Big devaluation of the loyalty program at Marriott Bonvoy

As we keep telling you, when a loyalty program evolves it rarely goes the way of the customer. And while Accor largely dominates the competition in this area, it should not be assumed that the competition does not cut back on the benefits it grants to its customers either.

The latest example is the Marriott Bonvoy program

The “no blackout” policy becomes a “black out” policy

When we explained the characteristics of a good loyalty program, we insisted on “black out dates”. These are dates when a hotel may refuse to let you use your points to pay for your room. Since the merger between Marriott and Starwood and the advent of the Marriott Bonvoy program, the rule was clear “no blackout dates”. Well, almost.

In the conditions of the program it was said that :

3.2.n. 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 limit 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®, Vistana properties.

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:

So the promise was only half kept. All former Starwood hotels applied the rule to the letter and former Marriott hotels could exempt themselves from it “a certain number of days per year”.

Here is how this chapter is now rewritten.

i. Participating Properties may limit the number of standard rooms available for redemption on a limited number of days.

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:

So now any hotel can exempt itself from the promise “a limited number of days per year” without it being clear where the limit is.

And so a “no black out policy” becomes a “black out policy”.

This decision is all the more difficult to understand since last year the concept of high and low season was introduced, which varies the number of points required to purchase a night depending on the season.

Double punishment then.

Lots of category changes

In Marriott Bonvoy the number of points required to purchase a night is determined by its category within the loyalty program.

Recently a lot of hotels have changed their categories and, as you can imagine, not in a way that would make them more accessible.

22% of the group’s 7,000 hotels are changing category. 507 move down one or more categories while 1687 move the other way with nothing explaining it in terms of product.

Free nights increasingly restricted

This will have little impact on the European customer, but our American friends who are fans of co-branded credit cards will be shocked. Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless or Marriott Bonvoy American Express cardholders receive vouchers for free nights valid at select hotel categories.

The change of categories mentioned above implies that in the United States alone 139 hotels are only accessible in low season and 216 worldwide, as noted by the blog Frequent Miler, in New York alone 24 hotels are affected.

Say what you will, but it is with great consistency that Marriott continues to degrade its program to the great displeasure of former Starwood SPG members who were used to much more respect. Bonvoy remains an excellent program, one of the best in the world, but at this rate there is no guarantee that the same thing will be said in a few years.

Photo : Marriott Bonvoy by madamF via Shutterstock