Yesterday Marriott International, Inc. (MAR) had a Q2 2026 earnings call and there were a few interesting pieces of information.
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Credit Card Renewal With Chase & American Express
Anthony Capuano President, CEO & Director announced that Marriott has renewed it’s card partnerships with both Chase & American Express. Stating the following:
I am also pleased to announce that we recently executed new long-term agreements for our co-branded credit card program in the U.S. with our valued long-standing market-leading partners, JPMorgan Chase and American Express.
I believe the last deal was signed in 2017 and typically these deals range from 7-10 years long.
Refreshed Card Products
Capuano stated that they expect improved economics due to the new agreements with Chase & American Express. Stating: (emphasis mine)
The benefit to the loyalty program and to our fees from our new U.S. co-branded card deals is expected to build over time as new and refreshed U.S. card products with new cardholder benefits are introduced, supporting anticipated growth in new accounts and cardholder spend.
American Express sent out surveys regarding Marriott changes late last year. You can see more cards that are rumored to launch this year here.
Increased Hotel Owner Reimbursement For Award Stays
Marriott hotel owners have been in the news stating that they are being ripped off by Marriott to the tune of a billion of dollars per year due to poor reimbursement by Marriott. Capuano stating:
At the beginning of the year, we lowered loyalty charge-out rates across our global system by roughly 5% to what we believe are the lowest in the industry across all chain scales. In addition, earlier this year, we enhanced owner reimbursement for Bonvoy redemption stays on high-demand nights.
Capuano was then directly asked about the letter and stated:
Well, yes, I’m not going to give an official response. That’s a matter between us and our owners. But maybe I’ll reiterate what I said earlier. The success and financial strength of our owner and franchisee community is closely tied to Marriott’s success. Given our asset-light model, we continue to work every day to address issues, concerns and opportunities with the broad owner and franchisee community around the world. And those discussions have gone on for decades and will continue to go on for decades.
The letter that we received, I think, is reflective of the passion and commitment that, that group of owners has to the relationship and to — and is an acknowledgment of that linkage between our mutual success. And we have had a number of meetings already with that group, continue to have those discussions and are encouraged with the progress we’re making.
Marriott recently increased award pricing by 5-10%.
Our Verdict
Seems like Marriott has negotiated a stronger deal from American Express & Chase (extra $30 million in revenue for the balance of this year. Expected to be $100 – $125 million by 2028). That could mean that cardholder value decreases but I suspect if Chase & American Express are refreshing products we will see more card benefits with high breakage to justify higher annual fees (coupon book effect). I haven’t really followed hotel owners unhappiness with Marriott, I doubt that increasing award pricing by 5-10% will make a meaningful difference to that. It seems they are going for a three pronged approach by increasing award night reimbursement, ‘stream lining’ brand standards (aka relaxing them) to offset maintenance costs (my reading at least) and adding an ITR incentive (up to 50 basis points fee discount for top hotels that receive strong guest satisfaction scores).
