Well, the other shoe has just dropped…
In this post:
MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy launches October 2023
Marriott and MGM have announced an exclusive long-term strategic licensing agreement, and the creation of MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy, which will launch in October 2023. This encompasses 17 properties and over 40,000 guest rooms across the United States, in Las Vegas and beyond.
With this, the more than 180 million members of Marriott Bonvoy and more than 40 million members of MGM Rewards can look forward to reciprocal loyalty benefits. We’re told to expect reciprocal loyalty perks, plus the ability to earn and redeem points. More details of this collaboration are expected to be revealed closer to the launch date.
Of the 17 MGM properties that are part of the MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy, we’ll see four properties directly affiliated with existing Marriott collection brands:
- Bellagio Resort & Casino will join Luxury Collection
- ARIA Resort & Casino will join Autograph Collection
- Park MGM will become part of Tribute Portfolio
- The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas will continue its affiliation with Autograph Collection
On top of that, eight MGM resorts in Las Vegas will join MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy:
- Vdara Hotel & Spa
- MGM Grand Hotel & Casino
- NoMad Las Vegas
- The Signature at MGM Grand
- Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
- New York-New York Hotel & Casino
- Luxor Hotel and Casino
- Excalibur Hotel & Casino
Lastly, five other MGM properties in the United States will join MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy:
- Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey
- Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi
- MGM Grand in Detroit, Michigan
- MGM National Harbor in Maryland
- MGM Springfield in Massachusetts
This explains why Hyatt & MGM cut ties
For roughly a decade, World of Hyatt and MGM Rewards have had a loyalty collaboration, but this is being discontinued as of September 30, 2023. Many of us were wondering what the motive was here, and now we know.
Clearly MGM just dumped Hyatt in favor of Marriott. I assume MGM and Hyatt had a 10-year partnership, and MGM decided that Marriott was a better fit. While World of Hyatt is more rewarding than Marriott Bonvoy (in many ways), there’s no denying that Marriott Bonvoy has a lot more distribution power.
My take on the new Marriott & MGM partnership
How do I feel about MGM dumping Hyatt in favor of Marriott? While I have status with both World of Hyatt and Marriott Bonvoy, I’m definitely more loyal to Hyatt. While my first inclination is that I’m disappointed in the change, I think it might actually be objectively good:
- It’s cool that three additional MGM properties in Las Vegas are outright joining Marriott Bonvoy’s portfolio, which should offer more perks to travelers; this is better than just a loyalty collaboration
- Marriott Bonvoy does have a much bigger membership base than World of Hyatt, so a lot more people will likely benefit from this
- It’s cool that MGM properties outside of Las Vegas are also participating in this partnership, while the Hyatt and MGM collaboration was limited to Las Vegas
Bottom line
Marriott and MGM have announced a new partnership, which will launch as of October 2023. We’ll see Marriott partner with 17 different MGM properties, and four MGM properties in Las Vegas will even be integrated into existing Marriott brands, including Luxury Collection, Autograph Collection, and Tribute Portfolio.
We’ll learn more details closer to the launch date, but it sounds like we should expect reciprocal points earning and redemption opportunities, plus some elite perks.
What do you make of the new Marriott & MGM collaboration?
I hope they give Bonvoy Platinums MGM Gold. The resort fees waiver is huge. The parking is nice too since I drive to Vegas.
And I don't agree with the Cosmo comparison. Cosmo wasn't MGM and still isn't until Feb 2024. So while its possible Bonvoy will try to go towards fewer benefits like Cosmo, it's also possible that they go with more benefits like the Hyatt partnership.
Also I don't agree that...
I hope they give Bonvoy Platinums MGM Gold. The resort fees waiver is huge. The parking is nice too since I drive to Vegas.
And I don't agree with the Cosmo comparison. Cosmo wasn't MGM and still isn't until Feb 2024. So while its possible Bonvoy will try to go towards fewer benefits like Cosmo, it's also possible that they go with more benefits like the Hyatt partnership.
Also I don't agree that Bonvoy Platinum is too easy to get. It's really only available with the Bonvoy Brilliant card with a $650 fee. It can't be as commonly held as a Chase Sapphire or Amex Platinum. And how many people have more than 1-2 >$500 fee cards? It certainly isn't the masses. So I wouldn't think there is a glut of Bonvoy Platinums because of credit card free status.
So I hope it's a similar to Hyatt agreement with Bonvoy Platinum matching with MGM Gold.
