Several months on - how are they doing?
Sep 21, 2018, 1:41 am
#46
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: UK
Programs: Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium Elite, UA 1K
Posts: 822
Sep 21, 2018, 1:56 am
#47
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: In the air
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Bonvoy LT Plat, Hilton Gold, GHA Tit, BA Gold, Turkish Elite
Posts: 8,712
Ah, I see now. All my stays since the merger turned up on the same day last week - though I've still not had my stay from Monday arrive!
Sep 21, 2018, 4:47 am
#48
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,074
Thanks William. But how are we supposed to book reward stays when not logged in?
I share some of the frustrations expressed by others. We are trying to be patient, but one month later there seems to be little or no progress on some major outstanding issues. And if Marriott is not throwing massive resources at it, then customers will be sending their hard-earned "resources" to other hotel chains...
I share some of the frustrations expressed by others. We are trying to be patient, but one month later there seems to be little or no progress on some major outstanding issues. And if Marriott is not throwing massive resources at it, then customers will be sending their hard-earned "resources" to other hotel chains...
Whether it was the Travel Package fiasco, not allowing bookings at new hotels using points until 2019, not answering the missing stay emails sent to them or locking up our points during the transition EARLY so they couldn't be used it is has been clear MARRIOTT has no problem screwing anyone trying to redeem their points. I bet through the merger they end up 'losing" millions of dollars worth of points.
Probably a good business plan. How many people will just give up and "let it go" vs spending endless hours on the phone with them or sending emails that bounce.
Sep 21, 2018, 5:05 am
#49
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Toronto
Programs: UA 1K, AC MM E75, Marriott LT Ti, IHG Dia Amb, Hyatt Glob
Posts: 15,506
I will take it a step further. There seems to be an attempt by Marriott to put using Points at the VERY bottom of the list of items needed to be fixed.
Whether it was the Travel Package fiasco, not allowing bookings at new hotels using points until 2019, not answering the missing stay emails sent to them or locking up our points during the transition EARLY so they couldn't be used it is has been clear MARRIOTT has no problem screwing anyone trying to redeem their points. I bet through the merger they end up 'losing" millions of dollars worth of points.
Probably a good business plan. How many people will just give up and "let it go" vs spending endless hours on the phone with them or sending emails that bounce.
Whether it was the Travel Package fiasco, not allowing bookings at new hotels using points until 2019, not answering the missing stay emails sent to them or locking up our points during the transition EARLY so they couldn't be used it is has been clear MARRIOTT has no problem screwing anyone trying to redeem their points. I bet through the merger they end up 'losing" millions of dollars worth of points.
Probably a good business plan. How many people will just give up and "let it go" vs spending endless hours on the phone with them or sending emails that bounce.
What’s that saying? Don’t attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence, or something like that. I think Marriott just bit off way more than it could chew with the Starwood acquisition.
Sep 21, 2018, 6:06 am
#50
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,074
I doubt that this is a nefarious plan by Marriott to keep people from using their points.
What’s that saying? Don’t attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence, or something like that. I think Marriott just bit off way more than it could chew with the Starwood acquisition.
Tell me the reason for not announcing the new TP charts before the merger or explaining the conversion, allowing hotels to stop taking award reservations before the merger? I do think in the order of priority for Marriott.... getting award stays/points working is low on their list. Especially before the new program and the New Premium Category. roll out in 2019. Look how many of us are missing nights, stays, etc one month after the merger.
Can you imagine how many people that is? They haven't empowered ANYONE to fix these errors which shows what they think about US Marriott Rewards Members.
I have points stuck in my wife's account that I have a CASE # and was promised AFTER the merger I would be allowed to move back into my account. I was promised it would be done for me. I was promised phone calls and return phone calls.... NADA. I need those points for a Dec Award Stay that is non refundable 60 days out.... 20 hours of calls and and 3 other case #'s on other issues ALL ignored for this PP.
Yes I do think they are intentionally handling these issues last. 30 days have gone by which is enough time where they could have trained HUNDREDS of agents on how to fix this if they wanted to do it. They haven't fixed basic things like the inbox for missing stays not working. Again this is 34 days after the merger not 1 week.
Last edited by jr1202sr; Sep 21, 2018 at 6:12 am
Sep 21, 2018, 6:27 am
#51
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,368
For me, the latest is receiving a "prepare for your approaching stay" email that has many status wrong (despite having booked the hotel from my account that did and does show the correct status) with the email then continuing to list benefits that are incorrect for the status shown.
