Earlier today Marriott and SPG made a “big” announcement regarding the future of their loyalty programs. Ever since the news broke over 2 years ago that Marriott was buying Starwood, there has been speculation about what their combined loyalty program would look like. Later on, they fixed the transfer ratio as 1 SPG point to 3 Marriott points, and we walked through 3 reasons to transfer SPG points to Marriott and 4 reasons to transfer Marriott points to Starwood (instead of the other way around)
Today’s announcement came with some serious hype and secrecy, and in the world of “extreme” miles and points travel hackers, we have been on edge with speculation for weeks. You can read the official Marriott press release, or check out coverage from Doctor of Credit, View from the Wing, One Mile at a Time, Frequent Miler, Award Travel 101, and Miles to Memories among others.
But, for the abbreviated version, here are 5 things you need to know. Our plan is to follow this up with some more detailed analysis over the next few days.
- NOTHING IS CHANGING UNTIL AUGUST 1ST! There was a lot of talk over the past week of whether you should make any speculative bookings / transfers. I am pleased that there was no unannounced devaluation (cough, cough, are you listening Alaska?)
- No more breakfast for Gold elite members – breakfast will be complimentary for Platinum members (50 nights). No credit cards give any status upfront that translates to breakfast. As Charles over on the Points With a Crew miles and points Facebook said – “Biggest disappointment/anger point: breakfast is now completely out of reach for anybody except road warriors. That’s a massive hit for normal loyalists, especially families. “
- Combination of elite status levels from Silver (10 nights), Gold (25), Platinum (50), Platinum Premier (75), Platinum Premier with Ambassador (100 nights and $20K spend).
- No (major) changes to airline transfer partners or ratio – I know many of us were holding our breath on that one
- There will be 8 hotel categories, and staring in 2019 they will add off-peak, standard and peak pricing to each category
- Oh did I mention nothing is changing until August 1st?
Now it’s your turn. What’s your take on the new Marriott Rewards program? Anything stand out to you as especially good or bad? Leave a note in the comments!
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
2/3 credit card spend devaluation.
Yes no breakfast will make us turn more frequently to Airbnb.
Yes indeed. Airbnb has become my go to option. The breakfast on European trips was a factor in opting for a hotel. To maintain Plat I stayed in inconvenient, pricey and some rather drab hotels in the US. No need to worry about those any more.
But I thought that what is now Gold (that you get from Amex Plat) will now be called Platinum, which means we DO keep breakfast – right?
That’s not what I understand – I think what you get from the Amex Plat is still Gold and it doesn’t get you breakfast any more. They probably had to do that to keep in compliance with credit card laws about changing benefits
Wait – I see. Golds become Platinum with breakfast for the rest of 2018, then it drops back to the new “Gold” without breakfast in 2019
The giant 33% devaluation on spg Amex spend.
You know I realize that free breakfast is a big deal but if you think about it most Marriott chain hotels have free breakfast anyway. Courtyard we have not idea why you don’t. Springhill, Towneplace, Fairfield, Residence Inn all do. So it only really leaves higher end hotels that don’t. Maybe I’m too low class but I spend over 100 nights a year as a road warrior and I don’t take my family to the Ritz on vacation usually. I’m also always surprised when people complain about 2pm versus 4pm late check out stuff. I know once in a while you have a late day flight but most of the time you are out and about and ready to go well before noon anyway. In addition and in my experience many hotel front desks will work with most guest on this issue anyway. I guess in my world these aren’t big benefits.
Oh and I find it funny that Marriott’s top tier is going to be the same name as IHG top tier “Ambassador”
Amex platinum gives spg gold currently. I’m sure it will change. They probably give the new gold to you. If they follow US based Marriott credit cards, which they also only give gold and, in some cases, platinum after x amount of spend. So in the new world, no free breakfast or lounge perks automatically come with credit card unless you fulfill the spend requirement (US for now)
But if you are currently gold, you should become new platinum by August until they downgrade you unless you stay enough to maintain your status
When traveling on my own and on the run I love the Fairfields for clean, efficient and the yummy warm waffles. When with the fam on paid or awards, we love the convenience of “free” breakfast and will pay more for a city Marriott property. Guess I don’t need to do that anymore. Was the breakfast that much of a bottom line deal breaker that they had to burn their loyal middle clients that are not logging 50 plus nights a year?
Well don’t Fairfield Inn and Suites already have free breakfast for everyone?
Nights and flights with SPG is probably gone. That was our favorite part.
In my experience I have found that if there is a concierge lounge, you cannot get a full breakfast in the restaurant, you have to eat in the lounge. Those lounges are changing to “M” lounges that are worst than a Fairfield.
The big thing that no one seems to talk about is how Marriott will slot their hotels in the 8 levels. If Marriott keeps the current levels for their hotels, we are all screwed. A current 40K hotel might be in Aug, 65K or 80K. That would be a tremendous devaluation of my points.
with the new change is it still worth getting an spg business or regular – spg credit card
I think that is up to you. A welcome offer is a welcome offer – currently 25,000 SPG points