Any reason to not transfer to Marriott?
 

Can anyone think of a DOWNSIDE to moving my SPG points over to Marriott now?

More details:

• No SPG redemptions planned between now and Sep 1.
• SPG and Marriott accounts are currently linked, but planning to un-link before Aug 18 (don't want to risk SPG Amex Gold match somehow cancelling out the fact that I was Marriott Gold without the match)

Thanks!

Nothing I can think of.

I think the main reason for not merging immediately is to allow for IT glitches to work their way out of the system and for everything to settle down.

No reason to move or not move them. Linking/unlinking will have no effect on your accounts, and probably dropped as of the 18th anyways. MPG will let us know when WE can merge our accounts. Until you do that, you will have two MPG accounts, one using your MR membership number and a second one with a new, MPG formatted number to represent your SPG account. All existing links from external SPG partners will be switched to your new MPG account for SPG activity. At some point, before the end of the year, you should merge your accounts by logging into the account you want to keep and providing the other account number (specific directions yet to be released). The higher of the two immediately become your new status and, if your combined LT nights put you higher than your annual status, then that status should kick in. If you are going for a legacy LT status in one of the programs and you accomplish your goal, then that is supposed to kick in come January.

So after they complete the merger of the programs, your MR based account should be Plat and your SPG based account should still be Gold. Now if your LT nights will earn you a higher status, that should kick in after you merge your accounts.

Thanks for the comprehensive response, Roger. This is exactly what I needed to know.

I have moved 99% of my Starpoints to Marriott and have a single award night booked with SPG.

I am expecting an IT meltdown and hoping that all will be fine. Even though as a blogger I should take one for the team, I won't be merging accounts until long after the functionality is put in place. No plans to talk to a human being at Marriott until everything has settled down and the staff are more familiar with the new system.

What do you mean the higher of the "two" will become your new status. Once you merge won't it be combined and that will represent what your status is.

For me, I believe it will be in my benefit to merge immediately. I will get my Plat status on nights (always have), so for example if on August 20 I have say 33 SPG nights in my SPG account and say 7 MR nights this year in my MAR account it would then show my new account at 40 nights, needing 10 more nights at any SPG or MAR properties before the end of the year to reach PLAT status. Am I correct in how this will work?

Yes, if your combined nights put you over a higher tier, then that will be your new tier. Your LT nights might be able to put you over a tier as well.

I see no reason to rush to merge your accounts since you won't start getting Plat benefits until you reach the 50 MPG nights. So unless you have 10 nights coming up very soon, I suggest hold off to see how things go.