Wish for a german Marriott CC

 
Old Apr 24, 2018, 2:39 am
  #1  
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Wish for a german Marriott CC

Not sure if one was offered in the past, but currently there is no Marriott or spg credit card for german members. With 80+M of us I wonder why nothing is offered. Anybody with some insight into this?
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Old Apr 24, 2018, 7:53 am
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Originally Posted by ralfkrippner
Not sure if one was offered in the past, but currently there is no Marriott or spg credit card for german members. With 80+M of us I wonder why nothing is offered. Anybody with some insight into this?
You can thank the EU in part for this. The European Parliament capped credit card interchange fees at 0.3% in 2015. Those fees are about 10x higher in the US and help fund branded credit card incentives.

In addition, the rest of the world is more credit averse than US consumers.
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Old Apr 24, 2018, 4:11 pm
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Originally Posted by itsallgood
You can thank the EU in part for this. The European Parliament capped credit card interchange fees at 0.3% in 2015. Those fees are about 10x higher in the US and help fund branded credit card incentives.

In addition, the rest of the world is more credit averse than US consumers.
Totally agreed.

Plus my experience in Germany is that it's a much more debit based and often cash based society.

US interchange can be criticized for a variety of reasons, but the credit cards we have with the benefits they have are due to the amount of swipe fees to the merchant being an order of magnitude greater (sometimes more) than they are allowed to be in Europe and many other parts of the world.
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Old Apr 24, 2018, 4:44 pm
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One solution that I've read international members have done in the past is to apply for a US-based credit card using a US address while you are in the US. Perhaps a UPS store, where you can use a street address? I don't know the mechanics of how international members have done it in the past but it's worth considering.
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Old Apr 24, 2018, 5:51 pm
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couldnt hotel chains partner more with amex charge cards, if not amex credit cards, considering how many countries amex is in?
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Old Apr 24, 2018, 7:14 pm
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Originally Posted by itsallgood
One solution that I've read international members have done in the past is to apply for a US-based credit card using a US address while you are in the US. Perhaps a UPS store, where you can use a street address? I don't know the mechanics of how international members have done it in the past but it's worth considering.
But without an SSN or a US credit history I would assume you are very unlikely to get offered credit.
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Old Apr 24, 2018, 8:47 pm
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Originally Posted by kilo


But without an SSN or a US credit history I would assume you are very unlikely to get offered credit.
I don't know how other foreign nationals have done it; just saying that I've read more than a few posts by non-US citizens who have gotten credit cards that way. If someone wants one bad enough, they can do the research.
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Old Apr 24, 2018, 11:34 pm
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While the Interchange fee cap certainly is a bummer, I think Marriott should reevaluate their decision not to have one in one of Europe's biggest markets, Germany. Hilton has one that with decent benefits, and there are a lot of loyalty-cards around with varying benefits - so it's not like it's impossible in this current environment in Europe.

And as Ralf pointed out, with the combined Marriott and SPG members I think we now have hit the critical mass for such a card in Germany...

Greetings - Dirk
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Last edited by djohannw; Apr 25, 2018 at 12:16 am
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Old Apr 25, 2018, 4:28 am
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With around 80% of their hotels located in US, its natural for Marriott to concentrate in US market.
Non US based members is at very disadvantaged position as they dont have access to co branded cards and also smaller footprint in their respective countries
(harder to be loyal)

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Old Apr 25, 2018, 5:14 am
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If anything Marriott will probably issue credit cards in China - it's a huge market. Europe is tiny compared to China.

Here in Sweden we have SAS Amex card and BA credit card - and Sweden is really a card country compared to Denmark and Norway. Germany is much better with credit card now than say 5-10 years ago. Not that Marriott really cares about Sweden as they only have hotels in Stockholm. The Ren in Malmo doesn't exist long.

Actually California is a cash place - it's a lot cheaper to pay for gas with US debit card (my Hong Kong issued Citi debit card doesn't work) or cash. I was charged card fee for buying oranges in a farm stand in Monterey - it's not allowed in Sweden (perhaps the EU).

Marriott used to give Non-US members double elite nights for paid stays to compensate the lack of credit card - but that doesn't last long.
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Old Apr 25, 2018, 5:52 am
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If only Marriott could arrange a worldwide release of Marriott Amex card (or SPG)

The issue is in some countries Amex card is issued by their local bank partner.
This could complicated the matter
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Old Apr 25, 2018, 6:34 am
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As far as I remember - it must have been around the time the German Hilton Visa Card was launched - that I received a survey from SPG and one of the questions was the launch of a credit card.

Given that there are several hotel loyalty credit cards in the UK, it would make sense. And there is a slight shift towards a non cash approach in Germany now with a number of bussiness one would never assume would take credit cards are now even accepting AmEx. In so far, I am also in for a credit card


... at least wishful thingking about it
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Old Apr 25, 2018, 1:44 pm
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Originally Posted by itsallgood
I don't know how other foreign nationals have done it; just saying that I've read more than a few posts by non-US citizens who have gotten credit cards that way. If someone wants one bad enough, they can do the research.
Maybe you can post some links if you've read more than a few posts about how non-US citizens without SSNs or credit history can obtain US credit cards?
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Old Apr 25, 2018, 2:07 pm
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Originally Posted by nacho
If anything Marriott will probably issue credit cards in China - it's a huge market. Europe is tiny compared to China.
The German hotel accomodation market alone has about 50% the size of China's: It's roughly 30 vs 60 billion $. Europe as a whole is clearly the bigger market. (For now, it might be a different story 10 or 20 years from now.)
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Old Apr 25, 2018, 8:58 pm
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Originally Posted by yurtripper
Maybe you can post some links if you've read more than a few posts about how non-US citizens without SSNs or credit history can obtain US credit cards?
I did state that if you want one bad enough, you can do the research. I used Google, typing in can a foreign national get a US credit card. Result: About 79,500,000 results (0.71 seconds)

I clicked on a few of the search results and they were informative.
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