jeanie

It's not just the SPGers. Up until 2018, Marriott offered much better customer service than they are now. This is terrible. Not answering emails at all or putting their most loyal guests on hold for long periods of time should be really embarrassing to Marriott as a company.

If this doesn't get better by 2019, then it won't be worth staying at Marriotts at all. Hilton points might not be worth much, but at least their Diamond agents answer the phone promptly and care about the customer experience.

DJ_Iceman

What's truly astonishing is that hard-core SPG loyalists so completely bought into the hype that their average-in-every-way program (to include customer service) was any better than Marriott's (or Hilton's, or Hyatt's...).

UA-NYC

You are alone on your own island

DJ_Iceman

I realize you may disagree about how wonderful SPG was, but I'm hardly on my own island. It's a classic symptom of groupthink to dismiss contrary points of view (no matter how factual they may be) without any critical thought or self-reflection.

remymartin

I realise everyone has different needs. As I European, additional footprint in Smalltown Rural America does nothing for me, though. SPG's iconic footprint in Spain, Italy and its decent footprint of high-end hotels/resorts in Asia is what did the trick for me.

christianj

This is simply ridiculous! Every program has it's positives and negatives and us "SPG loyalists" knew what the negatives were of the old SPG program. If you felt it was "average-in-every-way" then that was your opinion and you seem to have chosen to take your business to a chain that was a better fit for you. I and other "SPG loyalists" felt that SPG was a better fit for us. The fact that we are now unhappy with how Marriott is handling the merger should be understandable. Maybe you didn't see the positives of the SPG program like we did so you now don't understand why we are having issues with Marriott.

For me personally, it is not necessarily how the hotels are handling the merger and how they are treating customer, it is how Marriott CORPORATE is handling this whole thing from a Customer Service perspective! You can bet that if the old SPG had screwed up our accounts, kept people on hold for over an hour when they called in and didn't respond to customer inquiries and issues that many of us would have made just a big of a deal out of it as we are now!

UA-NYC

Interesting...I never really heard anyone, at all, talk about Marriott having a good loyalty program. Lots of hotels? Sure. Earn points? Yup. Good loyalty program? Nope.

SPG wasn't the best for earn and burn, but the loyalty program was Best.In.Class. Hyatt seemed to have a good run too til they torched it.

So what are your "contrary points of view" then? Inquiring minds would love to hear them. And BTW your Marriott has turned into a dumpster fire and killed off what made SPG truly great and unique.

DJ_Iceman

Since you asked, I'll share my thoughts, with the up-front disclaimer that this describes what works for me and everyone is different.

What has made me loyal to Marriott is consistently good-to-excellent hotel stays for 25 years. I never burn points for free nights at hotels, choosing instead to earn points when I stay. Actually, that's not totally accurate, as I have occasionally taken advantage of Marriott travel packages which include a week in a hotel along with lots of frequent flier miles, but I struggle to use those free weeks because when traveling for leisure I rarely stay someplace for a week at a time, and when I do I pay for a suite rather than the standard room one typically gets on points.

For most of that 25 years, Marriott customer service at both the local and corporate level has been exemplary. I almost always got treated well, and whenever there was a problem it quickly got resolved to my satisfaction.

Over the years I also dabbled in other hotel programs, namely SPG (and before that, Westin and Sheraton individually), Hilton, and Hyatt. Westin offered a good program but their footprint was extremely limited. Once SPG was formed I was hopeful that things would improve, but I never got the level of recognition at any SPG properties that others here report. I was gold from the start of the program, occasionally platinum, and generally found SPG properties and treatment to be a step below Marriott's. Hilton is also a step behind, but once my mindset shifted to realize that, and the fact that no Hilton property is going to go beyond the exact T&C's of the program, I was okay with it. Hyatt has some nice hotels but I always found the loyalty program weak.

Which brings me back to Marriott. The "hype" of SPG, as I called it, was basically an empty promise. Marriott more than delivered on their promises over a long period of time.

