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Marriott today announced much of the combined loyalty program of Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, and SPG.
Taking effect August 1, 2018, the program still lacks a name. Award charts were announced though what properties will be in each of the 8 categories is forthcoming. Other than that, the amount of detail in the announcements is impressive as corporate announcements go.
Early reactions on miles and points blogs range from positive to neutral ‘wait and see’, not too negative, with relief that changes could have been worse. Reader comments on these blogs skew less positive, as is to be expected. That speaks well to a program that is broadly well conceived. There will always be gaps like treatment of SPG lifetime 750 night people.
The new program’s focus is designed to reward actually loyal customers, with incentives at the highest spend levels without eliminating value down through the annual nights chain. An explicit spend target is only introduced at the 100+ nights level, $20,000 to unlock Ambassador service and Your24TM anytime check-in/check-out benefit.
Marriott is not trying to reward several profiles of miles and points travelers. Here’s some who lose out:
Status freeloaders:
None of the credit cards will directly award Platinum status for having the card. The upcoming $450 annual fee Amex SPG Luxury Card will require $75,000 annual spend for Platinum, similar to the Chase Ritz-Carlton card.
Several cards will offer Gold status, presumably the Amex Platinum will continue to do so as well. That is now a no breakfast status across Marriott, closing the backdoor that cards offering SPG Gold (no breakfast) match to Marriott Gold (breakfast).
Everyday spenders:
None of the credit cards will earn more than the 2 points per dollar on everyday spend. (Each card has its own bonuses for Marriott stays and certain spend categories.)
The long-running Amex SPG cards current earn 1 SPG point per dollar that has transferred to 3 Marriott points. Dropping earn under the new program’s 3 points down to 2 points per dollar makes these cards uncompetitive for much spend.
If you’ve had the SPG card top of wallet for years, consider taking it out. Have a hard look to see if the benefits justify the annual fee. These cards will award Silver status instead of elite stay/night credits, so the only reason to have both will be for the new annual free night certificates (good up to 35,000 points/night). The business card loses Sheraton lounge access.
United flyers:
United Gold, Platinum, and 1K flyers get complimentary Marriott Gold status, which is worth a lot less in the new program.
I’ve been on the fence about re-upping United Gold next year and either dropping Star Alliance Gold status altogether or moving to a program like Asiana Club. This pushes me farther that way.
Delta flyers:
(updated) Delta Crossover Rewards runs through July 15, 2018 as is. A subsequent announcement will be made on its future.
Emirates Your World Rewards and China Eastern Eastern Explorer continue, though registration will temporarily close July 15, 2018 to resume at a later date. Details to be announced later.
My take:
The new Marriott program looks to be a good balance of incentives and rewards for the customers they want, those paying to sleep in their beds.
For me, I did not care all that much about hotel loyalty programs even when I was a corporate road warrior. I seldom even register for quarterly promotions anymore, except for IHG gameified ones to see what is my offer.
I’ll take exactly as much hotel status as it takes no more work than registering for a promotion or holding a credit card. Status without breakfast or lounge is non-status for me.
With the SPG credit cards devalued I won’t be earning points in the program. Delta Crossover Rewards going away will end my trickle of incidental SPG points. With my United status awarding a now-devalued Marriott Gold, I won’t value that.
I book accommodation at places I want to stay and prices I am willing to pay. I wasn’t giving Marriott-SPG much business under the old programs and now it will be that bit more less.
For those who do frequent Marriott and SPG properties, the program seems a pretty good deal and I applaud Marriott’s management for thinking this through, and even solving pain points for their customers such as finally introducing a breakfast benefit at Courtyard (and AC Hotels, Moxy, and Protea).
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Have the SPG Biz, used to travel, but now I don’t. Having lounge access for the few times I would stay at a hotel would both incentivize me to stay at a SPG property, but also keep me cheerfully paying the annual fee..
I will have to call to find out what they will for those of us who paid an annual fee expecting benefits that are being taken away.
Let us know, my wife’s SPG Biz annual fee just got billed.
What would happen for the free SPG sold status from Amex Plat card?
I have not seen any official statement, the reporting from the event and Q&As bloggers have done indicates that it will be Marriott Gold in the new program, which will be similar to SPG Gold in not have breakfast or lounge access. During this interim period SPG Gold has matched to Marriott Gold, which has those benefits at Marriotts. If this loophole is closed, it essentially goes back to what it was before in terms of these key benefits.
An extremely well written and thoughtful article. Thanks Stefan. If you don’t frequent Marriott or SPG, what is/are your hotels of choice/preference?
Jerry, I am mostly a ‘free agent,’ often using booking.com (with cash back portals and their frequent guest Genius 10% discount) or Hotels.com (with discounted gift cards, cash back portals, and their rewards program or coupons). When I was a corporate road warrior with lots of international travel, the IHG footprint and locations worked best for me. In second place for locations and rewards was Radisson. Hyatt is the most value for credit card transfers but too limited footprint for me. Going forward, if I were a North America road warrior putting in the paid nights, I’d probably go with… Read more »
Great Article – Short and to the point !
Thank you Stefan, very helpful. Have they said anything about the transfers to airlines yet? We had already decided to cancel one of our cards before this announcement.
This hits me squarely in the face. SPG platiunum now, qualify with 25-30 stays every year. No more. United gold = worthless. Delta flyer = no more crossover. Close to sPG lifetime plat but won’t get it this year and now probably never. I can see how this works for some people – not me!
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If Marriott wanted to push more towards Airbnb, don’t think they could have done better.
3x for SPG made it a decent option due to transfer partner flexibility. 2x is a nonstarter
I guess I should enjoy this last year of Marriott/SPG Plat, because I doubt I’ll bother getting it for next year. On the plus side, it looks like one of my 5 Amex CC slots will be opening up soon!
Great recap. I think the changes are reasonable. Unfortunately I think my SPG AMEX Biz is getting canceled as the AF is due. I cant see why I would use that card anymore. I put a decent amount of spend on it too!
Great points of view. Very accurate.
Thank you. This is the most straightforward explaination I’ve seen. I’m up for my AF on my SPG personal. That’s going. Glad my current points aren’t being devalued. But I won’t be earning more.
@Emily – I was thinking the annual cert might make the card a keeper for you, though you would have to pay this year and next to get it. If the cert is of value, you might call Amex to see if given all these changes that they’ll waive the fee this year, in mist a few months you’ll be earning less and have no upside.
As a non-business traveler Airbnb has never looked better. As my discretionary spend increases, my hotel spend has gone down. However, the increased discretionary spend did go on the Amex SPG. I’m a bit surprised the credit card earning through AMEX was neutered considering selling points was a good revenue source.
August 1, 2018*
@Beth – fixed, thank you.