Travel loyalty programs have increasingly become a global phenomenon over the years. What’s interesting is how the ways to earn elite status differ around the world. We often talk about how easy it is to earn elite status in the United States with credit cards. However, arguably it’s even easier in China, so here’s one such example…
In this post:
How Fliggy sells Marriott Platinum status for $25
Post-pandemic, we’ve seen absolutely massive inflation in terms of the number of elite members staying at Marriott properties in Asia. This used to most frequently be a problem in the United States, but increasingly, it feels like there are even more elite members in destinations frequented by travelers from China. So what’s actually going on here, and how are they earning status so easily?
An OMAAT reader from China gave me the rundown of what’s going on, and it’s quite something. Long story short, just about anyone in China can get Marriott Platinum status for $25, give or take. How? Well, Fliggy is a popular online travel platform in China that’s owned by Alibaba Group.
Fliggy has membership tiers, and those who are F4 members can receive Marriott Platinum status for a period of four months, as part of a status challenge. It can then be extended for between one and two years (depending on what time in the calendar year it is) if you stay eight nights during that period.
This opportunity has been around for years, but what has changed is how easy it is to earn Fliggy F4, as higher tiers have been added above it, yet the Marriott Platinum status opportunity with F4 has remained intact. It’s now possible for virtually anyone to become a member for 188 CNY (25 USD), and that gives you access to this Marriott Platinum status challenge.
For that matter, what has also changed is how much this deal is talked about, as it’s promoted on all kinds of travel websites in China, so it’s no longer a secret exclusive to hardcore points junkies.
Virtually everyone should be able to get $25 worth of value out of Platinum status with just one stay, given that Platinum status offers breakfast, lounge access, etc., at most Marriott brands. So what’s happening is that people are participating in this challenge ahead of virtually any Marriott stay.
Now, technically the challenge is only possible once per Marriott account. That’s not stopping people, though. What many members are doing is that they’re just abandoning their accounts after a status challenge, and then opening a new Marriott account, and doing it again.
It’s worth noting that even beyond this official channel for earning the status, there seems to be a huge amount of fraud involving Fliggy, with people selling opportunities to earn Marriott Platinum status for even less through other websites.
As you’d expect, this has an impact on those earning status “the hard way.” The OMAAT reader reports that in China, breakfast is consistently busier, lounges are packed, upgrades are non-existent, and even the guaranteed late check-out benefit is hard for hotels to deliver on.
Marriott seemingly has no issues with this, oddly
What I find most interesting about the degree to which Platinum status is being given away in China is how Marriott is seemingly fine with this:
- Marriott knows that this opportunity has been available through Fliggy, as presumably it’s part of some sort of a marketing partnership (Fliggy isn’t offering this without Marriott’s knowledge or consent)
- I can’t imagine that Marriott doesn’t know the extent to which this is being abused, and the number of throwaway accounts being created
So that makes me believe that Marriott’s leadership in China is okay with this, and somehow, that this kind of behavior aligns with how they’re incentivized. I mean, if the goal is to show total membership growth and increased spending among Bonvoy members, I guess this accomplishes that, in a really questionable way. One wonders to what extent Marriott’s management in the United States is aware of this going on.
This situation also gets at the challenge in aligning incentives between individual hotels and Marriott overall, and how it leads to the long term degradation of elite benefits. Centrally, Marriott is incentivized to essentially give away elite status, to create engagement and to generate revenue.
But then it’s up to individual hotels to actually deliver on those benefits, and that poses a challenge. We’ve seen so many hotels get cheaper with elite perks, and some even outright violate Marriott’s published policies (like the St. Regis Macao discontinuing elite breakfast).
I can of course understand the frustration of hotel owners. Maybe they understand the concept of offering rewards to those who are actually loyal customers, but are angry when ranks are being swelled by people who simply spent $25 to acquire the status.
Bottom line
While there’s no denying that elite ranks have been inflated in the United States, it’s seemingly on a completely different level in China, where anyone can get a four-month Marriott Platinum challenge for around $25, and then extend it for a year or two.
