CPRich

When the merger was announced, and hordes of SPG'ers said "I'm leaving", Hyatt and Hilton did exactly that.

Yet somehow those same hordes are leaving SPG again. And "Hyatt changed their very popular loyalty program in 2017 and may have upset their best customers. " And Hilton has been terrible for quite a while.

It's quite possible SPG has had more "I'm leaving SPG!" members over my 15+ years here than they actually have members.

CPRich

LT status at MR is based on nights and points. It has nothing to do with years at a status. You can earn LT PLT status with 50 nights every year, never being PLT at all in the MR program.

SPG PLT earned the same bonus points as Gold, so points didn't differ either.

So I don't see this as relevant.

RogerD408

Notice that FT user joined this month. Do not count on much participation from MR on FT. But, maybe once SPG is eliminated, the Lurkers will stay. They have been very helpful and provided a lot of good information to us over the years. Thank you William and crew.

CPRich

This is effectively just asking the status match program to match the combination of both programs. Which is no longer a status match. Once you do that, why not for all levels?

That's a different request than asking to treat SPG LT members with the same criteria as MR LT members. This equality makes sense. Changing the entire matching process does not, IMHO. And if it were to be done, I think the combined criteria would be higher.

I suspect the program designers consciously decided not to do this, and I don't think that will change. I believe missing the 750/2M+ SPG members was a non-considered edge case that may be addressed.

RogerD408

Of course they got it wrong, they didn't ask FT! hehehe

Everyone is hung up on tier name and just because they are LTP they should be LTP (or rather LTPP) in the new program. If they would have just taken the stats from each account and added them together and then assign a tier based upon that then the >750 nighters (given it's unlikely the same night would not be at both chains so no double counting) would be recognized for their business. I see lots of posts from people upset because tier alone does not properly represent what they've brought to the companies and complaining that someone "could have" spent a lot less and have a higher tier.

I suspect the conversion team is a bit shocked with some of the outrage thinking they were very generous with the new program. I'm sure the corner cases are a lot more than they expected. Also, keep in mind FT is a very small part of their total population so there is probably some flack from a lot more than just us. I do hope they take pause and reconsider the rules, but in the meantime, we know what we have. If you're within reach of your goal, go for it. If not, then hope they rethink the plan and let us all know quickly.

TravelinSperry

Funny post! But seriously... when Hyatt offered the status match, i took it and stayed in Hyatt for the first time in my life. I gave them ~25 nights they otherwise wouldn't have had. I also moved to Hilton and achieved Diamond (with butt in bed) one year. So it's not that I "left" Starwood... but that Starwood lost a lot of nights they could've otherwise had. I agree with you generally, the amount of people totally leaving is likely very low. But the amount of people who may look elsewhere (depending on whether Hyatt status matches us again, for example) is high. And Marriott is risking this with the top SPG customers over a very small amount of benefits in LTPP.

360guy

I have been a platinum for 10 years and currently have 475 SPG LT nights. I am 25 nights away from making LT Platinum in the SPG Program. I also have 105 LT nights in the Marriott Program. Will I get LT Platinum status in the New Program in August, without completing the additional 25 nights in the SPG Program ?

izzik

These all sound like potential SAT questions....
If LT Plat in the new program requires 600 nights + 10 yrs Plat status and you will only have 475+105=580 nights and 10 yrs Plat status, why would you expect to have Platinum without the additional 25 nights (or 20 nights, really)?

mooper

SPG LT Plats with 1000+ nights and a ton of LT points would certainly be on par regarding loyalty, however, the complaints I'm seeing mostly suggest that *all* SPG LT Plats (which includes many people with 500-750 LT nights) should be grandfathered to the new LT PP status. That would be quite unfair to the Marriott LT Plats who needed 750+ nights and 2MIL+ points.

The relevance is that LT Plat SPG could be earned with 500 nights (10 years at 50+), while LT Plat MR required 750 nights (10 years at 75+ on average). Additionally, LT Plat SPG perks were mapped to align very well with the new program tier (Platinum) while LT Plat MR perks were mapped to align very well with the new program tier (Platinum Premier).

It is a valid point to say, "What about SPG LT Plats who have 750+ nights? They've shown the same loyalty as MR LT Plats!", but I'm seeing a lot of people suggest that the tiers themselves were mapped unfairly. If any adjustment should be made, it would perhaps be giving just the SPG LT Plats with over 750 nights grandfathering... not just any SPG LT Plat.

360guy

Sorry, I did not know about the 600 night requirement. I actually have 116 Marriott LT nights combined with 475 SPG LT nights. Should I try to complete 9 nights before August?

UA-NYC

We must be reading different threads - I'm not seeing much complaints from sub-750 night SPG LT Plats about not being LTPP. It's generally understood why Marriott made that decision. No, the outrage is from many 1,000+night SPG LT Plats (as well as those of us who are close and empathize with them).

If anything, the bigger frustration among those sub-750 night folks is no path to it based on future activities.

Also, this claim that you made: Additionally, LT Plat SPG perks were mapped to align very well with the new program tier (Platinum) while LT Plat MR perks were mapped to align very well with the new program tier (Platinum Premier) doesn't really align with reality. SPG Plat benefits were pretty much well acknowledged to be better than MR Plat benefits, LT no different.

izzik

That's a nice idea but let's face it -- SPG-Marriott has an advantage.. they ran the numbers and it doesn't make $en$e to grandfather SPG LT Plats into NewLTPP. Plus, are these SPG LT Plats going to run to another program? Unlikely.. Hyatt doesn't have the footprint and Hilton is one big status giveaway (Aspire card, anyone?). So, go for the old Marriott LTP qualification before 12/31. It's a big investment and keep in mind that status benefits can always change...

RogerD408

From what I read, you have two choices: 1) make SPG LTP with 500 nights at SPG properties by 12/31, or 2) have 600 nights in any of the properties after 8/1.

As it reads now, only those making MR LTP by 8/1 will get LTPP with no means to get there using SPG numbers. I really hope that changes.

360guy

Roger, Thank you for the clarification .

mooper

I've seen mostly complaints about SPG LT Plats as a group not being mapped, but agree with you that if an exception is made for just 750+ or 1000+ night SPG LT Plats, then it's reasonable.

If you look at the current SPG Plat benefits and compare to the new program Plat benefits, they are closely aligned.