This helped a lot for evening out accounts that had an odd balance prior to making a redemption and was also a method to keep accounts active by converting as little as one SPG point to miles.

In preparation to make an ANA redemption I checked my balance and found that I have an inconvenient shortfall of 231 miles before the full 1000 mark.

With the old SPG option I could have just moved 231 points to miles and evened it out but in this case I had no other choice than to move a full 1000 points into the account.

While I have the ANA Visa credit card as well unfortunately the card doesn’t post very efficiently after the statement date has been closed. It often takes weeks for the miles from the last statement period to show up in the account.

In this case I decided to just round up the transfer of 60,000 Marriott points (25,000 ANA Miles) by an additional 3000 points that translate into 1000 miles with ANA:

It kinda pained me a little to waste 3000 Marriott points but I really have enough of them at the moment and there wasn’t much of an alternative. ANA doesn’t allow to purchase miles individually and I already used all my Amex Membership Reward points for the principal balance.

Nevertheless the redemption value with the ANA RTW (more about that once I got it booked) is so good I will get my moneys/points worth so no need to worry about these 3k.

Really too bad Marriott didn’t incorporate this option for elite members following the takeover of the SPG program. The minimum you have to move with Marriott Rewards is 3000 points.

Conclusion

Programs and program features come and go. From time to time I like to remember certain redemption opportunities in the past that were extremely practical and lucrative.

Next to this instance with SPG I always think back on BMI Diamond Club and US Airways awards – those were the times!

U.S. Credit card customers of the new Marriott Bonvoy products issued by American Express and Chase are entitled to a whopping 15 Elite Nights per year which is a huge advantage.

You can check your Marriott Bonvoy account activity here.

American Express recently announced changes to its SPG card portfolio that moved to Marriott Bonvoy branding effective February 13, 2019 (see John’s article about that here).

I’ve been checking my account frequently the last few days as I still waited for a correction from my recent stay in Bali and just recognized that the credit card EQN’s have posted as well:

The transaction doesn’t show up in the activity panel at all. It just added 15 nights to the total count which is relatively easy to identify as I just had 3 nights YTD with Marriott.

Another really interesting detail is that these nights actually counted towards my lifetime status as well.

A nice little boost towards my 600 nights which no doubt will take me another 4 years at least and who knows what happens down the road. Despite their horrible way of running this merger I think dumping the chain makes no sense for me as I still like certain hotels a lot where I stayed over the years.

Do you have a Chase Marriott Bonvoy Card and can confirm if your nights posted as well?

Conclusion

We got many requests from members in the last two months when the credit card nights will post and even though in the past the nights always posted quite early this year nothing happened which didn’t really surprise me based on the overall merger performance. The fact that Amex just changed their products to the Bonvoy label probably contributed to all this as well.

And now the shocker, as in I say something positive about Bonvoy: With the credit card the program actually got a lot easier, at least for those who used to qualify for Platinum via nights instead of stays. Even so,  35 nights vs 25 stays is possibly even better or, at the very least, more relaxed than hunting single night stays.

There are 258 hotels moving up one category and 37 that will move down. Marriott currently has 6,900 hotels open. These changes thus affect roughly 4.3% of properties.

You can access Marriott Rewards here.

Here are the changes:

Download (PDF, 84KB)

Number of Properties Moving UP:

Number of Properties Moving DOWN:

Conclusion

Marriott Rewards did a mini (or major) devaluation when they combined the programs last year. Many lower category properties jumped up significantly in number of points required while the former SPG top tier hotels came down significantly.

These changes that will take place on March 5, 2019 are not major if you look at the entire Marriott hotel portfolio. They will, however, tend to affect properties at which members love to redeem at.

Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) launched Choice Benefit first for those staying 50 nights and later introduced second gift at 75 nights. Marriott Rewards incorporated this into the combined program last year.

You can access website to choose the Choice Benefit here.

Remember that if you don’t make a selection by February 7, 2019 Marriott Rewards will choose by default the Suite Night Award option for both 50 and 75 night levels.

