Sheesh: New Marriott Hotel Brand Won't Offer Elite Nights

Loyalty programs are, broadly speaking, in a slow race to the bottom... trying to see how little they can mete out. And at first, it won't have much of an impact, and the bean-counters will declare it successful. But loyalty is built over decades, not over quarters, and 20 years from now, this will come back to bite.

Loyalty to hospitality companies is overrated anyway. Just go with the best value rates/redemptions. Right now for me that's Hilton due to them having the best hotel CC on the market (Aspire), followed by Hyatt because of best rate point redemptions. But if that changes, I'll jump ship to Marriot. There's not a whole lot of difference between the premium properties at the big three regardless.

Why even put this brand in Bonvoy? They could just make it like Bulgari. Exempt from Bonvoy.

The whole point of Bonvoy is to drive loyal customers to a property they might not otherwise book. If you aren’t going to get any benefits, why brand as Bonvoy? This kind of brand is competing with Extended Stay America and like Red Roof Inn.

And not having a front desk staffed 24/7 seems like a recipe for disaster. I wonder how much the insurance rates go up if there’s no staffed front desk?

1) The vast majority of these hotels will be built by owner who already have nearby Residence Inn, Fairfield, Courtyard, etc. So Marriott loyalists that want points and elite nights should have options in these markets. Remember that this brand was basically created by those owners

2) That said, I must say that Hilton and Hyatt have done a better job in recent years in adding brands most of their *guests* will actually want to stay at. Hilton is doing the mid tier stuff too, but they also added SLH and Graduate, both of which are cool brands people want to stay at. Hyatt is trying to do interesting things in all inclusive and some of their niche brands. Marriott hasn’t done that much exciting since AC and Moxy, both of which were done years ago

"around $80 per night, depending on the market"

is really code for

"you are in the US, so we meant $200."

I suspect that points don't matter in this segment of the market. Think about the folks who stay in "basic" extended stay hotels. Many are specialty construction workers or other similar tradespeople working on finite projects that might last a few days to a few weeks. These folks usually don't book their own travel; rather, a corporate travel specialist books the rooms. The construction worker isn't the customer. The travel specialist is, and their performance is judged on keeping costs low.

Maybe if I stopped getting Bonvoyed then I would consider giving Marriott more wallet share.

I agree with the comments that this brand is likely geared toward business travel departments that (may even contract with Marriott but) don't really care about Bonvoy points. I do think it's interesting that it feels like Marriott has been really doubling down on business travel at times when Hyatt and Hilton definitely seemed to be comparatively focused on leisure.

I've said for awhile that Marriott's greatest strength is it's corporate ties and contracts with several major employers (plus strong in-roads with several governments). This brand continues to highlight that after property owners, Marriott's secondary customers are corporations - not any individual traveler.

Exactly - we talk about developers being the customers, and stayers being the product, but there is a fourth party: who foots the bill.
My guess is that the proportion of stayers bearing the cost themselves is even lower in extended-stay hotels than city-centre standard hotels.
At the Residence Inn where I have done >100 nights in the last year (which I charge to my client), about 50 of the 150 rooms are occupied by workers on the railway - reception tell me that several of them are Ambassadors, which at <$120 per night means they must have done c200 nights last year.
I certainly didn't choose the hotel based on anything to do with loyalty - when one is staying for a long time one wants the setup that one finds most comfortable and convenient - after googling, I physically visited six one morning in the first week before deciding to which one to move.

Yup... $80 for the room, plus the state sales tax, state tourism board levy, local sales tax, local occupancy tax, local tourism development board tax, resort fee, and $20+ for the car park.

Parking cost seems to be a Marriott specialty vs other brands. In airport areas I understand (only way to fend of cheaters looking for free long term parking), but beyond the airport reach?!

I need to shed one group of hotels soon. Dropped Hilton and looks like Marriott is next.

Treating loyals worse will not come back to bite you if others are doing the same. I submit the common belief amongst hotel chains (airlines, etc.) is that each can reduce rewards because their competitors will/are do(ing) the same.

Bonvoyed, AGAIN.

Someone who has wised up should not care about the onslaught.

And Moxy as a concept is pretty much dead. Same for Aloft. You don't need many developers building new ones. Everytime I see or stay at an Aloft, I think of a W hotel from 2005.

A lot of chain hotels have consolidated and/or the actual corporate owners of the physical hotels have consolidated, which the latter is probably the ones pushing for fewer perks to increase margins.

I think the other factor to consider here is the clientele expectations. At that price point, people staying there are never going to achieve status anyway. But just might be able to save up enough points when they have to stay at some Courtyard near where their kid goes to college and is subject to inflated rates, or some Marriott property for a wedding. They aren't accumulating enough nights or points to shoot for aspirational bookings.

Which brings me to why they would drop the elite status earnings. People that are knowledgeable about how loyalty programs work, would certainly use this to their advantage. Oh, I'm x amount of nights short of Titanium? Mattress run for a pretty cheap price.

Why not rename it StudioBendOver
By Bonvoyed

If you want the nights and points, then you can choose to stay at any of the 31 other brands they have. You people want infrequent travelers to pay more so those who aren't really paying ( it's expensed) get free stuff. You're a pathetic bunch of wanna bes

At best, that building looks like a dorm.

At worst, it looks like a prison.

I think they should streamline the system. Either the property is part of Marriott or not. If not it would have similar benefits/rights as the Bulgari properties for participation, property benefits, and use of points. I also think they should streamline benefits at properties between Marriott and the former Starwood. For example, Ritz and St Regis could have the same benefits. On some level it is purposely unnecessarily complicated.