Marriott Bonvoy sent shockwaves through the points and miles community earlier today when it appeared to update its award earnings chart in a no-notice devaluation. Fortunately, it appears this has been reversed, for now.
Marriott Bonvoy members have historically earned 10 points per $1 spent on stays at the majority of its properties. Select, extended stay and no-frills properties, earn 5 points per dollar spent while Marriott Executive Apartments earn 2.5 points per $1 spent.
Earlier today, Marriott updated its website and a slew of properties had been demoted from 10 points per $1 to 5 points per $1. This included AC Hotels by Marriott, Aloft, Courtyard by Marriott, Fairfield by Marriott, Four Points by Sheraton, Moxy Hotels, and SpringHill Suites by Marriott properties. This essentially represented a 50% devaluation for guests staying at those hotels. Shoutout to Stephen from Frequent Miler for flagging this.
A short time later, Marriott updated its website again, reverting back to the standard earnings chart.
It appears that this change was an IT glitch, and other sites have reported that Marriott expects no changes to its earning tiers, though it leaves me with a few questions.
What is Marriott Up To?
The fact that an error appeared on the Marriott website isn’t surprising. Sites are getting updated constantly with new information and it just appears that someone accidentally uploaded incorrect information. However, the real question is why is this information available to deploy in the first place, if there are no plans to make any changes.
I think the change and subsequent reversal falls into one of two buckets.
First, the more optimistic bucket, is that Marriott was planning on implementing these changes and developed new tiers before ultimately backing off. This would be in line with some of the reporting stating that no changes are expected at this time.
Second, the more pessimistic bucket and the one I believe to be the most likely, is that the company plans on introducing these changes but someone jumped the gun and unveiled it too soon.
Loyalty programs seem to be going in one direction across the travel industry and that is devaluing benefits at every turn. The companies almost always frame them as an upgrade, like when Flying Blue increased redemption rates but promised more awards space, though most don’t view them as such. I can absolutely see Marriott rolling out new earnings requirements in the near future in line with what was accidentally released today.
Summary
Marriott mistakenly updated the earnings charts for the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program earlier today. The company quickly reverted back to the original rates and stated that it was done in error. However, the fact that the information existed to be published, means we will likely see a devaluation in the future.