Conclusion

There are no good options at 50 nights level (SPG members used to be able to choose a free night award but Marriott discontinued this) but the free night award is the best option for those eligible 75 night award.

Remember to study the options and make your selection(s) by February 7. Marriott Rewards has surprisingly not emailed many members and alerted that they should choose their preferred award. I guess that they hope to be able to just award Suite Night Awards to everyone.

Members that book anywhere 14 to 90 days in advance can save up to 30% off of their stay.

You can access this offer on Marriott’s website here.

Here are the participating hotels:

Conclusion

Something to consider if you are going to visit Japan and can commit to non-cancelable/non-refundable bookings.

Here are the terms and conditions:

Valid seven days a week. Limited number of rooms are available for this promotion. Tax is additional. Offer does not apply to groups of 10 or more rooms. Offer cannot be combined with any other promotions. Blackout dates may apply. Advance reservations required. Other restrictions apply. Rates are per room, per night and based on availability at the time of reservations.

When I wrote a piece yesterday morning (read more here), Marriott had at the time processed the status for my legacy Marriott Rewards account but hadn’t for my SPG one (had qualified under both). Now, the status is correctly applied to both.

You can access Marriott Rewards here.

It would be interesting to hear if readers have noticed any anomalies?

It seems that Marriott Rewards not only processed the lifetime Platinum Premiers but Golds and Platinums during their sweeps yesterday too. Not sure how they correctly counted the Platinum years?

Conclusion

I haven’t combined my accounts and don’t see any reason to do so. Both accounts are for lifetime (mine or Marriott’s).

One reader dropped us a note that he wasn’t sure how he got lifetime Gold status. There could be some anomalies on the combined numbers and I hope that Marriott has erred on the sided of the customer.

Remember that you can always email us, send a message via Facebook or use Twitter and include photos too. We’ll try to cover a Compensation Clinic case here once a week, every Sunday.

You can access Aloft Excel’s website here.

Here’s email from the reader:

My stay at Aloft London Excel was extremely disappointing. I made two reservations for consecutive nights (22 and 23 December).

I live in London and have no need to stay a night in this hotel – my primary reason for making the reservation is to use the swimming pool. The swimming pool was unavailable throughout my stay. The hotel management is making money by hiring out the pool to a private company. The pool was occupied by a swimming class on Friday from 9am to 5.30pm, Saturday from 1pm to 3pm and Sunday 10.30am to 2.30pm. I photographed a sign at reception indicating these times but this was not clear at the time of making the reservation. The hotel management claimed that the pool remained open to hotel guests but this is not true – only a tiny portion of the pool was available to guests, making proper lane swimming impossible. All of the changing rooms were in use and unavailable and the management had opened a disabled toilet cubicle to guests as a (very inadequate) changing facility. No towels or lockers were available as all had been taken by the swimming class. The class consisted of around twenty participants and was extremely noisy (very loud group chanting and singing) which appeared to breach the hotel’s own conditions on using the pool “without disturbing other users”.

I think it is unacceptable for the hotel management to hire out the hotel’s facility to a private company at the exclusion of hotel guests, particularly for such a long period of time. I have stayed at London Excel Aloft several times before and always to use the pool, and have never experienced any problem. This time the pool was unavailable for the entirety of my two night visit. Please advise whether this practice is in keeping with Marriott’s expected  standards for hotel operators. I would like you to refund the 25,000 points and a part of the cash cost of my reservations, and to take steps to review this practice at this hotel.

Here’s an update from the reader:

I just received a reply from the hotel today, after chasing for a response earlier this week. I’ve pasted it below. What do you think? I stayed one night in cash and one night on points, and they’ve refunded the points. The argument that a hotel pool could anyway be filled with guests is reasonable (but doubtful at this location), but I still think it’s not right to sell the pool as a matter of routine to a private company.

