itsallgood

Too hard to google? http://www.starwoodhotels.com/Media/...ENTS_HOTEL.pdf
I can provide multiple other links to the same date/statement but this one's straight from starwood's website.

It sounds like you weren't even aware of any lifetime SPG program until after the merger was announced.

itsallgood

Roger, the Marriott lifetime program's been around for a VERY LONG time. I switched from SPG to Marriott in 2003 due to the lifetime program and Marriott lifetime had been around for a while before I switched. At the time, the only hotel programs that offered lifetime status were Marriott and Hyatt.

UA-NYC

Oxon Flyer

Folks, we seem to be having the same repeated LT arguments being played out over multiple threads, and indeed multiple forums.

Please be mindful of all the FT members reading these threads for updates and information, and keep them clear of unnecessary repetition.

thanks
The mod team

UA-NYC

stimpy

I'm just going off my vague memory so take that with a grain of salt. I am pretty sure that Starwood sent me my pre-Starwood Sheraton and Westin numbers at some time. But I have no proof that they were part of Lifetime.

However, under my account now it states that I have 20 years of elite status. If Starwood began in 1999, shouldn't that be 19 years? Or are they counting my elite status with SCI and Westin?

Magic Pickles

DownUnderFlyer

I agree, any existing Starwood Lifetime Platinum should be gradfathered into LTPP.

Oxon Flyer

Folks, the mod team are continuing to receive bad post reports of the nature “The poster appears to be keen to knock down those who disagree by constantly repeating the same point.”, so we’re now actively removing unnecessarily repetitious posts.

CJKatl

The solution is parity, not a different disparity. Program benefits can change from time to time, so which benefits are being offered at which level is not the issue. The issue is treating two groups with the same number of credited nights differently. Fairness would indicate the two groups should be treated the same.

• Currently SPG requires 500 nights for LTP while MR requires 500 for LTG and 750 for LTP. (ignoring years and points to keep it simple and non-BIB ways to earn nights like ccs or credit for three nights in a single stay)
  • The current SPG LTP includes guests who would have met the criteria for what MR previously called LTG and LTP.
• The current plan for the new program is for all SPG LTPs to be treated the same as MR LTGs.
  • For parity, most agree that SPG LTPs with 750+ nights should be treated the same as current MR LTPs who each have 750+ nights.
  • For parity, most agree that SPG LTPs with 500-749 nights should be treated the same as current MR LTG because each of them qualified with the same number of nights.

If you make ALL current SPG LTPs new program LTPPs you have the problem of treating those with 500-749 nights differently based on whether they came from SPG or MR, just shifting the shafting from SPG guest with over 750 nights to MR guests with 500-749. It is not fair in either direction or towards either group. How anyone can complain about the inequality towards SPG members with 750+ nights while advocating a solution where the same inequality is meted down on MR members with 500-749 nights does not make sense to me.

UA-NYC

Let's be real though - Marriott made it very easy to game the system and get to 750 nights a lot quicker than it took Starwood folks to get to 500 nights...you forgot rollover nights and meeting rooms...so you can't just say "oh they cancel each other out"

CJKatl

The argument that the two groups should be treated the same is one that Marriott might listen to. Why anyone would intentionally antagonize the MR LTPs that are trying to be your allies makes no sense. Your thinking MR LTPs gamed the system belies that most of us earned our Marriott status by staying in hotels. Marriott has the data and knows this.

BTW, the three nights credit for one night was an SPG trick for racking up points quickly, not a Marriott trick.

Land-of-Miles

It Is a far less practically useful "trick" than credit card and other nights for the vast majority of frequent guests in that it actually had costs and pretty limited practicality. I do know a couple of people who did this when booking their team members stays for business but that amounts to a very low proportion of SPG members I know.

The bottom line is this. I have no real beef with the Marriot allocation of status to MR LT members. However pretending apples are oranges and comparing them like for like does not work for many SPG members one reason would be that the property footprint was about a third that of Marriotts.

The key business issue for Marriott is to keep SPG loyalists onboard rather than to push them to defect elsewhere. As it happens I have stayed way more at Marriots in the last 18 months than I have at Starwoods as it has suited my stay patterns and I feel that I have been treated pretty well thus far. The MR loyalists only gain from all this so there is little real downside in treating the SPG loyalists well.

The terms of the merged programme though make me feel aggrieved and unlikely to stay in Marriotts going forward and I have top status in 2 other chains without having to do any matching (which would be an attractive option say for Hyatt too).

it would cost Marriott absolutely nothing to give me LTPP or at least a reasonable pathway to it based on combined stay and spend. It will cost them a lot to not give it to me in lost future revenue. If that is replicated across the LTP community (especially those of us demonstrably doing lots of Marriott stays) that is going to dent the value of the acquisition and would be a pretty silly business decision.

UA-NYC

Hey Starwood folks gamed the system too - double credit cards, multi rooms, etc. My point is, it's being disingenuous to basically say "oh both sides were able to rack up similar non-BiB nights".

In my case, I got about 50 out of my LT total of 800+ vs. multi-rooms. I also forfeited an equivalent ~250 CC nights (had I spent the same w/the Marriott Visa), never got a rollover night, never got a meeting room. I wouldn't be surprised if this was more similar to other SPG Plats vs. more different.

I'm sure most Marriott LTPs got the majority of their nights in hotel beds too...but also seems like it wasn't too hard to make it in 5-6 years if one had a busy travel stretch.

CJKatl

Which is a big reason why many of us staying 125-175 nights a year would choose Marriott. Why should that be penalized? Many chose the program without the years requirement because heavy travel made it the better choice. Is choosing to stay with Marriott 750 nights over five years less business than 500 night over ten? And remember, those who stay 150/year over five years usually don't suddenly stop staying in hotels. These ""loyalty" programs are not designed to reward guests, they are designed to drive business to the chain. MR became the largest of these hotel programs and Marriott became the largest chain of its type so the PTB must know what they are doing.