As many of you may already know, Marriott International merged with Starwood Hotels a few years ago, and over the past few years we have seen drips and drops of integration and combination. A few weeks ago, we saw what I feel is pretty much the last step in the merger, The roll out of Marriott Bonvoy.
It is no secret that I was, and always will be a SPG (Starwood) fan! Starwood was by far the best of the best in almost every aspect of the hospitality industry! For whatever reason, they sold out to Marriott International , and all the loyal SPG fans were devastated ! Not because Marriott was horrible or bad, but Marriott and SPG were like daylight and dark. You were either a SPG fan or a Marriott fan, but usually never both. The two companies went about things differently and for me , SPG was my cup of tea!
A few years before the SPG, Marriott merger, Marriott merged with Ritz-Carlton hotels. And up until last month, they maintained a separate loyalty program from Marriott rewards . Last week when their new Loyalty program, Bonvoy was rolled out, it combined Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest, and Ritz-Carlton rewards, all into one combined loyalty program.
The Program
Marriott Bonvoy has done what I feel is a pretty good job of combining all the good things about all three combined programs. There has been bumps in the road during this merger, but all in all I am still happy and optimistic about Marriott, and Marriott Bonvoy!
The New program has a total of 6 Levels, Starting at Member and maxing out at Ambassador Elite. Click HERE for more info!
Like I said earlier, the benefits have pretty much stayed the same, but Bonvoy has done a better job at differentiating the levels by not have 3 Platinum levels as before. Before , Marriott had Platinum Elite, Platinum Premier Elite , and Platinum Premier elite with ambassador. This made things very confusing, and sometimes the hotels would feel over saturated with Platinums, and it was hard for them to know what benefits to give to who. The new system clearly differentiates the levels, and I like that!
My Thoughts
I am still very loyal to , now Bonvoy, and look forward to the future.
Wrap Up
I will not write much in this article, for a couple reason, 1, its a new programs, just a few weeks old, and 2 it’s mostly the same. I will do some research and write more detailed posts later on!
Thanks for reading, and PLEASE , Travel MORE!
