Marriott Bonvoy Promises To Give Notice Of Negative Changes… If You’re In China

It’s always frustrating to see loyalty program devaluations, especially those without notice. So here’s an interesting update, as Marriott is now committing to providing advance notice of negative changes, but only to select members, as flagged by LoyaltyLobby.

Marriott Bonvoy commits to providing notice of devaluations

The Marriott Bonvoy terms & conditions have just been updated, to add a new section with “special terms applicable to members with Chinese citizenship residing in Chinese mainland.” Here’s the part that stands out:

9.15.a. Loyalty Program benefits, amenities, offers, awards and relevant services may be adjusted subject to availability. Unless otherwise mandated by applicable laws, the Company may make reasonable adjustments to the Loyalty Program and these Program Rules.

Should such adjustments be likely to have a material adverse impact on the core rights and interests of Members, the Company will, in compliance with applicable legal requirements, provide prior notice to members in a reasonable manner.

So as you can see, Marriott is stating that it can make changes to its Bonvoy loyalty program, but if the changes could have a negative impact on members, the company should provide advance notice to members.

It’s nice to see a commitment to providing warning of changes. I imagine China has some sort of consumer protections that are causing Marriott to update its policy in this way, especially with the same promise not being made to other members.

You’d think that if Marriott is going to let some members know of negative changes, it would let all members know, since such information would obviously be shared online.

Will this change Marriott’s transparency with members?

It’s ultimately good to see Marriott promising to be more transparent with members, because on that front, something is better than nothing.

I will say, the way the terms are updated sure is vague. There’s no mention of how much advance notice has to be provided. So could Marriott just let people know five minutes before the negative changes are rolled out, or…? For that matter, one wonders what constitutes a “material adverse impact.”

I’m not convinced this policy change will actually have that many implications in practice, though:

• Marriott’s biggest no notice devaluations involve increasing points pricing, but that’s dynamic pricing, and wouldn’t be covered by this, since the claim is that it that dynamic pricing reflects market conditions
• If/when Marriott does make negative program changes, like watering down elite perks, the company does often provide advance notice of those changes, both positive and negative
• I suspect Marriott will take some liberties by not labeling things as “likely to have a material adverse impact on the core rights and interests of Members”

Bottom line

The Marriott Bonvoy terms & conditions have been updated to reflect improved rights for program members in China. Specifically, the hotel giant is promising to give advance notice of any changes that materially impact the program. It would be nice if this were a promise for all members, rather than just those in China, but I guess with information sharing online, that’s fine too.

Unfortunately Marriott Bonvoy’s dynamic award pricing is typically the worst “devaluation” we see from the program, and that’s not something we’ll get notice about.

What do you make of these updates Marriott Bonvoy terms?