Hotels: Is Marriott the ball and chain of Starwood?

With the acquisition of Starwood and the creation of the world’s leading hotel group, Marriott had high ambitions. But for the time being, the mechanics seem to be a bit stuck and customers are starting to complain, denting the brand’s reputation. Chronicle of a slightly botched wedding.

Marriott Starwood, a multi-stage marriage

Paris wasn’t built in a day and it took some time for things to fall into place.

It was in 2015 that the merger was indeed announced but the two groups continued to live their lives separately, and especially with separate loyalty programs until the summer of 2018 when loyalty programs have finally mergedThe points accumulated for those who used both but kept two distinct identities. In addition, the Marriott logo was quickly becoming visible in the hotels of the Starwood group.

But it looked a bit like DIY: from the first day, not surprisingly, we experienced computer failures, we had the impression of having a piece of the old SPG program (Starwood) and a small piece of Marriott Rewards. In short, a common mechanism, two distinct brandings and on the web side a thing made of bricks and mortar with a not optimal experience.

It was 2019 when everything settled down and we were done with the legacy of the past: a brand new program, a unique new name and the IT that goes with it. Welcome to Marriott Bonvoy.

The customers did not fail to have fun with a name coming from nowhere and at the limit of the ridiculous but if it had been the only bug I think that the CEO of Marriott would have signed immediately now that we know the continuation.

With Starwood Marriott bought more than just hotels

To be honest, more than a merger, it looks like a takeover that does not say its name, a bit like Air France and KLM. Yes of course Marriott has purchased a nice portfolio of very premium brands and has added a substantial number of properties and brands to its inventory…

…but Marriott has also bought itself a loyalty program, a style and the know-how that goes with it.

At the time SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest) was, in our opinion, the best loyalty program on the marketfor several reasons.

1°) Not unattainable thresholds to acquire premium status

2°) Very good benefits.

3°) And above all a flawless execution.

I insist on execution: you can promise the moon on paper if the promise is not kept in the hotels you create disappointment. And SPG was impeccably executed by the hoteliers of the Starwood-owned brands. Why ?

1°) Starwood had in its DNA a customer orientation that was superior to all other hotel groups. Some have a financial culture, others a filling culture, at Starwood it was the customer who drove everything. Some hoteliers will tell you that the loyalty program is costing them money when they have to deliver the benefits to guests and are going backwards, even forgetting things. At Starwood, every hotelier knew that when a hotelier kept the promise and provided a quality experience to the customer, all the hotels in the group benefited because a loyal and captive clientele was created.

2°) Training: if employees do not know how to deliver the benefits, if they are unaware of them, if they do not know how to transcribe the DNA of the program into their attitudes and decisions, your program will go into the wall. And Starwood was exemplary in the training provided to hotel employees to ensure that the SPG score was played to perfection

4) Experiential brands. Add to a well-executed program more lifestyle and experiential brands and you had happy customers who were SPG’s first ambassadors.

On the customer side, the signs of ownership were visible: no one said Starwood but SPG.When your loyalty program becomes stronger than your brand you have won. We can also talk about the hashtag #spglife which flourished on twitter or instagram and showed how much customers identified SPG with more than a loyalty program or hotels but with a lifestyle!

Beyond the hotels, it is SPG, this culture and this know-how that Marriott has bought. And by the way Marriott Bonvoy is almost a copy and paste of SPG with little heritage of Marriott Rewards. And that may be the problem today.

Serial problems for Marriott Bonvoy

Obviously when you launch a brand there are always things that are not ready…starting with the IT. It is reasonable to expect that there would be a few hiccups and we got them.

Errors in the calculation of points, in the statuses, non-credited stays, everything has been done. Knowing that Marriott was already under scrutiny for an information system breachthat left the personal data of 500 million customers in the wild, it would have been better to come out with a better finished product.

But that’s not all. The “new” loyalty program was very unevenly executed.

There are several reasons for this.

First of all, hoteliers at the former Marriott hotels took a dim view of having to give extra benefits to customers, aligned with the late SPG. This is the effect of the difference between a financial culture and a customer culture. We are talking in particular, but not only, about upgrades in suites. Marriott promised to be severe with hoteliers who would not play the game but the facts are there.

Similarly, the program does not tolerate “back-out dates” (periods when hotels may refuse to allow you to pay for your room with points). However, despite the group’s “no-black out dates policy”, some hotels continue to ignore it. And rather than bringing hotels into line, the group has changed its position on the subject and it’s worth its weight in peanuts.

The Company has a “No Blackout Dates” policy, which means that, subject to the limitations and exclusions below, Participating Properties have standard rooms available every day for Award Redemptions.