As a Lifetime Titanium with Marriott, I've seen points stays rise dramatically for the upper tier hotels / locations within the last few years. I'm sure this will be the same for Las Vegas (LV) properties as everything is more expensive in LV. I visit LV frequently but have always been a Caesars guy. I am curious as to what the status match will be if any? if there is, I may have to rethink my brand in LV.
what about outside of North America?
Im not sure it matters if the hotels are linked to a hotel chain cos you'll get basically nothing for the status anyway.
What do you get from the current cosmo link to marriott? Maybe 2pm checkout and a discount on breakfast?
Venetian gives, well, nothing for its link to ihg and while I wouldnt have stayed there anyway, the tropicana gave nothing for hilton?
Not just that but, right now, a Marriott Bonvoy member (regardless of status) staying at MGM's Cosmopolitan gets ZERO points for any spending at restaurants.
To me it all comes down to how many points are going to be charged for these hotels, how much or will there be large resort fees?
I really hope there's a tier match from Marriott Gold to MGM Gold and vice versa.
"While World of Hyatt is more rewarding than Marriott Bonvoy (in many ways)"
Speak for yourself. To me, the most useless status is hyatt globalist. Most rewarding status is marriott Ambassador, by lightyears.
May be he is paid more from Hyatt.
I wonder if this will take pressure off Grand Chateau and make booking easier
I don't see my usual destination Delano on the list. Odd, considering it shares infrastructure with Mandalay Bay.
Remember, DELANO used to be called "THEhotel" amd has always been owned and operated under license by Morgan Hotle Group. MGM (through Mandalay) only manages and operates it.
I bet Caesar's will now drop its affiliation with Wyndham, and align with Hyatt instead.
Doubt that. It's been speculated that hyatt dropped mgm, but who knows. Also, it seemed to be a 10 year deal that was up for renewal and it was not. Not an abrupt termination type thing.
Marriott doesn't waive resort fee's so I doubt MGM will waive them?
Match made in heaven!
Except at All-Inclusive properties. Nobody in the travel blog ever comes it but Marriott's elite benefits at all-inclusive properties are actually outstanding.
you can bet the farm MGM picked Bonvoy because it is cheap, it will be much much less benefits than with Hyatt. I hope the 80k certs occasionally works with Bellagio and Aria on Sun-Mon/days. I hope LTP status gets no resort fee, that will be a huge win already.
I'm a long time Bonvoy Titanium that visits Vegas twice a year for a over a week each stay for work. If the MGM properties don't recognize my status: then I won't stay. Period. The Wynn/Encore treat me great.
As is currently the case as MGM's Cosmopolitan, which is an Autograph Collection property in Marriott, you get recognized but basically the hotel is exempted from having to provide any and all of the elite status benefits. It's hard to see this changing.
Under the Hyatt partnership, I status matched to MGM Gold and have enjoyed MGM Gold benefits at every resort in the MGM portfolio, including Cosmopolitan. We go to Vegas 5-6 times a year and this has been a nice perk (we aren't major gamblers, so the $75K you would have to spend to earn MGM Gold outright has never been on the table for me). I would assume under the new partnership, MGM will status...
Under the Hyatt partnership, I status matched to MGM Gold and have enjoyed MGM Gold benefits at every resort in the MGM portfolio, including Cosmopolitan. We go to Vegas 5-6 times a year and this has been a nice perk (we aren't major gamblers, so the $75K you would have to spend to earn MGM Gold outright has never been on the table for me). I would assume under the new partnership, MGM will status match Marriott's highest tier to MGM Gold as well, which would get you all the benefits.
Yeah I agree. I stayed at Cosmo twice in 2022 and once in 2021 and they acted part independent hotel, part Bonvoy, and part MGM and didn't do any three of those things well. The only reason I stayed there is they had a pretty generous comp program, but I received almost nothing through my Bonvoy status
I also wouldn’t expect to get ANY points on spending at restaurants at MGM hotels as that’s currently the exemption for the Cosmopolitan within Bonvoy. The FAQs just published on the Marriott announcement website make it clear that this is merely a live swing deal that gives MGM access to Marriott’s booking channels and Bonvoy members access to earn and redeem points at MGM. There is no language about benefits.
I would be very...
I also wouldn’t expect to get ANY points on spending at restaurants at MGM hotels as that’s currently the exemption for the Cosmopolitan within Bonvoy. The FAQs just published on the Marriott announcement website make it clear that this is merely a live swing deal that gives MGM access to Marriott’s booking channels and Bonvoy members access to earn and redeem points at MGM. There is no language about benefits.
I would be very upset if I was the owner of an existing Marriott property in Las Vegas.