It would be one thing if that were the limit of this, but then people are reportedly cycling accounts — so once their status expires, they just do the whole thing over again with a new account.
What’s so fascinating is how Marriott allows this to go on, and it probably gets at the misalignment of incentives between Marriott centrally and the individual hotels.
What do you make of this Fliggy Marriott Platinum opportunity in China?
Honestly, this befalls onto Marriott, if they actually cared about those loyal, then people who earned status the hard way would be more appreciated. Because hotels now have to suffer by not following the rules and try to skirt, who gives a crap about the load of fake elites out there? The hotels want to play games so it's only fair for customers to play back and cause this influx. Now hotels understand what loyalty...
Honestly, this befalls onto Marriott, if they actually cared about those loyal, then people who earned status the hard way would be more appreciated. Because hotels now have to suffer by not following the rules and try to skirt, who gives a crap about the load of fake elites out there? The hotels want to play games so it's only fair for customers to play back and cause this influx. Now hotels understand what loyalty is and should weep in their demise of playing games. Marriott needs to appreciate true customers and remove this stint only after hotels stop getting away with loopholes. But that's in a fair world and that will never happen as America is full of greedy bastards.
When everyone is elite, no one is.
Two comments here:
1. I think it depends on your goal. The risk with redoing your account all the time is (1) Marriott enforcing their rules and (2) the partnership with Fliggy ending. If you are trying to obtain lifetime, then this does not help and it could be a waste rather than just going for liftetime to begin with. As you said, the big problem is hotels being unable to properly deliver the benefits.
...Two comments here:
1. I think it depends on your goal. The risk with redoing your account all the time is (1) Marriott enforcing their rules and (2) the partnership with Fliggy ending. If you are trying to obtain lifetime, then this does not help and it could be a waste rather than just going for liftetime to begin with. As you said, the big problem is hotels being unable to properly deliver the benefits.
2. In some way I don't think it is much different than the Amex card that gives the Platinum status. Consider the card charges $695, but give $300 in restaurant money toward any restaurant worldwide and an 85 point certificate, which could be redeemed easily for a room over the balance.
As to the other comments about the quality. I think it is relative to the city and relative to the property. You can't expect the same quality breakfast or lounge at lower brands, but even higher brands that have better quality the price is much less than in the US or EU. Consider in China's major cities, brands like St Regis are only a couple of hundred dollars a night. Even in the US and EU there are good and bad properties and some go with the location. Airport properties for example do not expect a return visit.
I’ve heard that Fliggy and Marriott have a joint venture, and that there are issues of corruption and collusion among some of its employees. They’ve deliberately tolerated the over-issuance of Marriott Platinum status and run extremely aggressive promotions because the company’s incentives are so high. In other words, the JV’s employees don’t feel accountable to Marriott International, and they don’t care if Marriott’s global loyalty program collapses—they’re only chasing short-term gains. I wonder what Marriott...
I’ve heard that Fliggy and Marriott have a joint venture, and that there are issues of corruption and collusion among some of its employees. They’ve deliberately tolerated the over-issuance of Marriott Platinum status and run extremely aggressive promotions because the company’s incentives are so high. In other words, the JV’s employees don’t feel accountable to Marriott International, and they don’t care if Marriott’s global loyalty program collapses—they’re only chasing short-term gains. I wonder what Marriott headquarters makes of this.
thats very bad though. In europe we work hard to get the elite status the old fashion way. (hotel stays) and in China you buy it for just 25USD? pissing me off
Let's not kid ourselves, at least the Platinum status means something overseas in Asia. You go to a courtyard in China and they have a nice lounge. On top of them, they offer a full breakfast buffet for two (and sometimes 3)! You will never see that in the domestic US market or in Canada.
I'm in China and I not going to comment on the discussions above. Let me just clarify one fact missed in this whole thread before everyone downloads the app and pull the trigger: it's not $25, but $150 (188 + 888 CNY) because a Taobao VIP account is required to be linked to the Friggy account and a Taobao VIP account would cost 888 CNY to purchase (unless one has spent thousands on Taobao in...
I'm in China and I not going to comment on the discussions above. Let me just clarify one fact missed in this whole thread before everyone downloads the app and pull the trigger: it's not $25, but $150 (188 + 888 CNY) because a Taobao VIP account is required to be linked to the Friggy account and a Taobao VIP account would cost 888 CNY to purchase (unless one has spent thousands on Taobao in the past 12 months). anyhow, IMHO $150 is pretty steep for an entry ticket to the Marriott Platinum challenge. Employees from large companies get it for free. BTW, this is simply a status match challenge between Taobao VIP and Marriott Platinum that, unlike most, comes with a $25 fee. In fact, if it were actually free like other status matches, I doubt it would even be news.
888 CNY? Are you kidding? I’m confident nobody in China buys 88VIP for 888 CNY—most people already have 88VIP and signed up long ago. There are about 50 million 88VIP users in China; you can look it up. With 50 million people on 88VIP, grab someone off the street and chances are they’re 88VIP. They don’t need to buy it—they already have it. So this isn’t a barrier at all. This promo is basically RMB 188 to buy, no question.
50 million out of 1 billion is nowhere near grab someone off the street. That’s a 5% chance. You’d have better luck running into Taylor Swift in Kentucky.
China still has about 930 million people who have never flown, so you wouldn’t be finding them on the street either. I’m talking about people who shop online and have flown before—the probability there is over 50%.
Has anyone seen the videos of LV, Chanel, Hermes, etc handbags and products being made and shipped directly from China factories? The bags are not original, but good quality and much less money than the original brands.
So that's China. I worked there 20 years ago and I saw this coming. Can't do much about it.
So I'm not surprised at Hyatt and Marriott joining that road show.
I guess it really is a new world.
Come on, didn't the reader let you know Marriott and Fliggy have a joint venture in China called Haozhu or Porcupine, which is a word play of Marriott and Fliggy in Chinese?
Marriott China probably asked Fliggy to do so, just like UrCove GM told me Hyatt China instructed them to put long stay discount plan.
Thank you Ben for letting me know of this, I'm downloading the Fliggy app right now.
So, Marriott has this going on, Hyatt has the fake status run fiasco (really, there are some managers who need to be sent to jail over that one given the apparent scope of it)...I'm honestly surprised that nobody has decided to somehow "quarantine" China-based elites in their systems given these issues.
(Having said that, in defense of these antics, a lot of US status in various corners comes via credit cards - and those avenues...
So, Marriott has this going on, Hyatt has the fake status run fiasco (really, there are some managers who need to be sent to jail over that one given the apparent scope of it)...I'm honestly surprised that nobody has decided to somehow "quarantine" China-based elites in their systems given these issues.
(Having said that, in defense of these antics, a lot of US status in various corners comes via credit cards - and those avenues don't really exist in large chunks of the world.)
Not only with Marriott but also for Hilton and Accor base on what I see in Fliggy Hotel inside Alipay App
Explains a lot. I’ve often wondered why there’s a proliferation of Chinese travellers in lounges who simply don’t have a modicum of civility. I’ve often wondered how these people are spending more than 50 nights in hotels each year and still don’t have any idea how to behave.
The optimist in me hopes this gets the attention of Bonvoy LT. But then again, will they have the courage to end the scheme? I doubt it.
That is Great! All I want to see is people from China that do not belong in Lounges/Breakfast Bagging up the croissants, pastries, chicken wings and have seen them put Bowls of Rice & Noodles in their Bags (Purses).
At least make them come to Lounges in proper attire!
What's so excited about this?
Chinese pay $75 per year for status to tech giant.
Americans pay $650 per year for status to credit card giant.
Americans paying around 8x more than Chinese is not unheard of.
There are many more killer "tricks" in China if you know where to look.
And (most) Europeans pay $ thousands to obtain Plat status through the regular stay requirements. (very few European countries have cc schemes with Marriott)
americans also get other other perks from the credit cards such as free cert and dining credit, but the China market gets their own perks *wink to each of his own
Wait until you hear of Hyatt Hearts… official program by hyatt via their wechat small apps.
They must have hiked up the price .
Your friend Gary wrote about it a year ago and it was 20$
https://viewfromthewing.com/marriott-platinum-status-for-sale-the-20-fraud-thats-undermining-loyalty/
So just us in Europe are suckers and have to stay AND pay for actual nights... Marriott, are you reading this? Some creative solutions, here?
Why do you think Marriott cares about the product like you.
The only suckers are the owners at popular Chinese tourist destinations, places like Japan, Thailand, Vietnam or Australia. I'm sure GM within China already priced in the cost of feeding their products.
I thought everyone knew this. I just checked another site I saw on recent travels to Asia:
Marriott Platinum USD$ 25 for 2 years
World of Hyatt Globalist with your name and account # USD$350 for 2 years
World of Hyatt Globalist 1 year USD$100
Hilton Diamond USD $25 for 2 years
Star Alliance Gold USD$80 for 1 year
Accor Platinum USD$ 125 for 1 year
Ascott ASR Platinum USD$ for 1 year
these are just a few available
Where and how?
Same question.
Also want to know how to get the star alliance gold for $80, asking for a friend
Can I have Marriot for 2, Hyatt for 1, Hilton for 2 and Star for 1 please Alex.
tbh, I think it is just worth of 25 dollars, as it is not a small amounts in China, some Marriott properties in China costs less than 25 dollars per night, this is still though not the cheapest one across the world. You just have to accept that you are living in a very expensive country that motel costs 10 times more than their 5 star hotel. The same as the elite status, again, we got it through credit card, the exact the same way they are doing.
I don’t see how this is better or worse than getting a credit card and suddenly having top-tier status. If they want status to be meaningful, then stop offering shortcuts and either make it all about nights stayed, or revenue spent. Any other way of getting status is just going to dilute things.
@ David -- I hear you. I'm not saying giving away Platinum status with credit cards in the United States is great, but at least there's significantly more direct upside for Marriott there, given how much money the company makes from its co-brand credit card agreements. Meanwhile in China, it seems like Marriott isn't being paid anything for this (at least directly).
Oh you have no idea how Bonvoy and Fliggy do promotion in China, $120 Westin giving out 8K points per stay, $50 Fairfields giving out 3K points per night is common here.
China is in historical deflation and economy downturn, especially property market, and it's just the properties and hotel groups fighting for survival.
Well, there is the $650 af and the $6k spend, which would be $180 fee at 3%. Assuming a 50/50 split between amex and marriott, that is $415 revenue for Marriott the first year. Either way, $650 is a lot more than $25. Hotel margins are in the 10% range for mid tier hotels, and 5% for budget tier. So that's the equivalent of a loyal guest spending $4k at the mid tier level. Marriott...
Well, there is the $650 af and the $6k spend, which would be $180 fee at 3%. Assuming a 50/50 split between amex and marriott, that is $415 revenue for Marriott the first year. Either way, $650 is a lot more than $25. Hotel margins are in the 10% range for mid tier hotels, and 5% for budget tier. So that's the equivalent of a loyal guest spending $4k at the mid tier level. Marriott is getting that level of revenue upfront even if the cc holder stays generated less than the $4k. They are giving a discount for getting your money upfront. Not saying this is 'right', but at the end of the day, it's how much revenue they are generating.
Whether it's flights or hotels, I prefer programs where earning status actually requires loyalty. As a traveller with 120+ nights per year, I just don't see a reason to participate in programs that hand out status to everyone and their dog, because such programs can't reward the loyalty by very nature of that approach.
The worst part is that many programs won't even let the property known whether a guest is natural, or got...
