Starwood/Marriott Tie-up – Why The Big Fuss?

There’s been a lot of gnashing of teeth and general dissatisfaction expressed at the thought of Marriott taking over Starwood and most of the displeasure is being voiced by those who have Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) status (generally those with top-tier, Platinum, status).

The Issue

The SPG loyalty program is very different to the loyalty program offered by Marriott and the SPG Elites can envisage SPG being swallowed up by Marriott Rewards and disappearing from existence completely.

So what are the major differences between SPG Platinum and Marriott Platinum status?

Earning Status

Earning Yearly Status

• SPG Platinum is earned after 25 stays or 50 nights at Starwood properties
• Marriott Platinum is earned after 75 nights at Marriott Group properties

That’s a pretty major difference. With SPG you can earn top-tier status with as few as 25 nights at Starwood properties while you need 3-times as many nights to earn top-tier status with Marriott.

Earning Lifetime Status

• SPG lifetime Platinum Staus is earned after 10 years as a SPG Platinum Elite and 500 nights.
• Marriott lifetime Platinum Status is earned after 750 nights and 2,000,000 reward points earned.

For regular travelers the 10 years at Platinum level or the 2,000,000 Marriott Rewards points aren’t major obstacles to earning lifetime status…but the fact that you need 50% more nights to earn top-tier lifetime status with Marriott is a big differentiator.

The Benefits

If someone who didn’t know anything about the two loyalty programs took a look at the qualifying criteria (above) they could easily be forgiven for assuming that Marriott Rewards has the best benefits – after all, it’s a lot harder to attain – but that’s not the case.

SPG Platinum status actually has levels, within the Platinum Elite tier, based on how many nights a Platinum guest has stayed. Marriott has no such distinction.

So, if a guest has earned Platinum status by staying 25 times (one night each time) they get the basic Platinum benefits (in addition to all the benefits that a SPG Gold Status member would get).

Standard Platinum Benefits – SPG

• A choice of welcome gift upon arrival — choose from bonus Starpoints, continental breakfast or local amenity. (This is a better choice of gifts than Gold Status members get)
• An upgrade to best available room at check-in — including a Standard Suite.
• Complimentary in-room, premium Internet access. (Irrespective of how the hotel was booked)
• Complimentary health-club, Club-level and Executive-level access.
• Guaranteed room availability when your room is booked by 3 p.m., 72+ hours prior to arrival.
• 4p.m. late checkout, subject to availability at resort and conference center hotels.

50+ Nights – SPG

For SPG members who stay at least 50 nights at Starwood properties there is a choice of one further benefit out of the following list:

• 10 Suite Night Awards
• Gift Gold status to a friend or family member
• SPG® $100 donation to UNICEF
• $100 Amazon.com gift code (USA only)
• $85 credit for the TSA Pre✓® application fee (USA only)
• 4 Uber® ride credits for up to $25 each (In cities with Uber service)

75+ Nights – SPG

For SPG members who stay at least 75 nights at Starwood properties they get all the standard Platinum benefits, their choice of extra benefit when they ready 50 nights at Starwood hotels and the following:

• 1 extra Starpoint per dollar spent at Starwood properties ( 4 Starpoints/$)
• Your24™ — guests have the flexibility of choosing their check-in. For example, check in at 9 p.m. and check out 9 p.m. on the day of departure.
• 4 Starpoints per dollar spent with partners like Uber.

Members staying 100+ nights with Starwood also get assigned their own “Starwood Ambassador” but I’ve yet to hear of anyone who truly gets a lot of use out of this.

Platinum Benefits – Marriott Rewards

• A choice of welcome gift upon arrival — choose from bonus Marriott Rewards points or an amenity.
• Guaranteed room availability when your room is booked 48 hours prior to arrival.
• Complimentary Silver Status with United Airlines
• Room upgrades where available – Upgrades may include rooms with desirable views, rooms on high floors, corner rooms, rooms with special amenities, rooms on Executive Floors, or suites.
• Complimentary in-room, premium Internet access. (Irrespective of how the hotel was booked)
• Priority late check-out
• Lounge access/breakfast for two people 0r 750 Marriott Reward points
• 50% bonus on Marriott Rewards points earned during the stay.

Comparing The Benefits

Starwood Preferred Guest really has Marriott on the ropes here as their offerings are considerably better than anything Marriott offers.

• A SPG Platinum Elite who has only stayed 25 nights has the possibility of a 4pm check-out time (very useful on long weekends or when you have a late flight home). As a Marriott Platinum Elite I’m struggling to remember the last time I was allowed to check out past 1pm – and I’ve had to stay 3 times as many nights for my status.

• I’ve never been a SPG Platinum member but I understand that their chances of being upgraded to a suite at check-in are pretty good (without using a suite night award) while an upgrade to a suite is a very rare thing indeed for a Marriott Platinum Elite.

• The 10 suite night awards that SPG Platinum Elites get after staying 50 nights are probably the biggest benefit in the program. Marriott Platinum Elites staying 25 nights more than their SPG counterparts have no such benefit.

• The second best benefit on offer (in my opinion) is the Your24™ benefit that SPG gives its 75-night guests. Most of my travels see me checking in to hotels after 6pm so being able to then check-out at 6pm on the day of departure would e a wonderful benefit to have…..it’s just a shane Marriott doesn’t offer anything like this either.

Overall

It’s not hard to see why the Starwood Platinum Elites are not looking forward to their fate once Marriott takes over. There are some who will be hoping that Marriott runs SPG in parallel with Marriott Rewards (not going to happen) or that Marriott will take the good parts of SPG and incorporate them into Marriott Rewards – but that’s not very likely either…and here’s why:

Conventional wisdom tells us that smaller hotel chains, like Starwood and Hyatt, have to have great loyalty programs to make up for their comparatively small global footprint. It’s not hard to find a Marriott, Hilton or IHG hotel pretty much anywhere you want to visit….but that’s definitely not the case for Starwood. It’s much harder to be loyal to a small hotel chain than it is to a much larger one.

But, when Marriott swallows up the Starwood portfolio that logic will no longer apply – there is no real need for Marriott to offer any more than they already do to their elites. So why would they?

Some will try to argue that Marriott will need to do something to stop the existing Starwood elites from defecting elsewhere….but where exactly are they going to go? Hyatt is a possibility (and they’ve been doing their bit to grab Starwood Elites already) but, if Hyatt is such a good alternative, why weren’t the Starwood elites already over there?

The hotel loyalty program landscape is rapidly become akin to what we’re seeing with airline loyalty programs in the US. American Airlines devalued its program recently because they could – not because they needed to. They realised that none of the other airline loyalty programs offered anything approaching what AAdvantage offered so, if they reduced the benefits, where would AAdvantage loyalists go?

I suspect Marriott will see things in the same light. Their Marriott Rewards program has worked very well for them for a good number of years so why would they change it to accommodate the SPG elites? Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see Marriott Rewards up its game an start offering its top-tier elites some truly worthwhile benefits….but I just don’t think it’s going to happen.