These limitations and exclusions are:

i. Participating Properties from the following Brands may cap the number of standard rooms available for redemption on a limited number of days: The Ritz-Carlton®, EDITION®, JW Marriott®, Marriott Hotels®, Delta Hotels®, Autograph Collection® Hotels, Renaissance® Hotels, Gaylord Hotels®, Courtyard®, SpringHill Suites®, Protea Hotels®, Fairfield by Marriott®, AC Hotels®, Moxy® Hotels, Residence Inn®, TownePlace Suites®.

ii. The following Participating Brands allow only for Points/Miles earnings and do not offer Points redemption: Marriott Executive Apartments® and ExecuStay®.

iii. The following Participating Properties or Brands either do not participate in or do not fully participate in the No Blackout Dates benefit at this time:

Boscolo Exedra Nice, Autograph Collection
The Dedica Anthology, Autograph Collection
JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn® Resort & Spa, Scottsdale, AZ
Marriott Vacation Club and Marriott Grand Residence Club – all properties
Participating Vistana properties
Rome Marriott Grand Hotel Flora, Rome, Italy
Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, Hawaii
Wailea Beach Resort – Marriott – Maui, Hawaii

In fact the “no back-out dates policy” applies to all hotels….except for the former Marriotts who do as they please.

Then there is a problem of training for hoteliers andstaff who do not yet understand the program and what is obligatory for the client.

Then comes the equally poorly trained customer service and that while we are talking about nearly 110 million complaints received since March 2018!Not only poorly trained but also not helped at all by its hierarchy in the resolution of problems. The customer suffers, receives inappropriate responses, complains, but in addition even the customer service staff starts to complain about their own situation.

Add to that clients who complain that they feel the program or their status has been “devalued” compared to before and it starts to add up.

From #Spglife to #Bonvoyed in one year: when a brand’s reputation takes a hit

I was telling you about #spglife and the love shown by past Starwood customers to their loyalty program and its DNA. That was before.

A few weeks ago some activite customers launched the hastag #bonvoyed and the websiteBonvoyed.com. From now on, being “Bonvoyed” is synonymous with getting screwed !I’ll let you read a few nuggets and a best of here. We read some great things by following them on Twitter.

In terms of damage done to a brand, going from Spglife to Bonvoyed in one year I no longer call it a crisis but a major industrial accident.

But the management, while acknowledging the situation, says that these are only “noises at the edges “.

Another anecdote that I think shows a real lack of professionalism. The Twitter account @spgassist which was acting as a customer service had of course no more reason to exist with this name but instead of keeping it to occupy the field and refer to the new official account, Marriott has left it “in the wild”. It was of course picked up by a joker who said the account had been “Bonvoyed”. Since then the account has been suspended.

Is the customer asking too much of Marriott?

Is all this fuss justified? Is it deserved?

Having spent a number of nights at Marriott this year, we can answer yes and no.

Yes, because these complaints do not fall from the sky. Yes, because one of us had a terrible experience recently in a hotel that we had loved on a previous trip (accident or change of policy….we won’t know until we return and it’s not going to happen)

Not because it remains circumscribed. Oddly enough, only the former Marriotts seem to be affected, with the former Starwoods continuing to do Starwood. But for how long knowing that the characteristic of mediocrity is to spread faster than excellence. Not also because globally the problems come from the US market which has always been the most stingy on the application of the programs (but that is a significant number of hotels all the same).

No, and above all because it is perhaps the clients who are mistaken about the nature of the promise. They got Starwood in terms of service and DNA and expect to get Starwood again today. Except that they are at Marriott and they have Marriott. As you can read on some specialized forums and blogs, “Marriott customer service has always sucked and it still does, you didn’t think they were going to get up to SPG’s level overnight!”

Autopsy of a failure: you can’t buy a culture

Marriott wanted to buy more than hotels, I said: a loyalty program, engaged customers, a DNA, in short a culture! And the lesson of history is that they did get what was buyable. But you don’t buy a cultureand it stayed in the old Starwood properties without spreading throughout the group.

Surprising? Not at all. This is the case in all mergers and acquisitions in all businesses. It will take time for things to change. But they will not change by chance. By changing its no blackout policy to accommodate its hoteliers Marriott is not sending a good message to the customer. It’s nice to say that they’ll be tough on hotels that don’t upgrade to suites (and I have it on good authority that the group is pushing for a “no empty suite policy”…. we don’t want empty suites so upgrade guests and make them happy….) but time will tell if that’s just words or if the hoteliers who don’t play along get their fingers rapped.

The risk? If Marriott doesn’t Starwoodize, it will be the former Starwoods that Marriottize. And then Marriott will have paid for more than just hotels and will end up with nothing but hotels.

In any case it’s definitely more than just “noise on the edge”.

Photo : Marriott Bonvoy by Pavel Kapysh via Shutterstock.