Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano revealed some details about the evolving economics of the Marriott Bonvoy program. While they’re probably necessary from the perspective of hotel owners, this is something that members should be worried about…
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Marriott charges hotels less for points, pays them more for redemptions
During Marriott’s Q2 2026 earnings call, the company’s CEO made some interesting comments that could impact Marriott Bonvoy members, including this one:
“At the beginning of the year, we lowered loyalty charge-out rates across our global system by roughly 5% to what we believe are the lowest in the industry across all chain scales. In addition, earlier this year, we enhanced owner reimbursement for Bonvoy redemption stays on high-demand nights. We have also introduced streamlined brand standards, which simplify operations and reduce costs, and we have rolled out flexible renovation scopes that focus on customer-facing elements of the hotels.”
Just to simplify that even more:
- When you stay at a Marriott you’re issued Bonvoy points (assuming you’re a member), and that’s funded by the loyalty charges that Marriott bills hotels, which are a percent of revenue; Marriott has just lowered those fees by 5%, to give hotel owners some relief, and claims it now has the lowest fees in the industry
- When you redeem points, the amount the hotel is reimbursed varies based on how full the hotel is, and Marriott has reportedly increased reimbursement for hotels when the properties are quite full
- Also, not directly related to Bonvoy, but Marriott is reducing brand standards, to give hotel owners more flexibility, so that’s not great in terms of consistency
All of these updates won’t be good for Bonvoy members
Let’s be clear here — Marriott centrally controls the value of Bonvoy points and sets award pricing, based on the economics of the program. With these latest changes, Marriott is taking in less money from individual hotels for awarding points, and is increasing the amount that hotels are paid when members redeem points.
Do we think Marriott is just willing to eat all of those costs, and greatly reduce its margins? That seems highly unlikely for a publicly traded company. Instead, this almost certainly points to the continued devaluation of Bonvoy points, particularly for redemptions at hotels when they’re close to being at capacity. Since Marriott doesn’t publish award charts, expect continued devaluations… which you’d expect either way.
Admittedly none of this is surprising. A couple of months ago I wrote about how Marriott hotel owners came together to demand more money for award stays. They felt like Marriott was using the Bonvoy program to centrally boost its profits, essentially at the cost of individual hotel owners. So I do think that Marriott had to make things more compelling for owners. For that matter, this matches the industry trend, as Hilton Honors is providing similar relief to hotel owners.
So, what is Marriott telling investors to make them more optimistic about this situation? They’re pointing out the continued growth of the Bonvoy program, as it now has 295 million members (up from 200 million in early 2024, so the growth rate is wild).
Jen Mason, the company’s CFO, noted how the co-brand cards will be undergoing a refresh, and that’s expected to help margins as well (again, probably not great for actual members):
“The benefit to the loyalty program and to our fees from our new U.S. co-branded card deals is expected to build over time as new and refreshed U.S. card products with new cardholder benefits are introduced, supporting anticipated growth in new accounts and cardholder spend.”
Bottom line
Marriott’s CEO made some interesting comments about the Bonvoy program during the company’s Q2 2026 earnings call. Specifically, he indicated that the company has dropped loyalty fees for hotel owners by around 5%, and on top of that, has increased reimbursement fees for hotel owners for award stays at nearly full properties.
Obviously this materially cuts into the margins of the program, but I’m sure it won’t be Marriott taking the loss on this, but instead, members.
What do you make of these comments from Marriott’s CEO?
Someone took the advice and went to Bab Samhan
I mean, is this really surprising? Marriott has shown time and time again that they simply don't give an F about guests or loyalty. Their stance goes back years and predates the Starwood merger. Aside from convenience, why do so many people continue to give their money to them? Brand standards are lower, elite ranks are swelled, loyalty benefits aren't honored, points are worth less, so what's the draw?
The biggest issue with Bonvoy isn't point devaluation (because all loyalty programs do that), but rather the lack of T&C enforcement for which properties much comply.
It won't get better. There are good Bonvoy properties that are stellar in their offerings and execution. There are poor ones to avoid. The guest playbook is to navigate the Bonvoy program by only staying at their cream of the crop (not necessarily their most expensive) properties which...
The biggest issue with Bonvoy isn't point devaluation (because all loyalty programs do that), but rather the lack of T&C enforcement for which properties much comply.
It won't get better. There are good Bonvoy properties that are stellar in their offerings and execution. There are poor ones to avoid. The guest playbook is to navigate the Bonvoy program by only staying at their cream of the crop (not necessarily their most expensive) properties which are good to guests.
