I'm not sure what to make of that change should that actually be the case. On the one hand I'm thinking aw shucks, I've lost the slightly later check out and free lounge and breakfast, which when staying at a JW Marriott blows the breakfasts I get at the Super 8! On the other hand, I put myself in the shoes of a SPMarriott fanatic who stays perhaps a third of the year on the road in hotels. How would you feel if any Tom, Dick and Harry with a some status on an airline or worse a credit card can just waltz into that lounge and diminish the value of the benefit you worked so hard to earn (i.e. by crowding the room and eating up all the good food!). Certainly as a UA elite I would be pretty livid if I saw kettles with a credit card waltzing into a UC or taking up a valuable E+ seat just because they hold some fancy credit card or redeemed points for a J ticket. SPMarriott has given up a lot (i.e. Gold status) for little in return for their own elites (i.e. UA Silver which these days only gets you an extra cup of coffee on UX flights :D).

Those are my two cents, and certainly understand the other perspectives shared.

Safe Travels,

James

That status linking is talking the SPG <-> Marriott linking which temporarily gave the SPG folks some extra benefits

Marriott gold of today is the same as Platinum of tomorrow
Platinum of today is Platinum preimere of tomorrow

No matter what you say or think, we have ZERO idea of how the program will look after August, so sit back, have a glass of sweet tea and patiently wait for the details, cause anything we think will happen is nothing more than some person with a colander on their head fearing the worst.

If you interpret it as referring to the UA status match then many would have no status under the new system unless they'd stayed many nights at Marriott...thus actually reaching a status level (which would make the whole status match moot).

I'd just like to time warp ahead 8 weeks and know what actually will happen since at the moment it remains unclear (but slightly more hopeful given the email quoted by hotelexec).

Then, you must be spending a pretty good portion of your travel time in a pretty livid state. There must be some hundreds of thousands passengers with those credit cards so pretty sure that there would be some sitting next to you in the UC or on the plane.

UA Silver is nice to have. Passengers traveling with luggage save some money on domestic flights and lots more if they want to travel to some foreign destinations with two pieces of checked luggage. Also consider passengers traveling one time a year to Asia or Europe or South America (this is an example of passengers who may not attain UA Silver just by flying): on most of my flights, at check-in 24 hours before the flight, Economy + still has many good seats available: that's easily $150-$200 saved per direction. On my domestic flights, there are usually less Economy + seats left at check-in but still some and then some good ones open when other passengers get upgraded.

I think any passenger can request a second cup of coffee if there's time. No need to be UA Silver for that.

On the other hand, I can't imagine "status linking" really refers to this. I have zero earned Marriott status, and SPG Platinum. I earned that status last year knowing it would get me Marriott Platinum (but obviously, knowing the program would change, as well.) I have a hard time believing I'm going to drop down to nothing in the combined program. That doesn't make any sense at all. So your conclusion is correct: We really have no idea what's going to happen.

Marriott Golds via UA will be Marriott Plat from August-February when a brand new program name will launch.
The status linking verbiage is to exclude AMEX Plat cardholders who have Marriott Gold via SPG Gold. They will remain Marriott Gold in August.
The end.

My interpretation is that "status matching" refers to members in the current respective programs who were matched from a third party such as Hilton or Hyatt while "linking" refers to members who attained a status in one program as a result of status in the other. For instance, if your primary loyalty is to MR and you had Platinum Elite in that program you were matched to Platinum Preferred in SPG. If at the time of conversion you only reached Gold in MR for 2018 you will become Platinum (formerly gold) in the new program, NOT Platinum Premier because of your link to SPG Platinum Preferred. Your final status in the New Program will be determined by the sum of the stays from both MR & SPG.

Also, EVERYONE will be getting a new account number in the New Program.

The RewardsPlus program is, I believe, a separate entity apart from the linking and status matching aforementioned. Does that mean it will be status quo with MR Golds becoming Platinum in the new program? Possibly, but I think at the detriment of the Platinum Premiere in the new program.

RewardsPlus favours UA MileagePlus members over Current MR Platinum Elites as I see it. There is a lot more incentive to attain Gold in UA for current Gold in MR than for a MR member to spend an additional 50% more nights to attain UA Silver. The benefits are pretty much worthless and certainly not commensurate. It is apparent that Marriott values UA gold/platinum/1K more than UA values MR Platinum Elites. Perhaps UA was a better negotiator. The reality is that with status matching, RewardsPlus, Credit Card affiliations and the monetization of benefits on standard room "packages" for non-elites, the Elite Program has been watered down.

I can perhaps see that the RewardsPlus program will be changed/admended so that UA Gold will remain Gold in the new program while UA Platinum/1K will move to Platinum.

