Earlier in the year Marriott’s EVP and Chief Financial Officer, Leeny Oberg said that they were hopeful that the Marriott & SPG programs would merge and be fully integrated by the end of 2018. It looks like that was an overly optimistic timeline because despite being more than twelve months away loyalty members have been sent an e-mail stating that Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and SPG will remain separate programs. They also announced some relatively minor changes to the programs that will happen in 2018. These are:
- Hertz Benefits. Marriott & Starwood Platinum members will receive Hertz Five Star status. Starwood Ambassador and Marriott Platinum Premier members will receive Hertz President’s Circle (if you want this anyway, try this trick). SPG members will also earn SPG points on Hertz rentals. This also means the Avis/SPG partnership will be ending.
- SPG points won’t expire for Starwood lifetime elites. This is already a benefit for Marriott lifetime elites.
- Marriott is ending rollover nights and status buy back. 2017 is the last year members can earn Elite Rollover nights This means any 2017 nights earned in excess of Elite requirements will roll over toward 2018 status, but excess nights earned in 2018 will not roll over toward 2019 status. Your next big trip is waiting, so make sure you continue to take advantage of exclusive benefits.
I’d say that the third point is really the only major change and it’s entirely negative. I think if you’re going to announce that full integration is going to be delay and you’re ending rollover nights, you might want to try and actually include some good news as well rather than fringe rental car benefits that most people already have access to anyway. I guess the real good news for readers of this site is that this would surely mean that both American Express & Chase co-branded cards will be continued to be offered into at least 2019, unless the rumored card launches earlier than the full merger and I just don’t see that happening.
