On Tuesday, Marriott announced some changes via their Rewards Insider community. In summary: say goodbye Marriott Rewards rollover nights and elite buyback.
Back in 2016, Marriott merged with Starwood. At the time, little was known about what the combined loyalty program would look like. And about a year later, we still don’t know much regarding what the new program will look like. However, Marriott did say that we likely won’t learn more till sometime in 2018. But yesterday, Marriott announced a few changes, and unfortunately, most of them aren’t good.
New Hertz Benefits
Let’s start with some good news. Beginning in early 2018, Marriott Rewards will be enhancing cross-program benefits with Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. Called the “Elevated Hertz Status Offer,” qualifying Marriott Rewards members will enjoy:
- Complimentary Hertz Gold Plus Five Star status for Platinum Elites
- Complimentary Hertz Gold Plus President’s Circle status for Platinum Premier Elites
You’ll need to register to receive the elevated status; however, information on how to do so is not yet available. Under these Hertz Gold Plus Rewards statuses, members will receive:
- Five Star:
- One-car-class upgrade (subject to availability, of course)
- Expedited rental service
- 10% Gold Plus points
- 675 Rewards Points after every 15 qualifying rentals
- President’s Circle
- Confirmed vehicle availability of standard equipment Economy through Full-Size 4-Door vehicles in the U.S. and Canada, with a minimum 48-hour advance reservation
- Confirmed vehicle one-car-class upgrade available at all participating locations in the U.S., Canada, and select European locations. Maximum upgrade is to a Full-Size class vehicle with a minimum reserved Compact vehicle
- 25% bonus on Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Points
- 675 Rewards Points after every 15 qualifying rentals
SPG Platinum and Ambassador members may also take advantage of this offer via their linked Marriott Rewards account. You will not be able to redeem this offer directly from your SPG account.
Goodbye Rollover & Buyback
And now for the bad news. Marriott Rewards is discontinuing its Elite Rollover Night and Elite Buyback programs this year. What this means in practice is that the Elite Buyback program is gone. So if you don’t requalify by December 31, 2017, you won’t be able to buy back your status for 2018. In fact, per Marriott Rewards Insiders Community Managers, the Elite Buyback program ended in April 2017. Rollover, on the other hand, will continue through the start of 2018. So any nights you’ve accumulated in excess of the nights you need to requalify for your current status will be rolled over towards your 2018 qualification for 2019 status.
Per Marriott, these changes will help ensure they can continue to offer an “exceptional Elite experience.” They go on further to say that the changes will also “ensure our most loyal Marriott Rewards and Starwood Elite members who have linked their accounts and matched their status enjoy their earned Elite benefits such as lounge access and room upgrades on a consistent basis.”
I read this as “we want to focus on our most loyal members to make sure we take care of them first.” Which, you know what? That’s a good thing. But consistency is not Marriott’s strong suit when it comes to Elite Members’ benefits. They’re better, in my opinion than the newish World of Hyatt, but I’ve found that room upgrades especially are incredibly inconsistent.
Goodbye Marriott Rewards Rollover Nights, Final Thoughts
I get it. With Marriott Rewards and SPG merging in the future, Marriott wants to control how many Elite members it has. They want to ensure that their most loyal members are the only ones that receive Gold status and higher. But I also think the elimination of rollover nights is shortsighted. Afterall, with the way the current program is set up, there are no incentives to stay beyond 75 nights. Platinum Premier, after all, is kind of a joke with no tangible benefits. This could and likely will change in the future, but when and how are two very big questions. Further, SPG stays STILL don’t count towards Marriott Rewards status (and vice versa), which adds to the frustration with this change.
The Elite Buyback is something I’m not sad to see go. Yes, buy back rates were reasonable, but guess what? The points you use to buy back your status are deducted from your Lifetime Elite qualifying points. So for someone like myself, that’s nearing a Lifetime Elite status, that’s a tough pill to swallow and is why I’ve never done a buyback.
Hertz Elite status for Marriott Rewards Platinum and Platinum Premiers is a nice perk, but I’m neither, so it doesn’t apply to me. Further, Hertz is often the most expensive option I see when renting cars, so they’re the one brand I haven’t used yet. Especially since other, better options like Silvercar available.
At the end of the day, though, my original concern remains: Marriott will continue to tighten the program going forward. And since Hyatt Gold Passport is no longer a backup option since the World of Hyatt is such an awful program, I’m not sure what my strategy will be going forward. For now, I’m just going to have to sit tight and see how the merger really unfolds. But, in most cases, all the signs Marriott has been giving us haven’t been good.