Marriott Will Launch Their New Program On August 18th

It’s been a long time since the merger between Marriott and Starwood was announced.  A lot of water has flown under a lot of bridges, but the picture has started to come much more sharply into focus.  Back in April we learned what the new program would look like.  Well, mostly.

There was some initial frustration from SPG members on how they ended up with the short straw on lifetime status.  After a few small changes, Marriott ended up at a much more inclusive strategy for how to hand out lifetime status.

We originally expected that August 1st would be the first date we’d see the new program in place.  That date slipped a bit, but we now know that August 18th is the anticipated date.  The interesting thing is that there’s nothing that you have to do on the 18th.  You’ll get a new Marriott-issued number for your SPG account, even if you already have a Marriott Rewards account.  I’m sure that will generate some confusion, but it makes sense when I think about it.

Still Questions

There are still some questions.  For example, what will Marriott do with existing travel package reservations.  Gary Leff of View From the Wing had a detailed conversation with Marriott about this and a number of other points that you’ll be interested in.

Still questions, but plenty more answers.  I’ll be putting together a post on things you should (and shouldn’t) do prior to August 18th.  Stay tuned!

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