One Month After Marriott Rewards & SPG Merger Blunder (Report Outstanding Issues)

It is now one month after Marriott Rewards and SPG programs were merged (or SPG program was moved to Marriott platform) on August 18, 2018.

The program merger was supposed to happen at the end of 2018, then at the beginning of August and then they finally settled for August 18, 2018 when their IT system was not ready.

Note that many of these issues affect members that used SPG as their program because those accounts were integrated into Marriott platform.

Here are the merger related articles we have posted since August 18:

• SPG Data Integration Issues (Report Yours Here) August 19
• It’s Monday & SPG Side Doesn’t Have Access To Booking Systems August 20
• What Was Marriott Thinking & Trust Left? August 20
• Update: Mr. Marriott’s Office Of Consumer Affairs (Customer Relations Escalation) Can No Longer Be Reached Via Phone August 21
• RANT: New SPG Number & Consequences August 21
• Marriott Make A Green Choice-Program Points Earned Cut By 67% At Starwood Hotels August 22
• Marriott Rewards Travel Package Downgrade & Attachment Troubles August 22
• Reader Email: Marriott Cheated Me John! August 23
• Reader Rant: SPG Award Reservations Canceled & Points Gone? August 24
• Marriott’s Starwood Priority? Get The Bible & Book Of Mormon To 300,000 Rooms! August 26
• Reader Question: “That’s nice, we are Marriott.” – Where To Go? August 26
• Reader Email: Going insane with Marriott (Cannot Login & Password Reset Done 30 Times) August 28
• How To Contact Marriott Rewards & SPG During These Difficult Times (Without Being On Hold For Hours)? August 29
• Reader Question(s): Should I Combine (Or Not) Marriott & SPG Accounts? August 29
• Reader Question: Why No Coverage Of Marriott’s Lies Towards Their Elite Customers? August 30
• Marriott & SPG Program Merger Two Weeks Later (Report Your Issues!) September 2
• Reader Question: SPG Platinum Amenity Gone After Merger ? (When Lounge Is Closed) September 9
• Reader Email: Marriott & SPG Booking Woes! September 10
• Marriott Rewards Pulling A Fast One With SPG Best Rate Guarantee Claims September 12
• Marriott “Green Choice” Or Greedy Choice? (Housekeeping Hours Cut) September 13
• Marriott / SPG Platinum Elite Amenity: Breakfast vs Mediocre Points Credit – What To Choose? September 15
• Reader Email: Frustrated With The Marriott Bashing September 16
• Reader Email: SPG/Marriott Merger Problems Rant! September 17
• Marriott & SPG Ambassadors Moving From 200 To 300 Clients? September 18

What are the outstanding issues right now (remember to report yours!)?

– Marriott and SPG reps cannot help with each others reservations (Marriott and SPG systems are still separate)

– Points from canceled award reservations are sometimes left in limbo

– Stays may post to points/nights totals but not to history itself promptly

– Lifetime status still incorrect

– Emails/Tweets/messages are not answered

– Forms bounce back because Marriott’s email inbox full

– Some members unable to sign up for the new promotion

– Email confirmations not coming through for reservations & cancellations

– Long wait times for phone agents (North American Numbers

– Website sometime claims that no hotels available when there are

Conclusion

The communication from Marriott to members during this four week period has been abysmal mainly claiming that everything is working perfectly when this couldn’t been further from the truth.

I am still astonished that they pushed this account merger through when they must have known that their IT implementation was not ready for the task. It has been an amateur hour and surprised that heads hasn’t rolled yet.

I wished (I really did) that this implementation would had gone through smoothly. There is no excuse from the IT standpoint for the mess they are still in one month after moving the accounts to the Marriott platform beyond being woefully unprepared and incompetent.