I really wonder if this is sanctioned by Starwood/Marriott. It is definitely not the case that half the pool was available, as only one lane was set off for hotel guests. Most of all, there is no warning of this policy when you come to book online so you’d have no way of knowing whether the pool would be occupied. I’m minded not to pursue this further, but interested in your thoughts on the case.

Here’s reply from the hotel to the reader:

Thank you for contacting Marriott Customer Service in regard to the recent stay with us here @ Aloft London Excel.

First of all I would like to apologise for the inconvenience encountered during your stay related the use of the swimming pool.

I can confirm that we do have swimming classes on a daily basis at different times however, the use of the pool to our guest should not be disrupted as half of the pool it is always available to our guest during the opening times.

I completely understand your point that the swimming pool might have been crowded but this can happen also when the hotel is running full occupancy and most of our guests are using the pool at the same time.

I would like to clarify that the disable toilet has been used for the swimming lesson as changing room to minimize the impact of having all the three changing rooms occupied at the same time.

In regard to the use of the lockers, there is a sign to contact reception as a mandatory deposit (refundable after the key is returned) is needed to be able to use one.

I am really apologetic if no towels were available at the time you attended the pool and I will definitely pass the message to our housekeeping team to be more vigilant and bring fresh towels more often in the pool.

Your feedback in regard to the swimming lessons has also been shared with our Hotel Manager.

In an effort to make amends and as gesture of apologies I would like to offer you a credit of 25.000 points.

Please let me know if this is fine with you. In the meantime please feel free to contact me directly previous any future reservation with us so I can make sure you will have an enjoyable stay.

Conclusion

Reader also noted that this is not some kind of outreach scheme to benefit local families but hotel is making some money from wealthier families that are paying for this “Waterbabies”.

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for a hotel to rent out their pool for an event (think about all those racy pool parties in Bangkok area hotels) or any other F&B outlet. Hotels should post clear warnings on their websites when some parts of the hotel are suddenly not accessible for guests. Seems that this specific hotel is renting the pool out on daily basis based on the email reply.

I believe that 50% refund (refund of the points) is a fair outcome for the reader. If they plan to use this location in the future, perhaps get an email address for someone and always confirm that Waterbabies o some other group are not using the pool on that specific day

Members had until the end of 2018 to qualify for this Platinum Premier lifetime status that is no longer available. Going forward only Silver, Gold and Platinum ones are.

You can check your Marriott Rewards account here.

Remember that there were several ways to qualify for this status:

1. Qualify for Marriott Rewards Lifetime Platinum that required (at the end – qualification criteria changed several times over the years) 750 nights (could have been from anywhere) + 2,000,000 million points earned from any activity (credit cards, point purchases etc.).

2. Qualify for SPG Platinum 10 times (no need to be consecutive) + 750 nights.

3. Having earned Platinum status on SPG and Marriott accounts 10 times and consumed minimum 750 nights after combining them.

Here’ my SPG account:

No sign of the lifetime Platinum Premier status as of Sunday.

Conclusion

Marriott Rewards wasn’t making this status originally available (very unwise move) for SPG members and only after members revolved they came up with the 750 night requirement.

Seems that they are doing this manually or it is not entirely automated process. My Marriott Rewards account was changed to lifetime Platinum Premier while my SPG one hasn’t (both had qualified on their own and I have not linked or combined them).

Card design is changing among some of the benefits. You can information about available cards below.

You can access Amex’ page for Bonvoy products here.

Here are the changes in a nutshell:

New Card Names – Starting February 13, 2019

• The Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card will now be called the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card.
• The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express will now be called the Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card.
• The Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express will now be called the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card.

New Card Benefits

In addition to the current benefits, more benefits will be rolled out this year to further reward and enhance Card Members’ travel experiences:

Elite Night Credits: As of January 1, 2019, all Cards within the Marriott Bonvoy American Express cobrand Card portfolio will offer Card Members 15 Elite Night credits per year to help reach the next level of Marriott Bonvoy status even faster.

