In mid-April I wrote about how it was leaked that Marriott was running a “surprise and delight” campaign for Marriott Bonvoy members. The Bonvoy program has gotten its fair share of negative publicity, so I’m guessing they’re trying to generate some goodwill with members.
This surprise and delight campaign consists of two things:
- Between April 22 and July 31, 2019, Marriott will surprise select Ambassador Elite members staying using points, by refunding the points they redeemed for one night of their stay
- Starting May 1, 2019, certain elite members will receive an electronic Marriott gift card via email
There weren’t a lot of details regarding how widespread either of these promotions would be, and up until today I hadn’t heard of any members receiving gift cards. Well, that has finally changed.
Many Marriott Bonvoy elite members have reported receiving an electronic gift card by email today. The email came with the subject line “Your Gift from Marriott Bonvoy,” and the text of the email reads as follows:
It appears as if these gift cards range from $30 to $50, and don’t seem to be tied to any particular status level. That’s to say that Silver Elite members all the way up to Ambassador Elite members are receiving these.
The emails being sent out with these read as follows:
On behalf of the Marriott Bonvoy team, I’d like to take a moment to thank you for being a Marriott Bonvoy Elite member. Your loyalty means the world to us.
We are delighted to give you a small gift. Below is a [$30/50] USD Marriott Gift Card that may be used at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels and at participating hotel outlets for retail, spa, golf, and food and beverage.
The gift cards don’t expire, and while you can’t use them to pay the room rate, you can use them to cover most other incidentals. Here are the terms & conditions for the gift card.
Bottom line
This is a nice gesture on the part of Marriott Bonvoy. While I wasn’t targeted for this promotion, it seems like a lot of other members were. Given that we saw members of various elite tiers receive this bonus, I’d be curious what their selection criteria was.
I feel like the internet has changed the concept of surprise and delight campaigns:
- Many who received gift cards probably already knew they might receive one of these, given that the concept of this campaign was leaked
- Some of those who didn’t receive a gift card may be feeling left out for not being targeted
This is something I give Marriott credit for, personally…
Did you receive a gift card from Marriott Bonvoy? If so, for how much, and what’s your status?
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