Where we can all agree is that the merger has been very poorly handled. I fear that the Marriott of days past may have been diluted by the addition of SPG, where mediocrity will now be accepted, veneered over by an aggressive marketing department. That's how I saw SPG--very average, but spewed the message that they really cared about their guests, to the point where some of their guests actually believed it, much evidence to the contrary.

kds4

My experiences have been similar. I have been an MR member continuously since 1992. Now 26 years in, I can also say that after more than 1,200 nights spent in Marriott properties around the world, I have nearly always had an excellent experience. That doesn't mean MR is perfect (as I don't drink Kool Aid - packet, organizational, or otherwise). I too have been a multi-year member of SPG, Hilton, IHG, and Hyatt loyalty programs during this time period (occasionally holding the highest tier in each of them for one or more years). I found most of the hotels I stayed at in each of those chains to be on par with the Marriott properties I typically stay at (full service to full service). However, in total I would say that I have found more SPG properties that were not up to SPG standards than I have found Marriott properties that were not up to Marriott standards. This year, I experienced this same situation with an international Hilton property as well on an award stay.

Where I think Marriott is failing now is in their customer care/retention. I recently spent more than 5 hours across 3 separate telephone calls speaking (eventually) with 4 different MR personnel (after spending at least 1 hour on hold in each call). The issue should have been fixed in less time by fewer people without 'hold-time' that actually made me long to be at the DMV instead (being faster and more pleasant to get something done there).

Contrast that to my recent issue with Hilton where it took a single 5 minute telephone call to Honors customer service to describe the concerns I had with my recent award stay. Within 48 hours the general manager of the property reached out to me with an apology and returned half of the points I redeemed for the stay as compensation for the issues I presented (which was exactly what I asked for as compensation).

If Marriott doesn't quickly get a handle on these issues, I believe they will begin shedding long-time customers (along with their revenue) because customer service matters (to me).

makin'miles

Its seems that most on here agree that Marriott corporate have handled the integration poorly. As stated upthread, Marriott purchased owners and brands just as much as a loyalty program. Where there have been issues, I've started to ensure that the relevant property is aware just as much as Marriott corporate... perhaps some pressure from owners on corporate will push some improvements.

UA-NYC

Once again - no specifics. SPG Gold is an entry level status, and if you are trying to compare to Marriott Gold, well that doesn't make much sense.

Have you been SPG Plat in a single year (pre-merger) 2012-onward? The benefits kicked it up a notch then. Have you ever actually had an SNA to use?

You are free to your own opinion, but stating that SPG and Hyatt are at the back of the pack in terms of loyalty programs is a distinct outlier opinion, one I have seen few espouse.

Easy for Marriott to deliver on "promises" when there are few "promises" to deliver.

Suite language as a benefit? Nope.
Guaranteed 4pm check-out? Nope.
Breakfast at many of the best / most desirable properties (resorts)? Nope.
Benefits at the best brand in the portfolio (RC)? Nope.

I have heard all this nonsense about Marriott consistency and promise - and in my ~100 nights of Marriott stays the last few years (Gold and then Plat), you have breakfast benefit inconsistency, lounge quality inconsistency, brand quality inconsistency, point earning inconsistency, CS responsiveness inconsistency etc.

I still find this POV delusional, but YMMV. Starwood has gone above and beyond for me for 9 years now, and the CS has been CONSISTENTLY excellent, and they are a high touch organization w/online chat, Ambassadors, the Lurkers, etc. And that's a sentiment seemingly shared by most any SPG loyal I interact with on here or in the real world - great program, amazing benefits and CS, fantastic hotel brands & global scope, etc.

And Marriott has managed to piss away a couple years of decent goodwill post-merger announcement in a single month.

beachfan

yurtripper

As my Mom would always say: "What you've never had, you never miss". That explains why some people from the Marriott side can't understand why former SPG members feel so bad about this crummy integration.