I got an email this afternoon from a PR contact over at Marriott, alerting me to a new video that the CEO of Marriott, Arne Sorenson, just published talking about the recent Marriott acquisition of Starwood.
Marriott CEO video
In the video, he talks about how, now that he’s spoken to Wall Street and the employees of both Marriott and Starwood, he wanted to now speak to the guests (i.e. us)
A lot of the rest of it was rah-rah speak, talking about how they are going to prioritize the best of both companies (of course)
He also said that they will be developing their strategy over the next few months (I take that as meaning business as usual for awhile, which is to be expected), and that the SPG loyalty program was one of the most attractive things that Marriott was looking at.
Some other good quotes:
- “We know that without a doubt these loyalty programs are the most powerful tool we have for developing strong relationships with our guests”
- “Devaluing points or member benefits is NOT the way to preserve and strengthen these programs” (emphasis mine)
Watch the full video below
What do you think? Personally, I think 1:3 (1 SPG point being worth 3 Marriott points) is about the bare minimum I’d accept as “not a devaluation”, and 1:4 or 1:5 would make me feel better. I thought Frequent Miler had a great analysis of the subject the other day. On the flip side, at least I just won 10,000 Starpoints this morning 😛
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Just a lot of PR-speak. Whatever the end result is, Marriott will simply declare that it’s an “enhancement”…to “better align ___________ with what our members value the most”….and to “simplify “…yadda, yadda, yadda….and most certainly, definitely NOT a devaluation!
Blah blah blah.. I will believe it until I see it.
I have to agree with Ryan and Jim. Talk is cheap, whiskey costs money. American was saying all the right things right up until the award chart mAAssacre. At the very least, I’d like some very specific promises, not soothing platitudes.
very cheap…. this entire merger reeks, at least from a loyalty traveler vantage point. I’ve avoided the SPG chain (while enjoyed IHG, Hyatt & CC), even though I know the SPG brand was widely championed in the points-o-sphere for its seemingly low point requirements for stays, and thus the high perceived value of spg points. I waaazzzz tempted, but no longer.
Enter the buyer — a chain widely reviled as having gutted its loyalty program, has notoriously outrageous point requirements for stays at their hotels… (even the lower level ones)…. has suffered multiple severe devaluations…. (but of course, they managed to buy extremely suspect top ratings from USAToday, et. al.)
and now we’re supposed to believe that the fox isn’t about to clean out the chicken house?
Totally agree with all you guys. I mean what else is he going to say? “Yeah, we’re transferring SPG points 1:1 to Marriott and you suckers better like it!”, even if that’s what they actually think 😛
Like you said, they’ll do whatever they think is best for their company, and while their interests and our interests (as travelers) have some overlap, they are certainly not identical
We’ll see what actually happens – but I do appreciate him at least going “on the record”
yes indeed, and despite our displeasure, thanks Dan very much for drawing the quote to our attention — and yes, to put him on record.
(ps, have been noticing that even the SPG “twitter birds” have been noticing the hyatt diamond buzzzz…. extraordinary. Maybe, just maybe, the feedback about competitors launching a serious assault on their spg member fold will make it up the food chain. Unlikely….
I do not go to Marriott hotels anymore because they drastically devalued their points, which proves that the CEO is correct.
Hilarious!
Yeah, I remember once when Hilton gutted their program they described it as “responding to the needs expressed by our members” or some such garbage.
Marriott’s game was to attract travelers that don’t care or know how maximize their loyalty points. Their ideal consumers just want it easy to find properties wherever they care to go, even if it costs them a million points to stay at a Courtyard. It’s amazing how many guys I travel with that are Marriott loyalists because one time their million points bought them that one free week in some place that no other brands have nice properties. Sure there’s a subset of us that refuse to be mindless consumers, but Marriott knows how to attract the majority of the rest and they have done well by it. This CEO speak about loyalty programs is just to intended to slow the bleeding and people heading for the exits before the merger completes. Nothing about his words rings true to what Marriott’s business strategy has been pretty much forever. It’s just a delaying tactic.