Limit one 15 Elite Night Credit per Marriott Bonvoy member account; benefit is not exclusive to Cards offered by American Express

$100 Property Credit: Starting March 28, 2019, Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card Members can get up to $100 in property credits per stay when they use their Card and a special rate code to book 2+ night stays at The Ritz-Carlton® or St. Regis®.

Additional Free Night Award: Starting March 28, 2019, Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card Members can get an additional free night award (valued at up to 35,000 points) when they spend $60,000 or more annually on the Card. With the new enhancements to the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card, the Card’s annual fee will increase from $95 to $125 starting on March 28, 2019.

New Rich Offers

In celebration of the refreshed Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card portfolio, we will be introducing rich offers for both new and existing Card Members.

100K welcome offers for Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant and Marriott Bonvoy Business Cards

Starting February 13, 2019 through April 24, 2019, eligible new Card Members who sign up for the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card or Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card can receive 100,000 points after they spend $5,000 in the first three months of Card Membership.

Points offer for existing Marriott Bonvoy Card Members

Starting on February 24, 2019, eligible existing Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card Members can register to earn 25,000 points for every $25,000 in eligible purchases on the Card, up to four times for a maximum of 100,000 bonus points, based on the total amount of purchases starting from when the Card Member registers through the end of the year. Eligible Card Members will soon receive more information about this offer and how to register their Card.

Here’s the press release:

Today, American Express and Marriott International, Inc. announced upcoming changes to the current Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Cobrand Credit Card portfolio following the recent unveiling of Marriott’s new loyalty brand, Marriott Bonvoy™, which will replace the travel program’s three current loyalty brands, Starwood Preferred Guest, Marriott Rewards® and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards® on February 13, 2019. On that date, the current Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Cards will be rebranded to Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Cards, and will soon offer travelers and businesses additional valuable benefits, rich points offers, and new artistic Card designs.

Starting February 13, 2019, the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Cards will be rebranded as follows:

• The current Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card will be rebranded to the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card
• The current Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express will be rebranded to the Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card
• The current Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express will be rebranded to the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card

“In line with the changes to the Marriott International loyalty program, our rebranded Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card portfolio will maintain the same great benefits and rewards that have enhanced our Card Members’ travel journeys over the years, as well as offer compelling new designs, names and benefits,” said Eva Reda, Executive Vice President, Global Cobrand Partnerships at American Express. “Building on our successful 50-year relationship with Marriott, we are looking forward to entering this exciting new chapter and continuing to bring incredible value and service to our Card Members wherever life or business takes them.”

“Marriott Bonvoy is more than a loyalty program, but rather a holistic travel program built on the idea that travel enriches each of us and connects the world,” said David Flueck, Senior Vice President, Global Loyalty, Marriott International. “The incredibly rich benefits and earning opportunities the American Express Cards provide will accelerate our members’ ability to pursue their passions when they travel.”

NEW ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

In addition to the value introduced to the Marriott American Express cobrand Card portfolio last year, more benefits will be rolled out across the Card portfolio this year to further reward and enhance Card Members’ travel experiences.

As of January 1, 2019, all Marriott Bonvoy American Express Cobrand Card Members now have access to a 15 Elite Night Credit each calendar year1.

Additionally, starting March 28, 2019, Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card Members can get up to $100 in property credit per stay when they use their Card and a special rate code to book stays of two or more nights at The Ritz-Carlton® or St. Regis® properties2. This builds on this Card’s rich existing benefits, which include 6X points on purchases at participating Marriott Bonvoy properties worldwide, 3X points on U.S. restaurants and flights booked directly with airlines, up to $300 in statement credits each year of Card Membership for eligible purchases at participating Marriott Bonvoy properties, complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status, and an annual free night award (redemption level at or under 50,000 points) at participating hotels every year after their Card account anniversary3, Priority Pass membership, no foreign transaction fees4, and more. The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card will continue to have an annual fee of $450.4

