Marriott to retain both AMEX and Chase credit cards
 

(Cross posted in AmEx forum too, but Mods, please clean up as you prefer)

AmEx Scores a Starwood Win as Marriott Opts for Duel Issuers

• AmEx and JPMorgan will share the business, debut new products
• For now, both companies will retain existing portfolios, cards

By Jenny Surane

(Bloomberg) -- American Express Co. inked another co-brand deal, winning dual-issuing rights with JPMorgan Chase & Co. for Marriott International Inc.’s suite of cards.

Marriott will introduce new co-branded products next year, with AmEx providing super-premium and small-business cards and JPMorgan offering mass-consumer and premium-consumer cards, the three companies said in a statement on Tuesday. In the meantime, both issuers will retain their existing portfolios and continue to offer their current products.

“We expect our loyalty program members, owners and franchisees, and our shareholders will see significant incremental benefits from these new agreements,” Arne Sorenson, Marriott’s chief executive officer, said in the statement.

The deal puts months of speculation about the fate of AmEx’s popular Starwood Preferred Guest cards to rest. Investors feared that Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. would put AmEx’s Starwood partnership -- which accounts for 5 percent of the company’s loans and 2 percent of total spending on the firm’s cards -- at risk. Marriott has long had its own co-brand deal with JPMorgan, the largest U.S. credit-card lender, and Visa Inc., the world’s biggest payments network.

Combining Programs

Marriott still intends to combine its loyalty programs into a single platform for its 100 million members by late next year, the company said in the statement. Merchants like Marriott have benefited from increased co-brand card competition, as issuers and networks lower their fees and offer up more perks to win the lucrative deals.

“Marriott’s co-brand credit cards have been a meaningful contributor to the success of Marriott’s loyalty programs and a sign of the extraordinary value of our portfolio of brands,” Sorenson said in the statement.

Still, co-brand credit cards are facing increasingly stiff competition from banks’ proprietary products, including the AmEx Platinum and JPMorgan’s Sapphire Reserve, which drew so many applicants during its 2016 debut that the company temporarily ran out of materials to mint the card.

The Marriott deal is another win for outgoing American Express CEO Ken Chenault, who will step down in February. In June, the company also won exclusive rights to issue credit cards for Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., ending an agreement in which it shared the business with Citigroup Inc. AmEx’s shares had struggled after the company lost a bidding war to Citigroup for Costco Wholesale Corp.’s card portfolio and failed to renew its partnership with JetBlue Airways Corp. in 2015.

Great news as Amex has so many excellent promotions!

So why did Chase cancel their Canadian Marriott card???

Full Press release:
Marriott today announced it reached new agreements with JPMorgan Chase and American Express for its U.S.-issued, co-brand credit cards associated with its loyalty programs. These multi-year agreements will extend Marriott’s relationship with both card issuers and cover the Marriott Rewards and Ritz-Carlton Rewards Visa credit cards from JPMorgan Chase, and the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) credit cards from American Express.

“Marriott’s co-brand credit cards have been a meaningful contributor to the success of Marriott’s loyalty programs and a sign of the extraordinary value of our portfolio of brands,” said Arne Sorenson, Marriott International’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are pleased to bring together the power of JPMorgan Chase and American Express with our global portfolio of brands to continue to provide consumers with choices. We expect our loyalty program members, owners and franchisees, and our shareholders will see significant incremental benefits from these new agreements.”

Marriott expects to introduce new, co-brand products starting in 2018 with enhanced member benefits – super-premium consumer and small business co-branded products from American Express and mass consumer and premium consumer co-branded products from JPMorgan Chase. Additional details on the future products will be shared in 2018. In the meantime, both companies will retain their existing portfolio of accounts and continue to offer their current products.

“We are excited to build on our long-term partnership with Marriott and look forward to continuing to serve our mutual customers with the products and experiences they love,” said Jennifer Piepszak, CEO of Chase Card Services. “Together, we also plan to invest in new mass and premium consumer products that will bring choice and variety to the marketplace, along with the depth and breadth of Marriott International’s portfolio of brands.”

“The American Express relationship with Marriott dates back more than sixty years and we are pleased to continue an important component of our partnership,” said Glenda McNeal, President, Strategic Partnerships at American Express. “We’ll continue to provide our Starwood Preferred Guest Card Members with the award-winning benefits, services and experiences they have come to enjoy on their existing product, while building our portfolio within the family of Marriott brands to serve affluent travelers and small businesses.”

