FuryRoadWarrior

Hi all - long time lurker, first time poster. A bit about myself: career management consultant based in NYC, Global Services on United, and now.. Lifetime Platinum on MarriottWood (and expecting Lifetime Platinum Premier come next January) with 10+ years of stays, on average 100-150 nights per year (sad, I know).

Lately, I've been pondering whether it makes sense to make a switch, and to where. Reasons are:

• Points devaluation is a fact of life, and we are already seeing the subtle effects of it.
• I loved SPG for its portfolio of premium properties... not so excited to see the center of gravity get pulled downwards in the combined portfolio.
• As we all know, redemption options are slowly starting to erode.
• All the SPG leadership that made SPG great have left / are leaving (more on this below...)
• My beloved SPG Ambassador recently left (laid off I suspect)... and her replacement is not nearly as good. I really don't see an incremental benefit for continuing to accumulate nights at this level.
• Silly: As a Lifetime Platinum Premier, there really isn't a psychological reason for me to continue with the program. I'll continue to keep Platinum benefits if I do stay at Marriott properties in the future.
• Important: I am a partner at my firm, and SPG has us over a barrel. Because they have such high market share, we are losing pricing leverage in annual RFP cycles. As a fiduciary, it's important that I do something (however small) to break this symbiotic relationship, and I can more easily switch my case teams if I have switched myself. From what I know from other friends in this space, it's not just us -- Marriott is throwing its weight around in pricing circles with impunity.
• Intriguing: Hyatt's new Chief Commercial Officer (Mark Vondrasek) as I understand, invented and led the SPG program. And he's brought on senior SPG veterans to boot (like Amy Weinberg). I can't post links as a new member, otherwise I would have linked to those articles.

Any thoughts from any other long time SPG members here? If I do switch, where to? The logical choice seems to be Hyatt, but do Hilton, IHG, etc. warrant a look?

Finally -- I suspect the answer is yes, but do you think they'll give me a status match?

estnet

Not sure a specific chain is worth it, but I'm also out.
A company that shows so little respect for customers (just took 2 hours to NOT accomplish something that should have taken 5 minutes ---- for the Nth time) doesn't deserve my money.
I don't have the clout you have but as a LTPP I have no incentive to stay with this company - I've found I pretty much can be a free agent and pay less and get the same (or almost the same) benefits I get by paying less for a room and just buying the things I got "free" with status!

dcstudent

Hyatt makes sense, IF your teams tend to travel where Hyatt has a full-service presence. Sadly, Hyatt's footprint is even smaller than SPG's was so that may be difficult. Hyatt's also tend to be expensive (in my experience but my company doesn't have a corporate rate with them) but it sounds like you may be able to negotiate a sweet corporate rate. You'll certainly be able to do some sort of status match, especially if bringing over not only your own $$$ but your colleagues.

Hilton may be ok. HIlton is my secondary program (I travel quite a bit to small cities/towns where there was no SPG presence), and it's fairly terrible. No guaranteed late check-out, and if you think Marriott's devaluation of points is bad, just wait until you see Hilton's point redemptions....

Good luck in your hunt.

cfischer

If you need larger footprint, especially worldwide, your options are very limited and frankly, the other players aren't much better. If I chose to defect I would probably switch Hilton from my secondary to my primary program.
Your concerns are understandable, but the grass elsewhere is unlikely much greener ... it will be a different color of brownish

RogerD408

I do find it a shame that after all that work to get top tier status you feel it necessary to move on. But given what has/is happening it makes sense. If Hyatt will be following the old SPG ways, then they do sound like a good choice. Of course that is providing they have properties where you need to be. You should find many of the remaining few programs willing to entice you to bring your business their way, again, if they are where you need to be then that makes sense. It doesn't mean you can't still use MPG when they are the most logical choice and may as well get some benefit out of your status.

craigthemif

The mere fact that you choose the word "heresy" means that you really ought to try out other hotel chains. The new Starriott is definitely not going to be anything like the old SPG, and it will require a certain amount of religious fervour to believe that the good times have any chance of continuing.

Switch to Hyatt, and take advantage of Marriott lifetime status for when Hyatt's footprint isn't good enough for specific needs.