Additionally, starting March 28, 2019, Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card Members can get an additional free night award (redemption level at or under 35,000 points) when they spend $60,000 or more on the Card annually 5. This new benefit is in addition to the valuable existing benefits already offered on this Card, which include 6X points at participating Marriott Bonvoy properties and 4X points at U.S. restaurants, U.S. gas stations, on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers and on U.S. shipping purchases, as well as an annual free night award (redemption level at or under 35,000 points), complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite Status, no foreign transaction fees4, no annual fee employee Cards and more. With the new enhancements, the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card’s annual fee will increase from $95 to $125 starting on March 28, 2019.4

American Express will no longer accept new applications for the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Card after February 12, 2019. When the Card is rebranded to the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card on February 13, 2019, existing Card Members will continue to get access to the Card’s great benefits and offerings, including 6X points on purchases at participating Marriott Bonvoy properties worldwide, the new 15 Elite Night Credit benefit, Automatic Silver Elite status, and an annual free night award (redemption level at or under 35,000 points). The Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card will continue to have an annual fee of $95.4

NEW RICH OFFERS

In celebration of the refreshed Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card portfolio, American Express and Marriott will be introducing rich new offers to further reward both new and existing Card Members.

From February 13 through April 24, 2019, eligible new Card Members who apply for the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card or Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card can earn 100,000 Marriott Bonvoy points after they spend $5,000 in purchases on their Card in the first three months of Card Membership.6

In addition, starting February 24, 2019, Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card Members whose accounts were opened before January 23, 2019 will be eligible to earn up to 100,000 bonus Marriott Bonvoy points. Once registered, eligible Card Members can earn 25,000 bonus points for every $25,000 in eligible purchases on the Card, for up to 100,000 points through the end of the year. Eligible Card Members will receive more information about this offer, including the relevant terms and how to register their Card soon.

NEW CARD DESIGNS

To further bring to life the new Marriott Bonvoy brand, American Express and Marriott are excited to announce a collaboration with Manhattan-based mural and studio artist, Tony “Rubin” Sjöman to design the new Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card. Rubin’s modern artistic Card design is inspired by Marriott’s new visual identity and aims to evoke the desire to travel and explore.

“The shapes within the design emulate a cityscape and the color palette is intended to mirror sunrise and sunset reflecting off buildings,” said Rubin.

Additionally, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card will be offered in a sleek stainless-steel Card design and the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card will be offered in a sophisticated blue-gray plastic Card design.

The new Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card and Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card designs will be available to new Card Members starting March 2019, and the new Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card design will be available starting May 2019. Existing Card Members will automatically receive the new Card designs over the following months.

More information about the revamped Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card portfolio can be found here. Terms and limitations apply.

Conclusion

The entry level card certainly has interesting early 1900’s style. The other two cards have more traditional designs.

Seems that they are launching new and additional bonus offers to get cardholders to swipe their products more often.

SPG/Marriott has previously implemented an exception that allowed SPG members to qualify for their 2019 status based on legacy criteria of the original program which allowed qualification based on stays instead of nights.

It’s no secret that the merger of the two programs didn’t exactly run smooth to say the least. We have covered the issues extensively over the past six months.

You can access Marriott’s page to check your status here.

At least the status adjustment and proper update of the lifetime status counter appears to have finally happened last night based on my own account:

The counter has been sitting at 8 years until yesterday. The actual validity of the status itself is nowhere to be found yet but obviously the lifetime status counter wouldn’t have moved if Marriott didn’t register my 2018 activity as qualifying for Platinum.

I assume and hope that once the BonVoy website goes live Marriott will come up with a more practical graphic and sends out membership cards again.

Conclusion

In previous correspondence Marriott promised the status would be adjusted until the end of January which actually happened. To be honest I didn’t believe it would and was prepared to chase it up again.

Looking at my personal counter it’s somewhat regrettable I didn’t reach Lifetime Platinum before the cutoff. I didn’t stay as much in hotels though until around ~2008/2009 so the required 10 years of Platinum wouldn’t have been there even if I had stayed more with SPG over the last years. The new 600 night requirement vs 500 with SPG isn’t a big deal in my eyes, quite the opposite as it leaves me a bit more time without stressing out once the 10 years of Platinum are full this year.