There may be a grace period through the end of the year but if UA Gold maintains Platinum in the new program I am officially severing my loyalty to Marriott. I can do a few quick UA Mileage Runs in January, obtain UA Gold and be granted Platinum in Marriotts new program for a couple grand rather than $10K-$15K to obtain it organically. The differential, in my experience, between current MR Gold & MR Platinum Elite isn't exponentially better to warrant the additional effort to attain it. I am more interested in the value of the benefits to me rather than any perceived prestige. Being granted Platinum from UA Gold, should it go that way, would give me the benefits I enjoy without requiring staunch loyalty to Marriott or UA beyond meeting the requirments of obtaining UA Gold.

James

Missed this bit of information. Time to start moaning about losing my early 1980's-issued MR number that starts with "00"

That would be at least 100 hours of in-air time, not what most would consider quick. Especially if going for low cost and economy seating.

All you need is 12.5K PQM to get it via the challenge though. One economy trip to Europe would be enough and you have Marriott Platinum status for 18 months which others had to earn with 50 nights. The issue here is Marriott using a high bar status as a marketing tool and aggravating long time loyal customers. The end result may be closer to a zero sum than they think. For example since I will soon be within spitting distance of 1MM on UA that seems to be the shorter path to Marriott gold/Platinum than actually getting the nights.

Nope. The Marriott Platinum window for current Marriott Golds is just from August 2018-February 2019.

And Marriott has it own marketing programs -- If one is looking for sustained status, these one-time promos are a different consideration. Meaning compare promos to promos or compare sustained approaches to each other.

At least 100 hours of in-flight time.... There are 168 hours in a week! ;) You cannot reach New Platinum in January based on stays, not enough days in the month to do that. You can, however attain UA Gold in that time frame, that is quick relative to stays. Who really cares about a bag fee? If I am spending $2K to attain New Platinum via RewardsPlus on flights the bag fee is inconsequential compared to spending $10K+ on organic stays for the same benefit. Furthermore, the bag fee goes away when attaing UA Silver organically anyway.

We will have to agree to disagree on inbalance. How is UA E+ balanced against Marriott Lounge Access when one is guaranteed and the other is not? Would you be incentivized to attain UA Gold if your lounge access was dependent on how busy it was when you wanted to use it? Enjoy late check-out for that later international flight? Sorry, not today. Enjoy breakfast before that meeting? Sorry we didn't buy enough eggs to accommodate you today. E+ ACCESS is not the same as Lounge, Late Check out & Breakfast GUARANTEED! The ONLY thing guarateed for an organic MR Platinum Elite is a fee free checked bag for the first 25K UA miles flown. PERIOD! Existing MR Golds are eligible for upgrades too. If a MR Gold granted from UA Gold+ arrives at a hotel an hour before I do and gets the last available upgrade then shouldn't a MR Platinum Elite granted UA Silver get the last upgrade on a flight when arriving at the airport before a UA Gold+? It is easy to argue "balance" when you are on the "favourable" side! There is nothing balanced about it. Marriott is telling me I should be loyal to United because we will grant you Platinum for less loyalty and cost. Would you be willing to swap positions? Didn't think so? As such, I remain and happy to USE UA to attain Gold and be granted New Platinum at a fraction of the outlay because apparently Marriott values UA Gold+ members more than their own organic Elites.

As my Moniker says, I am Flying for Fun; 100% self-funded leisure. I already have 64 stays combined this year, spent the first 2 months of 2018 on an RTW trip booked in Business and First for 2 on awards and currently have 37 Y & J & F flights booked between August and November and another 17 between February and March. That leaves me January for UA Mileage Runs and UA Gold. :D Now that is quick!

James

. That's fine, we are individuals with different viewpoint of the relative benefits and would naturally disagree.

If this was problem, then that might be an issue but reports are that is very rarely an issue,
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...4hrs-here.html
and https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...riences-q.html
occasionally on last minute hub-to-hub flights, however, generally not an issue

And some of those may have gotten less favorable seating due to a match Marriott Plat checking earlier :D
In practice that's not true as real-life experiences show and there are other benefits, https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...solidated.html as there are other Marriott Plat benefits than may or may not be of value to specific individuals
Probably not the typical profile for a Marriott Plat and probably not a prototype customer to be designing your programs around.

Understand you value your Marriott benefits higher than what you seem to fear you will/have lose because of this reciprocal program, but there are other points of view. And none of us know how this is going to turn out, as I for one, plan to just wait and see, and than make a decision that works for me personally -- I would not expect you to do different. Marriott / UA have a vast range of customers to consider and they have the date, we'll see what they do (in their self-interest)

You won't get Marriott Platinum past the new program launch in February 2019 from UA status.