Marriott Bonvoy Isn’t Cutting Points Earning Rates… I’m Confused

Let me start by saying that at least for now, there’s nothing to panic about, and this was apparently a website error. However, several readers have brought this to my attention, so I can’t help but cover it. As a fairly low tech guy, I also have some questions to ask those who are more technologically literate.

Marriott Bonvoy’s strange points website error

For a brief period today, the Marriott website was updated to indicate significantly reduced points earning rates at many limited service brands.

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Officially (and in line with terms & conditions), Bonvoy members earn 10 points per dollar spent at a vast majority of brands, with only a small number of limited service brands earning five points per dollar spent.

However, Marriott’s website was updated today to indicate that travelers would earn just five points per dollar spent for stays at a lot more brands. This suggested that most limited service brands would have their points earning rates slashed in half, including at Aloft, Courtyard, Four Points, Moxy, and more.

Obviously slashing points earning rates by 50% would be terrible for many members, especially with the program continuing to increase award redemption rates at many properties, given dynamic award pricing.

Marriott quickly fixed its website, claiming this was an error. I reached out to a Marriott spokesperson to ask whether the error was the information as such, or just the timing with which the information was published.

The spokesperson has told me that this is “not indicative of any future changes.” That’s reassuring, because if this were actually a planned change, I’d expect the response to be “no comment” or non-answer, rather than a resounding denial of this being a planned change.

How do these kinds of IT glitches happen, though?

This brings me to my question. I’ve been covering the loyalty program space for a very long time. I can’t count the number of times that we’ve seen airline, hotel, and credit card websites display information prematurely, only to then be taken down, with the claim it was an error. In my experience, in a majority of situations, the error is the timing as such, rather than the information.

So this is where I’m coming to you, dear readers, to learn. Like I said, I’m a low tech guy — I can peck away at a keyboard pretty efficiently, but that’s about it. Based on my understanding, websites don’t have significant, unintended updates to text for absolutely no reason.

I’d assume that generally speaking, changes like the above happen for one of a few reasons:

• The company is planning the change, but accidentally published the information prematurely; this is the most common explanation, in my experience
• The company may have been considering the change at some point, but ended up deciding against it; I’m not sure how common this is, though?
• Someone is playing a prank; this hardly seems like the type of prank someone would play, though

It’s one thing if the update to the website were totally nonsensical, like St. Regis showing reduced points earning, while Residence Inn shows increased points earning, where you assume it’s a formatting error, or something.

However, this change wouldn’t really shock anyone, I’d think:

• If Marriott Bonvoy is going to reduce points earnings rates, I’d expect it to be in exactly the way that it was briefly published on the website
• The information that was briefly published wasn’t outdated in any sort of obvious way; it even listed MGM Rewards, so this is not something that might’ve been considered years ago, but wasn’t followed through on
• Heck, just a few months ago, Marriott’s CEO went on record as saying that it feels like the “right time to look across the enterprise and figure out what adjustments we can make to enhance and improve our efficiency,” and this seems like one of the ways that could be done

So to those who have a better understanding of how big companies handle their IT, could anyone provide some insights into how a website change like this could happen, aside from my theories above?

Bottom line

Marriott’s website was briefly updated today to indicate a reduction in points earning rates at many brands. A spokesperson has confirmed that this was a website error, and isn’t indicative of any future changes. That’s great news.

However, I can’t help but wonder how updates like this happen. In my experience, more often than not the error is the timing of the update being published, rather than the update as such. However, that’s apparently not the case here.

What do you make of this Marriott Bonvoy “website error?”