Official Announcement: SPG and Marriott Programs to Merge on August 18th
 

We now know the exact date in August when SPG®, Marriott Rewards® and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards® will combine into one program – Saturday, August 18.

To help make this experience as smooth as possible for you, we wanted to share some key dates and important information.


Now Through August 17 --

· Free Night Awards: Be sure to check out the Free Night Award Chart we shared last month to decide if you want to redeem for your Free Nights before or after the new Chart takes effect on August 18.

· Account Linking for Status Match & Points Transfer: Since you’ll be able to combine your SPG and Rewards accounts starting August 18, the last date to link accounts for status match and points transfer will be August 17. Click here to link accounts.

Starting August 18 --

· One Program Live: SPG, Marriott Rewards and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards will become one program with new benefits and opportunities at more than 6,500 hotels across 29 brands. In the meantime, visit members.marriott.com for full program details and FAQs.

· Account Combine Available: If you have both a SPG and Rewards account, you’ll want to combine into one at SPG.com or Marriott.com. You’ll have to take this step even if you’ve already linked accounts. Once complete, all your points and nights will be added together, and you’ll have one profile and one account– and may even achieve new status when you add up all your Elite-night credits.

· New SPG.com and SPG App: SPG members will experience a new website and mobile app, with changes to design and user experience. Look for changes at SPG.com and updates in the app store.

· New SPG Number: All SPG members will receive a new 9-digit account number to align with the specifications of our new loyalty system. Members will receive the new number via email (starting August 19 for members opted in to email) or while logging in to SPG.com. Passwords will remain the same, unless a member elects to change it themselves.

· Planned Systems Outage: As we launch our new program, a temporary outage of all systems, sites and apps is planned for August 18 beginning early morning (U.S. Eastern Time). This means that for most of the day there will be time when bookings are not possible, your account is not accessible, account combine is not available, etc. Please plan accordingly and be a bit patient with us during this transition.

Hopefully you’ll find this information helpful, however please feel free to comment here with questions and suggestions and we’ll do our best to answer all of them.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts LLC

[email protected]

RIP SPG
August 18th, 2018

May I properly assume that if I wish to keep my current Marriott account number instead of the newly assigned Starwood number, I should combine the accounts from the Marriott website instead of the SPG website?

Agreed - will be sad to see my SPG number go, but since i have some vague familiarity with my Marriott number, I'd rather use that than a new SPG one

SPG Lurker - hopefully, you can help with this question:
I have a reservation for three rooms (at the same hotel) as follows: Room 1: 8/17-8/18 (one night) and Room 2 & Room 3: 8/17-8/21 (four nights) at a Sheraton. SPG's rules said you could get elite credit for up to three rooms/night. The new rules will be points for up to three rooms, but elite night credits for only one room/night.

Since my stay starts before the merger, will I get elite night credit for all of these rooms? Or will it count at the time of checkout? Or should I "split" these reservations to get credit for three nights from 8/17-8/18, and then rebook the others as three-night reservations?

Even with SPG the rule was that all the rooms had to be for the same length of stay to get credit for three rooms. But, as with anything of this nature, it all depends upon how the hotel chooses to post the stay, so some may have benefited where maybe they shouldn't have.

I was told that this benefit ends when the programs combine, so my best guess at this point in time is that if the stay posts after August 18th, then you will get one stay and nights credit with all the revenue on the three rooms added together.

However, I will add that this likely a YMMV situation. Some hotels are going to be up to speed and some may not, so YMMV.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Marriott International

[email protected]

If your SPG account and MR account are linked by Aug 18 you will not get a new MR number. If they are not linked your SPG number will be converted to a MR number not a new SPG number. Hope this answers your question?

So if I want to earn status through the legacy program rules (i.e. 25 stays), I SHOULDN'T merge accounts yet correct?

You can't merge accounts just yet; only after August 18th. Even so, I don't see why that should be a hurdle at all. Whether you've merged accounts or not, you can still qualify for Platinum with 25 stays at legacy SPG properties through the end of the year.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Marriott International

[email protected]

OK, but that doesn't seem to agree with what William stated since he did not carve out an exception to those who already have their accounts linked as of August 18. (Emphasis below added)

We are seeking further clarification on this.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Marriott International

[email protected]

Bummer have a stay on points on the 18th and the hotel is dropping down in the new points levels.

Thanks.

I have a question for starwood lurker. I qualified this yeaR FOR SPG GOLD WITH MY AMX SPG SPEND. Does that carry over to next year as it did with spg?

Thanks for all your help over the years. You have been a real asset to FT.