Interesting Stats on Marriott BONVOY Program. [MERGED]

[gerryburguera]

https://onemileatatime.com/survey-people-overwhelmingly-prefer-marriott-bonvoy/

 

[klpca]

Interesting. Thanks for posting. I didn't receive a survey. