In late November 2018, Marriott revealed the details of a massive data breach. This involved Starwood’s guest reservations system, with an unauthorized party potentially copying and encrypting information all the way from 2014 until September 10, 2018.…
Starwood Preferred Guest
In late November 2018, Marriott revealed the details of a massive data breach. This involved Starwood’s guest reservations system, with an unauthorized party potentially copying and encrypting information all the way from 2014 until September 10, 2018.…
Marriott merged their three loyalty programs in August 2018, meaning that benefits have been aligned across Marriott Rewards, Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest. However, they decided to wait until early 2019 to introduce a new name for…
In late November 2018, Marriott revealed the details of a massive data breach. This involved Starwood's guest reservations system, with an unauthorized party potentially copying and encrypting information all the way from 2014 until September 10, 2018.…
With 2018 now behind us, I thought it would be interesting to reflect on what status I've earned in the past year with both airlines and hotels. I love miles and points every bit as much as I did a decade ago. What has changed for me over the years is…
The closest hotel to JKIA is the Four Points by Sheraton Nairobi Airport, so I ended up staying there twice about a week apart. One time I just stayed for the day (I landed in the late morning and was departing just after midnight), while the other time…
Hello from Bora Bora! I've spent the past few days at the St. Regis Bora Bora, which is easily one of the most aspirational hotels in the Marriott & Starwood portfolio. Until recently this hotel wasn't actually bookable with points at the "standard"…
This gave me a good chuckle. Hotels keep notes on their guests, and typically the nicer the hotel, the more they'll note the preferences of guests. As guests we'll almost never see these notes, since they're kept private. Well, I'm staying at the St.…
While Marriott is now the world's largest hotel group with 6,500+ hotels, it's always sad to see some of their better properties leave the group. Now yet another hotel that I really like is leaving. It has just been announced that Hotel Des Indes, a…
As I first wrote about in July 2017, Toronto would eventually get a St. Regis. What happened is that the Trump Hotel Toronto was first opened in 2012, though didn't do well financially. Apparently occupancy at the hotel was terrible, and mostly in the…
With how many brands the major hotel groups have nowadays, I think we all have brands we like more than others. I'm not talking about liking Ritz-Carlton more than Courtyard, for example, since one is a luxury brand and one is more of a budget brand.…
The St. Regis Princeville on the island of Kauai is one of the most aspirational Starwood properties in the US. There aren't many St. Regis resorts in the US, so this has been a popular place for redeeming Starpoints. Unfortunately it is being reported…
Reader Chris asked the following question in the Ask Lucky forum: "With all the changes made to the Marriott/SPG program and the credit card, Has anyone done any meaningful number crunching on whether its better to earn 3 Chase UR points or 6 Marriott…
With the loyalty programs of Marriott and Starwood having recently been merged, we’ve also seen some changes made to Starwood’s co-branded American Express cards, the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express and Starwood Preferred…
With the loyalty programs of Marriott and Starwood having recently been merged, we've also seen some changes made to Starwood's co-branded American Express cards, the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express and Starwood Preferred…
Marriott integrated their three loyalty programs on August 18, 2018. That means that Marriott Rewards, Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest became one. Sort of. The integration didn't go as smoothly as many of us were hoping, and for that…
Marriott and Starwood's loyalty programs were combined nearly two weeks ago, and there are still lots of problems. On the plus side, I appreciate that status.marriott.com at least now acknowledges some of the issues, while previously they made it sound…
Marriott integrated their three loyalty programs last weekend, so it has now been over a week since the new program was introduced. Now that they've had several days to figure things out, I thought I'd write this post to reflect on their performance,…
While the integration of Marriott and Starwood's loyalty programs took place over the weekend, there are still lots and lots of glitches. This integration is obviously a massive undertaking, so when I get comments from readers about how some account…
The integration of Marriott and Starwood is taking place this weekend, and short term this opens up lots of opportunities when it comes to redeeming points. That's because Marriott isn't introducing Category 8, as well as peak and off-peak pricing, until…
Well, the much anticipated (dreaded?) day is finally here, as Marriott is forming a unified loyalty program for Marriott Rewards, Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest. Hopefully you completed everything you wanted to do before the programs…
I've wanted to stay at Mystique for years, which is a Starwood Luxury Collection property. I first learned about the hotel because it used to be featured on SPG's homepage all the day, given how picturesque it is. The catch is that Mystique has limited…
Arguably the biggest news of the year in the loyalty program world is the integration of Marriott and Starwood's loyalty programs. We're talking about two popular loyalty programs being combined, with over 100 million members. What makes this especially…
Marriott's new loyalty program is launching as of August 18, 2018. Not everything is happening on that date, but rather we're seeing some changes on August 1, other changes on August 18, and other changes on August 26, among other dates. Currently Amex…