Whether it's flights or hotels, I prefer programs where earning status actually requires loyalty. As a traveller with 120+ nights per year, I just don't see a reason to participate in programs that hand out status to everyone and their dog, because such programs can't reward the loyalty by very nature of that approach.
The worst part is that many programs won't even let the property known whether a guest is natural, or got status for free/for a fee, so properties have no way to differentiate between the regular travellers who are worth investing into and someone who stays twice a year but has a credit card.
Lollllll makes me happy!
Marriott does everything in their power to "bonvoy" us all in the rear end with their horrendous, worthless rewards program.
Anything (legal) that "bonvoys" them back, even a little, is a-ok with me!
I'm sure Marriott is fine with it. All these scammers are staying at Marriott properties instead of competitors. So Marriott's profits grow nicely! And the only people unhappy are other Marriott customers, who, of course, are also staying at Marriott properties and increasing profits. Win-win for Marriott.
Note to self: Stay anywhere but Marriott on my future trip to China.
They treated me pretty well because I was not a DYKWIA like many of these Chinese status holders are.
Actual luxury brands are solid in China though so no harm in avoiding Bonvoy properties.
Even with all of these promos I still think most Marriott properties in China do not see many elite members. Most Chinese still prefer to book on OTAs and do not participate in loyalty programs. There is no $700 credit card / coupon book craze here.
How can a person join this Fliggy? Asking for a friend.
Get the Alipay app and use their travel mini app called fliggy
As someone who extensively travels in China, the quality of breakfast, lounges etc are basically on another level to that of US and EU. You need to dish out 10x the price in western countries to even match the hard product.
So this doesn’t bother me cuz it’s not over crowded and the quality is superb in terms of dollar value.
I'm not sure which hotels you are staying in on your visits to China but as someone that lives here and stays in a lot of hotels in China this really does not ring true for me. The breakfasts at most Chinese hotels are very paint-by-numbers uninspired food and the lounges have barely edible food and bottom shelf wine. It's free, so they have that going for them, but the quality is about as low...
I'm not sure which hotels you are staying in on your visits to China but as someone that lives here and stays in a lot of hotels in China this really does not ring true for me. The breakfasts at most Chinese hotels are very paint-by-numbers uninspired food and the lounges have barely edible food and bottom shelf wine. It's free, so they have that going for them, but the quality is about as low as they can possibly go with a straight face.
I will give you that the hard product is usually much better than the US.
Agreed, Andrew M. I would take a hotel breakfast in several European countries (e.g. Spain, Greece) over an equivalent property in China any time. Five star hotels in China in my experience have a large-ish buffet but which is made up almost entirely of mediocre quality items from cheap ingredients. Yes, there are some regions where hotel breakfast is an art form compared to Europe and especially the US, but that's SE Asia (Thailand in...
Agreed, Andrew M. I would take a hotel breakfast in several European countries (e.g. Spain, Greece) over an equivalent property in China any time. Five star hotels in China in my experience have a large-ish buffet but which is made up almost entirely of mediocre quality items from cheap ingredients. Yes, there are some regions where hotel breakfast is an art form compared to Europe and especially the US, but that's SE Asia (Thailand in particular) and parts of the Middle East (e.g. Dubai), certainly not China.
not sure where you stay in China, I travel at leasde 2-3 times in nanjing/Hangzho for over a month stay ususuallybut breakfast buffet and honoring the perks to upgrade you has be phanomenol for me , I travel at leasde 2-3 times for over a month stay ususually. Whereas in us , you are lucky they even give you a food credit for a bagle. and a corner room for be awya from elevators as...
not sure where you stay in China, I travel at leasde 2-3 times in nanjing/Hangzho for over a month stay ususuallybut breakfast buffet and honoring the perks to upgrade you has be phanomenol for me , I travel at leasde 2-3 times for over a month stay ususually. Whereas in us , you are lucky they even give you a food credit for a bagle. and a corner room for be awya from elevators as Titanum member. oh and not to mention useless upgrade award with slim chance even upgrade to an barely enhanced room...