The Q is whether those existing properties will do anything to compete against MGM, like no resort fees, switching to all-inclusive or providing better elite recognition.
It's hard to see this NOT changing.... With Cosmo the deal was with a single property, not going to be much negotiation there. Now it's all of the MGM properties as well as the huge number of Marriott loyalists (still many more of them than Hyatt). If you don't think there's going to be decent reciprocity then you're daft.
Why would there be "decent reciprocity"? Marriott is all about lowering costs for owners. How has any of their behavior over the past few years led you to believe they'd go to the mat to negotiate more benefits for the guests, rather than offering a lower cost model to the owner?
On MGM's site they say "Members of MGM Rewards... will be eligible to link accounts with Marriott Bonvoy and receive select member benefits." They say "select benefits" if there was tier matching like with Hyatt they would have said that. I suspect they'll have some of the marriott benefits but most will be cut out or cut down.
There's a typo near the picture of the Borgata. I guess, some kind of autocorrection hit here, changing Borgata to Bogota ;-)
Other than that, I'm curious how the details will look like. But as others mentioned, I also don't have much hope that there will be a chance to match status between the two programs. Would love to have that opportunity, of course, but I don't expect it.
Very unlikely that direct status matching (free resort fees) and the ability to earn elite credits at very cheap hotels will last in the MGM/Marriott partnership. Those were likely the biggest pain points on each side.
I have historically ignored loyalty programs when looking at Vegas. South Strip? Four Seasons. Mid Strip? Aria, Vdara, Waldorf (RIP Mandarin), Cosmopolitan. North Strip? Wynn/Encore. Use FHR when it is advantageous. Keep it simply.
I hope it continues to be possible to match status to MGM Rewards and so avoid paying resort fees. That was by far the biggest benefit of the Hyatt partnership to me because of how much money could be saved.
There is no mention of status match in any of the materials. I would not count on it.
Email I received said:
"Later this Fall, as an MGM Rewards member, you will be eligible to link accounts with Marriott Bonvoy and receive select member benefits at over 8,500 hotels & resorts around the world."
I'm pretty simple -- I just want Pearl status (as I got for low Hyatt status) so I get free parking when I attend evens at MGM properties.
I wouldn't count on even that much.
I'm hoping they do this too. I guess I just assumed they would, but others seem to be pessimistic about it. It would potentially steer me to take my hotel dollars to Marriott. Right now I only have Marriott Gold status through the United 1-K match, which I assume would not be good enough to match to MGM Gold. I'm watching this issue like a hawk, as it could drive whether I stay with Marriott...
I'm hoping they do this too. I guess I just assumed they would, but others seem to be pessimistic about it. It would potentially steer me to take my hotel dollars to Marriott. Right now I only have Marriott Gold status through the United 1-K match, which I assume would not be good enough to match to MGM Gold. I'm watching this issue like a hawk, as it could drive whether I stay with Marriott vs. Hyatt the rest of the year to try to earn better Marriott status. I've had MGM Gold through the Globalist match and we've gotten used to the perks.
I don't know why you'd seriously consider going out of your way to get higher marriott status. Marriott has little control over their properties or the enforcement of their own rules.
MGM credit card gives you pearl status, no annual fee.
This news only confirms that Marriott isn’t a hotel company any longer. It’s just a booking and hotel marketing platform.
It sounds like a sub-brand of existing brands, like the all-inclusive portfolio that uses existing brand names:
“Of the 17 MGM resorts that will join MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy, four properties will also be affiliated with existing Marriott collection brands: Bellagio will join The Luxury Collection, Aria will join Autograph Collection, Park MGM will...
This news only confirms that Marriott isn’t a hotel company any longer. It’s just a booking and hotel marketing platform.
It sounds like a sub-brand of existing brands, like the all-inclusive portfolio that uses existing brand names:
“Of the 17 MGM resorts that will join MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy, four properties will also be affiliated with existing Marriott collection brands: Bellagio will join The Luxury Collection, Aria will join Autograph Collection, Park MGM will become part of Tribute Portfolio and The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas will continue its affiliation with Autograph Collection.”
That aside, I wonder how MGM will handle resort or destination fees for guests booking through Marriott booking channels given the Marriott resort fee settlement.
I also imagine there will be few, if any, elite status benefits for ambassadors, titaniums, etc. given the current lack of benefits for Bonvoy elites at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
“any longer”?
It’s been that way for a long time.
You can't help but repeat yourself eh? Remember..... Cosmo was independent and not part of MGM when everything was negotiated with Marriott. Why you would think that deal would in any way inform you about this one pure daftness.