W Beijing that opened its doors back in October 2014 no longer accept reservation past January 31 on Marriott’s website. There is no note on the website that the hotel would be leaving the system or being reflagged.

You can access W Beijing’s website here. You can also check Freddo’s review of this property here.

Here’s current availability:

The last date that the hotel is bookable on Marriott’s website is January 31^st for one night.

Conclusion

Something definitely is up with this hotel. There cannot be any other reason for availability suddenly gone past the end of the month than the property leaving the system.

Interesting to see under what brand this hotel will be come February 1st. W Saint. Petersburg became Sofitel So and W Dubai curiously V Hotel Dubai part of Hilton’s Curio Collection.

The sale is valid for stays through April 30, 2019 and must be booked by this coming Sunday January 20.

You can access this offer on Marriott’s website here.

Here are the participating cities:

Conclusion

You have to be careful with your dates and hotels as this rate plan is prepaid, nonrefundable and noncancelable. Only book if your plans are firm and the price is right.

Here are the terms and conditions of this sale:

Advance Purchase Rate. Non-refundable, no changes permitted. Full prepayment required within 24 hours after booking.

Limited number of rooms are available for this promotion.

Offer cannot be combined with any other promotions.

Blackout dates may apply.

Not applicable to groups of 10 rooms or more.

Reservations may not be transferred in any manner to any third party.

Individual hotel terms and conditions may apply.

Customers who wish to use the app functionality for their Marriott accounts will have to download their app in order to use that one instead.

Marriott has already announced two days ago that their new BonVoy Program will go into affect on February 13th 2019 so this date will be the same when the SPG App will cease to function (and the SPG web surface likely as well).

I also contacted SPG this week and asked when we – the members – will finally see our status for 2019 adjusted and given credit towards the lifetime status. The answer was “sometime in January”.

… In regards to your Loyalty status, our Teams are finalizing our member’s accounts and qualifying members will receive notification sometime in January of 2019. I apologize for the wait. …

Well it’s already the 18th of January so they better speed up.

Conclusion

It was to be expected that Marriott would at some point pull the plug on the SPG interface. It’s probably a convenient date for them to squeeze everything together.

Let’s hope that February 13 won’t go down in infamy while Marriott continues their destructive part of merging and shutting down parts of their loyalty brands.

Remember that you can always email us, send a message via Facebook or use Twitter and include photos too. We’ll try to cover Reader Questions & Comments here several times a week.

Here’s the email from a reader:

Greetings from Singapore.  I came across the following website:

https://www.spendelicious.com/collections/all-hotel-privileges/products/platinum

I am very keen to purchase the Accor platinum status for one year because 75 nights per year seems to be quite unachievable for me but the executive lounge access for accor hotels is really good.(accor used to give out platinum status years ago with credit card subscriptions etc but now they have stopped completely.) Was wondering if such websites can be trusted or if you have readers who have shared similar incidents with you.

This certainly is an interesting looking website! They are selling a number of airline, hotel and car rental mid and top-tier memberships for cash (and some for a rather reasonable price). I have never heard about this previously and whether they can deliver the product or not.

Some programs may allow hotels to sign up members for tier challenges and/or top-tier memberships. The owner of this site may have struck a deal with some hotels to do just that for cash.

Doing something like this is certainly against the T&Cs of both hotel or airline programs a member might be a member of and doing this may be come at a price. The worst that may happen is your account is restricted, audited or closed.

Conclusion

There was something similar out from South Africa couple of years back that we covered. Not sure what happened to that website. I have not heard about this Spendelicious previously and if they can deliver the goods or not.

They appear to accept PayPal as a payment so you should be covered to some extend if they cannot get your account upgraded.

You do have to understand that participating in a scheme such as this may come at a price and I would not jeopardize an established account that has points.