I 40

Similar situation- Lifetime Plat, 150 + nights/yr, was SPG & MR Plat concurrently last couple of years, frustrated by the poor service recently.

Hyatt Globalist last 2 years.

it really hit home, and got me thinking the same, with me this summer on 2 situations.

Service: Had a typical small issue with each brand, called in to both to correct.

MR on hold 30ms +, hung up, and went online. 5 weeks to the day I got a response asking for more info.

Hyatt answered immediately, and solved a expiring cert by just giving me the points equivalent. Done. No hassle.

Award stay: Ritz and Hyatt at Lake Tahoe this summer.

RC- Fantastic place, no upgrade, are good with letting me choose room location though, but still spent a fortune on parking, resort fee, and breakfast.

Hyatt- Upgrade to the lakefront cabins (paid $ diff a couple of nts/ upgraded the others (able to email confirm in advance with their upgrade certs). Resort and parking waived for Globs on award stays. Lounge, so no free restaurant breakfast, but many do offer that b/c no lounge.

Will still stay at Marriott as a lot of my company's meetings are there (for now), and sometimes just the most convenient/ preferable.

Doing even more Hyatt, and considering Hilton. Stayed at a new Hyatt Place in Ann Arbor, new design, reminded me of an AC Marr. If more of these become avail, that will seal the deal.

Brendan

Do you mean "apostasy," which is Greek for "mind-changing" and means "Quitting membership or turning one's back on a Church/ group."? OTOH, "heresy" means disagreeing with the Church/ party line while still (trying to) remain(ing) a member.

controller1

I find the above reason for leaving quite silly. SPG had Four Points. Did you stay with Four Points simply because it was part of the Starwood/SPG portfolio?

Just because the combined portfolio has Four Points, Courtyard, Residence Inn, etc., you don't have to stay at those properties. If you wish to continue to stay at St. Regis or Luxury Collection, those are still in the combined portfolio.

I like USDA Prime beef. Just because my market has both Prime and Choice beef, I'm not going to stop shopping there nor do I feel I must purchase Choice beef.

FuryRoadWarrior

Yes, I do mean "apostasy". Thanks

I wasn't clear, my fault. It's not that the portfolio has grown more to the middle market. It's that the increasingly availability of middle market properties means that redemption options will be less desirable because there's less need to "lure" business travelers to stay at a Westin downtown, when there's a Residence Inn or a Courtyard in the boonies. I can't post the link as a new member, but the quote below Marriott's VP Loyalty Thom Kozik at a travel industry conference.

C17PSGR

Interesting quote and I understand your point. Of course, that's why the board decided to put Starwood up for sale, right? They were losing that business traveler who was splitting their business by staying at the Westin when they were downtown and staying at some other chain when they were in the "boonies." (N.B. some of us call the "boonies" suburbs or the rest of the US ). Starwood wasn't sold because of its higher end properties -- it commanded a premium at sale because it had a lot of members who didn't have a place to stay in the boonies and were splitting their time among various chains. The incentives just couldn't make it work even if Bob, the notional sales guy with two trips a month, could be a platinum -- just like you.

But, I suppose the redemption values will go up. The advantage in the interim, of course, is that 100+ night guests are now earning at higher rates and that MR redemption rates were generally lower than SPG rates.

lilpisher

With a similar profile, I've also been noticing my eyes wandering more and more. Though I'm feeling less of a pull now to be loyal to any one chain. I would also add the horrible website and mobile app as another key reason to look elsewhere.

Historically, the pull to SPG caused me to overlook a lot of problems at a particular hotel. While I'm not straying yet, its taking me very little to write off a legacy SPG property (not staying in any legacy Marriott properties) and choose another hotel in a city if it better meets my needs. Put another way, I'll start at a legacy SPG brand and if I like the hotel, I'll stay. If not, I book elsewhere. (By way of comparison, there were two hotels pre-merger that I was willing to say were so bad that loyalty wasn't worth it).

I've always been a fan of Kimpton, would try Hyatt, or even just a local boutique hotel.

yyznomad

OP! I invite you to "hold tight"! No wait, the CEO asks you to hold tight!

Hold really tight!

FuryRoadWarrior

C17PSGR

It's sarcasm ... there is a thread with a partial quote from Arne (the CEO) who says he knows there are problems but please hold tight.