As an update, Marriott CEO To Starwood Members: Don’t Worry About Your Points as reported by Forbes.
Big news this morning as the announcement hits that, “Marriott International will buy Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide in a cash and stock deal valued at $12.2 billion to create the world’s largest hotel chain.” As reported by CNBC, “The deal is expected to close in mid-2016, the companies said.”
Goodbye Starwood Preferred Guest? I Will Miss You!
So, the big question is what will this mean for SPG Platinums like myself? Will the 2 programs be merged together and if so, how?
Starwood points are much more valuable then Marriott points and so is top tier status at Starwood.
Lots of questions and lots of possible scenarios:
- Will Marriott keep the Starwood Preferred Guest program in tact?
- How this will impact lifetime SPG status?
- How this will change SPG upgrades?
- What SPG brands will be kept after the transactions and which ones will be divested and sold off?
- How will SPG points convert to the larger Marriott program and at what time? 2 to 1? 1 to 1?
Bottom Line
All these questions certainly make me uneasy. I am a big fan of SPG program and value the points and my status. Only time will tell how this merger will affect us. What are your thoughts/concerns with this newly announced merger? What is your suggestion for how or if the programs should be merged?
About The Weekly Flyer
The Weekly Flyer writes about travel from a business traveler perspective. He travels the world every week accumulating points and miles along the way.
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Do you think there is any hurry to get points out of our SPG accounts? The worst possible option would be having my SPG points converted into Marriot points.
Welcome to the Delta of hospitality.
SPG points might get automatically get merged into marriott points as early as tomorrow from what my sources over at the Bridge tell me. But nothing confirm yet
this is a tragedy. i despise the marriott brand and program. i have almost a million SPG points and am very loyal. i hope there are more details to come, as I would rather transfer points out of the SPG program vs. have them convert to marriott.
We’ve seen this movie before. Time to quickly reserve and lock in free nights before the s*** hits the fan.
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