For now, there will be no changes to Marriott’s existing co-brand cards for members. Members using the Marriott Rewards and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards Visa credit cards from JPMorgan Chase, as well as the Starwood Preferred Guest credit cards from American Express will continue to earn and redeem points as usual. SPG members in the U.S. can earn two Starpoints® for every eligible dollar spent using the Starwood Preferred Guest credit cards by American Express directly at hotels participating in SPG and Marriott Rewards globally. In addition, Marriott Rewards and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards members in the U.S. can earn five Rewards points for every eligible dollar spent using the JPMorgan Chase Marriott Rewards and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards Visa credit cards on qualifying purchases made at participating global Marriott Rewards and SPG properties.

These credit card agreements are the latest example of the significant economies of scale and competitive advantage that are resulting from Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts. In late 2018, Marriott expects to launch a single technology platform for Marriott Rewards, which includes The Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and SPG. This should enable the company to synch the technology-dependent components of each program, further reducing costs. The new technology platform will also take Marriott one step closer to the goal of having a single loyalty program for the company’s 100+ million members in the current Rewards and SPG loyalty programs.

American Express and JPMorgan Chase Co-Brand Credit Card Relationships Extended
 

Today, we are announcing new co-brand credit card agreements with both JP Morgan Chase and American Express, continuing the relationships members of Marriott Rewards and SPG have known and loved for years.

New co-branded products will be introduced starting in 2018 with enhanced member benefits – super premium consumer and small business co-branded products from American Express and new mass and consumer premium consumer co-branded products from JPMorgan Chase. Even with these exciting new cards coming, members can and should continue to use their existing co-brand cards normally and we will continue our rich sign-up bonuses on these products.

http://news.marriott.com/2017/12/mar...erican-express

This is excellent news!

Yawn. (for non-Americans)

The writing is on the wall, however, if neither bank could find enough value to pay extra for exclusivity.

I'm hoping the premium card will be like Hilton's new Am Ex and give out Platinum status for $450 a year. Combined with my Delta crossover benefits it will be worth paying a high annual fee to have the status for a year until I can earn it on my own.

I really, truly hope not.

For those who want status during a program transition year, both Marriott and SPG offer status challenges.

"..Marriott expects to introduce new, co-brand products starting in 2018 with enhanced member benefits – super-premium consumer and small business co-branded products from American Express and mass consumer and premium consumer co-branded products from JPMorgan Chase. Additional details on the future products will be shared in 2018.. "
AMEX is for super premium, and Chase Visa for everything else. I wonder what are the benefits of each card.

"..a single loyalty program for the company’s 100+ million members in the current Rewards and SPG loyalty programs.."

Combined MR with 100+million members. If Plat is 1%, that's 1+ million, a very big number. That's why big Marriott hotels in major cities have tons of Plat members, making upgrades difficult.

I sure hope MR does not sell Plat status like Hilton.

There are too many Plats in MR as it is. Hotel status should be earned and not bought, if the intent is to promote loyalty,

The programs don't particularly care about "loyalty" as much anymore. All of them have basically moved to a more transactional model - you spend X we give you Y in terms of free stays. If the combined MR/SPG program keeps things around like personal service for 100-night guests, that would be a small nod to "loyalty". I do hope that happens.

I've always gotten my hotel statuses mostly on the back of business stays where I was spending other people's money. Augmented with some personal here and there, but I don't really look at it as having "earned" anything. I buy a lot of one type of product, so that company gives me extra product. While I got my Marriott status through real stays over the years and use shortcuts for Hilton status, I don't find one superior to the other.

The writing is on the wall: there's almost certain to be a super-premium card, and that card will have what we think of as today's MR Plat or SPG "base" Plat. The only question is whether the SPG75/100 perks will stay in place to add an extra reward for the road warriors.

That's not necessarily true. The RC premium card requires $75K spend for Plat. It offers other benefits (club upgrades, travel credits, etc.) to justify its premium fee.

They did? When was this announced?

September 2017. You can't apply to Chase Canada's Mariott or Amazon card anymore. The whole portfolio has been sold to Scotiabank.

As someone with an Amex SPG card and the Chase Ritz Card, I wonder how this is going to play out.