Yesterday we learned that the merger between Marriott and Starwood is back on, following a rather exciting week for Starwood. Starwood had tentatively agreed to enter into a deal with Chinese investor group Anbang, which made a better offer for Starwood than Marriott, though Marriott was still able to counter and come out ahead. Marriott…
Continue reading: Marriott’s Outlook On Their Loyalty Program And Hotel Brands
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Very interesting development -- given how Marriot Executive know that their loyalty program actually sucks, they still don't give a shxt about it....So my guess it's going to be quite a pathetic evolvement of the spg program.
Again with the "given". Seriously, every sentence is "Given this...given that...".
Abraham,
Given that you don't like Ben's style of writing, why do you keep reading?
As a Starwood Platinum member who has almost achieved "Lifetime Platinum" status, any way I look at it I'm going to get screwed in this merger. Somehow, some way, my multi-year effort to achieve lifetime platinum status (any my loyalty to Starwood during the journey) will result in me getting diddly-squat in any combined program. The consumer never wins in these mergers, and this one won't be any different.
My hope is the Chinese investors cough up enough money to outbid Marriott once and for all.
I have pretty low expectations for the outcome of this merger when it comes to customer benefits.
St. Regis is luxury? Seriously? OTP, bad taste, loud, vulgar, tacky but seems to get away with charging a premium. Perhaps that's due to good marketing.
I like Mariott.
I had the best stay of my life at three successive Marriots. What can I say.
A few thoughts.
First off I was a United Million Male member and was very worried about what would happen when they merged the frequent flier programs. In the end they respected lifetime loyalty - thank goodness. So I'm hoping that Platinum for Life members will be grandfathered into the new program - preserving that loyalty - why would they want to take away these lifetime benefits from the very customers they intend to want to keep?
Secondly, I never like Smisek's "I think you are gonna like it" statements and look where he is now. Continental ruined a great United product, lost a bunch of customers and then slowly brought back all the service points that made United popular.
My 2 cents worth is I prefer another buyer that might take over Starwood and keep it in tits current format, preserving the management company, SPG program ,etc.
what about Starwood Vacation Network timeshare ownership week conversion option to SPG points if we don't want to use it in an SVN resort? I preseme they would have to find s similar option into Marriott points....or keep SPG
Starwood's Luxury Collection has some great hotels. I've stayed in several in the US and Europe. The one in Milan is awesome. The Bristol in Vienna needs some refurbishing though they have some new rooms which are very nice.