Marriott to retain both AMEX and Chase credit cards
#16
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#17
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What I find surprising is in this thread almost everyone seems opposed to Marriott/SPG giving out status with a credit card but in the Hilton Am Ex thread most people seem to be in favor of them giving out diamond status with the new am ex cards.
#18
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Anyway, the bar has been set. A new super-premium card with a Marriott brand on it is going to look pretty weak if it merely confers Gold status. HH Diamond is out there for the taking, and let's be honest: as much as we bag on Diamond, it's no worse than Marriott Platinum. Marriott at least has one card up its sleeve for real road warriors: it can keep the higher levels of SPG Plat intact in some way.
I honestly *hope* I'm wrong and the super-premium offering includes a certain number of confirmed suite upgrades instead. I'd rather be mere Gold but know I had, say, 3 confirmed upgrades per year at any Marriott/SPG brand that had meaningful upgrades to give. I just don't sense that's coming, as it'd be a whole new award mechanic to introduce to the Marriott system. They'll do what's easy, and that's give people the base Plat level.
All super-premium cards have travel credits. That's a basic, expected benefit of this card. $200-250 rebate on airlines, waive my Global Entry fee, etc. Net cost to me needs to be $200 or less before hotel benefits are factored in or the whole product is dead on arrival.
My guess is that SPG Amex stays essentially the same. That'll be the "midlevel" (default) product. No idea on the RC card. Option to convert it straight to the premium product when they roll it out? I can see some members not wanting the card if it doesn't retain its Ritz-specific benefits. It'll be interesting to see how/if the combined company decides to keep the luxury brands "different" from the rest of the brand stack.
#19
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Have both, and don't agree with that all. Hilton Diamond isn't even worth $40K credit card spend. Marriott Plat I will absolutely stretch to 75 nights (or 25 SPG stays - haven't decided which) to keep.
#20
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Probably because Hilton Diamond was already easy to make (as it could be done on spend before), plus it's not like there are all that many benefits marginally on top of Gold? So if the implied value is already a lot less, might as well give it away for free!
#21
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Anyway, the bar has been set. A new super-premium card with a Marriott brand on it is going to look pretty weak if it merely confers Gold status. HH Diamond is out there for the taking, and let's be honest: as much as we bag on Diamond, it's no worse than Marriott Platinum.
#22
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#23
Join Date: May 2005
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AMEN to this. Im both a Hilton Diamond and Marriott Platinum; and in the USA, the Lounges of Hilton are very inferior and treatment is somewhat inferior. There are a few exceptions but not many. In Europe, they are similar.
#24
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When some of us suggested that they might keep both Chase and Amex, most people thought we were crazy. Well, we might be crazy, but we were also right!
#25
Join Date: Dec 2009
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Or perhaps the level of competition was held very, very high by Marriott, and thus a greater total value was extracted by retaining both? Get what you're saying on the nationality thing, though - total b.s.
#26
Join Date: Dec 2016
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Looks like I need to jump on the SPG Business card sooner than later..
#27
Join Date: Feb 2013
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So what is everyone's thoughts on the Marriott cc bonus? That is, do you think it would be best to apply now or wait until Marriott rolls out the new card and get the bonus then? Trying to time the best bonus (Unlike Hilton Amex, which I timed horribly!)
#28
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SPG Plat is another story. I only held that for 3 1/2 years pre-merger, then dropped to Gold, and felt that the SPG Plat experience was something more special. More suites in those 3 years than in all of my Marriott and HH experiences combined.
If Marriott can somehow keep the secret sauce of SPG Plat alive into the future, then no question about it - it's a better status than HH Diamond. But if they can't, meh, it's basically the same thing. C-level usually. A mention from the FDC. Some extra points.
#29
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The Chase Marriott cards are lame for general spend. I have two of them simply because I can still find Category 5 hotels that are worth more than $85 to me. If Chase ends up being the "mid-tier", maybe I'll keep one. Too soon to tell...
#30
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I've been Marriott Plat for 15 of the past 20 years (now lifetime Gold) and HH Diamond for 10 of the past 20, including the past 4. Most of my best upgrades over the years have been at international Hiltons. In the US and Canada, neither status means much at all except extra points.
SPG Plat is another story. I only held that for 3 1/2 years pre-merger, then dropped to Gold, and felt that the SPG Plat experience was something more special. More suites in those 3 years than in all of my Marriott and HH experiences combined.
If Marriott can somehow keep the secret sauce of SPG Plat alive into the future, then no question about it - it's a better status than HH Diamond. But if they can't, meh, it's basically the same thing. C-level usually. A mention from the FDC. Some extra points.
SPG Plat is another story. I only held that for 3 1/2 years pre-merger, then dropped to Gold, and felt that the SPG Plat experience was something more special. More suites in those 3 years than in all of my Marriott and HH experiences combined.
If Marriott can somehow keep the secret sauce of SPG Plat alive into the future, then no question about it - it's a better status than HH Diamond. But if they can't, meh, it's basically the same thing. C-level usually. A mention from the FDC. Some extra points.