I am intrigued to what changes the credit card refreshes will bring, particularly to the US AMEX Brilliant card.
The entire points game is going down the toilet. I can generate millions of miles every year, but unless you are travelling by yourself off-season and super flexible, it's basically impossible to book anything worthwhile with a better/equal value than 2% cash back.
Bonvoy CC cards, as stated above, have been useless for years. The ratio is much worse than 2% cash back.
Honestly, I welcome this sort of change, because Marriott is making it increasingly easy to be brand agnostic and to stop chasing loyalty benefits under their umbrella. They have inflated redemption costs to such a degree that it is nearly impossible at this point to take advantage of the 5th night free benefit at anything resembling an aspirational hotel. They’ve also become absurdly lax in enforcing brand standards, to the point that some of my...
Honestly, I welcome this sort of change, because Marriott is making it increasingly easy to be brand agnostic and to stop chasing loyalty benefits under their umbrella. They have inflated redemption costs to such a degree that it is nearly impossible at this point to take advantage of the 5th night free benefit at anything resembling an aspirational hotel. They’ve also become absurdly lax in enforcing brand standards, to the point that some of my recent Ritz-Carlton stays have felt closer to a Westin than to a Rosewood or Four Seasons.
I’ve had the Bonvoy Brilliant card for several years now, but I am already looking forward to my card anniversary later this year as I plan to giddily call Amex and cancel the card.
Thankful I have lifetime status for whatever small benefit that provides and can stay only when the Marriott option is the best for my needs on that trip. It's unfortunate because had they left a path to lifetime titanium I might still be engaged but they didn't so just a passive member now.
As someone who is*perhaps* considering purchasing Marriott points (after reading the post about it yesterday) with the current 50% bonus this is another good piece of information to take in to account.
https://onemileatatime.com/deals/buy-marriott-bonvoy-points/
think its crazy to have loyalty to marriott these days for paid stays (unless company is paying for it), but luckily their CC options continue to be good for churning. 2 amex personal cards and 1 amex biz card to churn once per lifetime, plus a chase boundless every 2 years. in a 2 player household has been pretty easy to rack up a nice balance this way without almost any paid stays
From a strict points and miles perspective, Marriott's credit cards have been useless for a few years now, how much worse can they get?
Agree except for the Ritz. With all the increases in awards cost, the 35k certs should really be bumped up to 50k, and 50k certs 75k, and 85k to 100-120k.
How did this become a race to the bottom to ratf*** the consumer? Is it consolidation? Maybe that Marriott Starwood merger was more anti competitive than I would have thought.
Profits over people? Oh, that's nothing new. We just used to 'shame' and 'regulate' it better.
Frankly I've given up on Marriott at least from a loyalty perspective. I have lifetime Platinum but I don't really expect much from status anymore when I do stay at Marriott's and if I want a specific room I'll just book that.
If a property I want to stay at happens to be a Marriott, I'll stay there, but otherwise I'm not booking them as a preference and I wouldn't consider transferring points into Marriott...
Frankly I've given up on Marriott at least from a loyalty perspective. I have lifetime Platinum but I don't really expect much from status anymore when I do stay at Marriott's and if I want a specific room I'll just book that.
If a property I want to stay at happens to be a Marriott, I'll stay there, but otherwise I'm not booking them as a preference and I wouldn't consider transferring points into Marriott given the poor redemption rates.
Honestly, I'm finding far more value out of just staying at Four Seasons, Rosewood, One&Only, etc. Without any loyalty programs, I feel like I get better treatment and recognition than I do at any Marriott with status. Obviously, it's a privilege to afford those options, but I even think they can present a better value sometimes in terms of credit card point redemptions.
Well said.
I 100% agree with you. When the three big points-and-status chains devalue their "awards" to nothing, then I'll stay at much better properties that don't have points schemes at all, but where I can get decent benefits anyway via their luxury programs (Virtuoso, Four Seasons PP, Mandarin Oriental FC, etc., etc., etc. - and if I want a Park Hyatt without using points, there's always Privé).
Ben, "I love a good roast! Do (Marriott)!" --Liar Liar, 1997
The reality of modern hospitality is that you (the guest) are not Marriott’s primary customer; the property owners and credit card issuers are. Same goes for airlines with passengers, sadly.
We're all gonna get Bonvoy'd, again and again.
JUST SAY NO