Marriott International outlines combined loyalty program

The moment many were waiting for is almost here.

As of August 2018, Marriott International will introduce one set of unified benefits across Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest programs. 

The united program is expected to help members earn points faster than under the prior programs—on average 20 percent more points for every dollar spent. 

Members will be able to book stays and earn or redeem points across 29 participating global brands with 6,500 hotels.

At the same time, the company's Moments experiential platform is expanding to offer more than 110,000 experiences in 1,000 destinations, including the new bespoke Moments Live event series.

Beginning in August, members will be able to combine their separate Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and SPG accounts into a single account spanning the entire loyalty portfolio. The Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) names will continue to live on under the new set of unified benefits until a new program name is introduced in 2019.

Also beginning in August, travelers will be able to book stays across the entire portfolio for the first time on Marriott.com, SPG.com and the Marriott and SPG apps, or by contacting customer engagement centers.

Elite Status

In August, members will be able to earn and redeem across the entire portfolio of participating hotels and earn elevated benefits and elite status faster with new elite tiers. For example, they will be able to earn Silver elite status after ten nights and Gold elite status after 25 nights in all three programs. Platinum elite status will be available after 50 nights and Platinum Premier elite status after 75 nights. In addition, all Platinum Premier members surpassing 100 nights and $20,000 of spend will become members of the ambassador program. Members who have achieved Lifetime status will continue to have their status recognized.

The breakfast offering for Platinum and Platinum Premier members will be expanded to 23 participating brands, including Courtyard, AC Hotels by Marriott, Protea and Moxy, as well as resorts. For certain brands, members will receive free breakfast or an on-property food and beverage credit for breakfast or other dining options.

Marriott is also introducing a single points currency. In August, SPG members will see their points balance triple. SPG, Marriott Rewards and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards members will all earn ten points for every dollar spent at all brands (except for Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites and Element which will be five points per every dollar spent). In August, all members will begin earning points for food and beverage and qualifying incidentals on their folio, rather than just the room rate.

To make it easier for members to redeem points, all hotels throughout the loyalty portfolio will have no blackout dates for points redemptions. In addition, a Free Night Award chart with peak, standard and off-peak pricing will be adopted for all hotels. The chart, which will launch with standard pricing in August, will add off peak and peak in 2019.

When members book directly on Marriott.com, SPG.com or any of Marriott’s mobile apps, they will be able to choose from all 6,500 participating hotels, and also take advantage of exclusive member-only rates and free Wi-Fi. In addition, members will be able to check-in or check out, receive Room Ready Alerts chat directly with hotels using Mobile Requests and where available use their smartphones as their room key on all of Marriott’s mobile apps.

New Experiences

Marriott’s expanded experiential offerings on Moments can be purchased with cash and do not require a hotel reservation. Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest members will earn points every time they purchase one of the new experiences. The 110,000 new Moments experiences in 1,000 destinations are in addition to the 8,000 experiences that only can be redeemed with points on Marriott Rewards Moments and SPG Moments. In the future, all Moments experiences will be available for points redemption.

Experiences range from destination tours and day trips like shark cage diving in Gansbaai, South Africa, to member concerts, VIP experiences to sports events like the Super Bowl and music festivals like Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, as well as hands-on master classes and meet-&-greets with some of the world’s top athletes, musicians and chefs, including among others, actor and musician Jared Leto and his band 30 Seconds to Mars, chef Daniel Boulud and Lewis Hamilton, the four-time Formula One World Champion and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport driver.

Marriott is also launching Moments Live, a collection of premiere musical and culinary events powered by Marriott’s partnership with Universal Music Group (UMG) and its newest partnership with LITV Entertainment Group. 

In the coming months, Marriott will provide members with information about how and when in August they can begin combining their loyalty accounts.