversions applying on August 1st.

Even if you think that's ambiguous and could be interpreted either way, I don't see much that's ambiguous about the following quote:

Or this one:
Or this:Maybe the author got it so wrong that everything she said is the polar opposite of what was written. I used to work for Reuters and I've seen some good and bad journos in my time, but I doubt that he could have been so spectacularly wrong in misquoting her at every single point in the interview (they have these amazing gadgets these days which can record the audio of an interview and play it back for transcription/verification; they may also utilise a secondary fallback device which involves writing notes on a piece of paper - ain't technology great?).

And if it was the Marriott rep that got everything 180 degrees wrong, then I don't see why the website would be forced to eat crow and issue a retraction. Sounds more like the Marriott woman herself would be hauled over the coals.

At least on the basis of what we can see above (until some 'corrected' version appears), they seem to be emphasising that SPG Golds (e.g. via Amex Plat) need to ensure their accounts are linked before August 1st so they get treated as Marriott Golds at conversion time. Otherwise, their status will be determined based on the table for SPG alone, i.e. Gold. As I've said before, outside the FT bubble there may be a good many people out there who have not yet linked their accounts.The aim may be to allow everyone to get a taste of what the program could offer them if they were able to retain the higher status in 2019 also, see the 2nd quote: "we want them to be happy and excited about the program. If we need to give (them) more benefits in the short term, we’re happy to do that."

The philosophy behind account linking has always been that the higher status in EITHER program determines your status in the linked scheme. You get matched up not matched down. Therefore, it would be reasonable that the following statement could apply to status conversions: "Your highest status today determines your status in the new scheme" (one of the headings used in the article).

Those who can't make the cut will get sent down to Gold anyway in 2019, sure as night follows day. It's not as if giving them a taste of the cherry for a few months will bankrupt the program and it will generate goodwill and a (potential) desire to maintain a higher level of status.

yurtripper

Some interesting quotes from Frequent Miler. Nick Reyes refers specifically to that interview that David Flueck gave to TPG (my emphases in bold)

Bob Behrens is Vice President of Marriott Rewards.

hockeyinsider

Without seeing membership figures, I think there will be more platinums than before. At least if you include lifetime platinums.

But assuming you're right and I'm wrong, I think it will be a challenge to manage expectations set by the new status levels. Platinum, platinum premier and platinum premier ambassador are too confusing for hotels. I have yet to see anything to indicate that an order of precedence has been created to ensure that platinums do not get an upgrade over a platinum premier ambassador.

Notwithstanding the $20,000 threshold, the 100-night requirement seems very low, especially when compared against the 125 or 150 nights it used to take to get the current unpublished platinum premier status. Perhaps it's a case where Marriott has flooded the ranks of platinum premier ambassador so that nobody will ever get the benefits.

It still remains unknown whether there will be any unpublished status above platinum premier ambassador in the new, unified program.

sdsearch

Which exact cards and which exact elite nights are you talking about?

Some if not all of the new cards are saying "15 elite nights coming in 2019", meaning they won't issue them in 2018 at all.

But if you meant the 5 elite SPG nights from an already-open SPG Amex (that issued the elite nights already earlier this year) adding to 15 elite Marriott nights from an already-open Marriott Chase card, that's more likely come August when they combine SPG and Marriott accounts.

jrothenb

The more that I think about it, that is what I believe is going to happen with SPG LTP. A growing number of us are being told (in writing and on the phone) by Marriott CSRs (who at least in my case said they ran it up the chain and received confirmation from supervisors or leadership) that SPG LTP are going to be grandfathered as LTPP, not LTP. In at least 4 or 5 cases I have read about on this board, folks were told that they had to merge their SPG and MR accounts in order for this to happen. I have been trying to think about why this is.

Now in my case, a mention of needing 750 nights and 2MM points was not mentioned, but for others, it was. So let's for the moment presume that it was just an omission in my written reply, or that the CSR had information about my account that I'm not aware of (for example, I have no idea how many historical SPG points I have earned, but I suspect it's a lot), and that the SPG member would need to have achieved comparable MR activity to qualify.

In all of the cases posted where folks received info from Marriott stating that SPG LTP had a path to LTPP, it was mentioned that once you link your MR and SPG accounts, all members across all programs are viewed as Marriott, not as SPG/MR/RC, etc. My CSR said specifically, "you have linked your programs, so according to us, you are Marriott, you are no longer SPG." What I think this means in practice is that MR LTP will indeed by the dictionary definition be the ones grandfathered as LTPP, but that on August 1, all members in all programs who have linked their accounts will have their activity converted and standardized, and if that member has achieved the MR historical requirements for LTP, they will, in that instant, become a true legacy MR LTP, prior to the granting of the grandfathered status, and will thusly be eligible for LTPP.

I believe that in practice, this will mean that a member with 750 nights and the equivalent of 2MM points (taking into account SPG * 3) will, upon conversion, become a true MR LTP, and that will be the justification for aligning all programs. Not even sure if I can get there personally, and it may be that they ultimately decide to convert all SPG LTP to LTPP, but having read everything in these threads, and trying to think logically, this is the most likely scenario in my mind.