Sep 21, 2018, 6:31 am
#52
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: CT/ Germany - Ich spreche deutsch
Programs: UA 1K, Bonvoy LTTE, HH Dia, HY Expl
Posts: 4,651
The REALITY of that is however much different since it will likely take you over an hour on hold to actually get a human on the phone. It took me over 3+ hours on hold to book an award stay that should have taken me 1 minute online and at max 5 minutes on hold with the "old" SPG. (One time before I got a human the standard award room that was showing as bookable via a paid stay was gone out of the system by the time I got someone on the phone! Call back! Two other times I gave up after being on hold for over an HOUR. Forth time was a charm after being on hold for 20 minutes!)
Last edited by christianj; Sep 21, 2018 at 8:20 am
Sep 21, 2018, 8:00 am
#53
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Toronto, Canada
Programs: Liftime Titanium Elite Marriott
Posts: 1,752
I have sent 4 emails to customer service over the last month. Not a response to a single one. Losing hope fast as the cock-up continues. Already started to book stays with Hyatt. Push comes to shove what choice do us consumers have? I am sure I am not the only one.
Sep 21, 2018, 8:14 am
#54
Join Date: Apr 2015
Programs: Some
Posts: 5,228
I would think Hyatt is watching this very closely indeed, there's no doubt a great chance for them to pick up a lot of disgruntled former SPG members here if things don't get fixed. It would probably make sense in a month or two if they were to offer, say, a targeted fast track to Globalist offer for former SPG Platinums with an appropriate stay profile or something similar.
Sep 21, 2018, 8:24 am
#55
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Toronto, Canada
Programs: Liftime Titanium Elite Marriott
Posts: 1,752
I would say at this stage of the game. A mess like this could take years to recover from. I use to literally go out of my way to stay at Starwood properties. An extra 30% to a comparable hotel or driving an extra 30 minutes to give Starwood my business.
Sep 21, 2018, 9:03 am
#56
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: CT/ Germany - Ich spreche deutsch
Programs: UA 1K, Bonvoy LTTE, HH Dia, HY Expl
Posts: 4,651
Me too! If MR cared they would STOP being silent about this mess! On FB they have pretty much stopped responding and all of the Visitor Posts on their site are complaining about all the issues. All of their top brass that touted this program integration and how great it's going to be for customers need to stop ignoring all the issues and need to publicly tell us how they are going to fix this mess. Maybe Arne Sorenson should open up his FB account for visitor posts for a while so he can see what is going on....does he even know that people are spending hours on hold? I am really surprised that a national media outlet hasn't done a story on this.
Last edited by christianj; Sep 21, 2018 at 9:10 am
Sep 21, 2018, 9:26 am
#57
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: LAS
Programs: PA FT, TW Gold, NW/CO PE, VK Eagleflyer
Posts: 7,173
Maybe Marriott is taking a page out of the airlines’ M&A gameplan and sees the need to shed some of their “neediest” customers. A few months of turmoil and the malcontents go away to be replaced by those who know no different. Rinse, repeat.
“We had certain groups in this program that were over-entitled if you will. And now we’ve re-aligned the benefits of that program with what the customers and program participants are actually providing to the program, it’s a good change going forward.”
https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea....s-as-entitled/
Sep 21, 2018, 9:42 am
#58
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: LGA/JFK/EWR
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Maybe Marriott is taking a page out of the airlines’ M&A gameplan and sees the need to shed some of their “neediest” customers. A few months of turmoil and the malcontents go away to be replaced by those who know no different. Rinse, repeat.
“We had certain groups in this program that were over-entitled if you will. And now we’ve re-aligned the benefits of that program with what the customers and program participants are actually providing to the program, it’s a good change going forward.”
https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea....s-as-entitled/
Sep 21, 2018, 9:49 am
#59
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: CT/ Germany - Ich spreche deutsch
Programs: UA 1K, Bonvoy LTTE, HH Dia, HY Expl
Posts: 4,651
From a Marriott Corporate perspective I think they should say they did their best but in the end the implementation failed and they plan on doing XYZ to solve it and make it right...not just ignore customers and their issues! This is a textbook example of what NOT to do...ignore people and treat them like you don't care! Say you screwed up and what you are doing to fix it. Instead you have complete radio silence over one month into this thing!
Last edited by christianj; Sep 21, 2018 at 9:55 am
Sep 21, 2018, 9:54 am
#60
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,368
Moreover, I can't recall an airline merger where the acquiring company recognized the value of elite frequent customers from the airline being acquired, although there could be an argument if you view US as acquiring AA. It doesn't make sense to implicitly pay more for a company due to some particular asset and then proceed to take actions that decrease the value of the asset to you.
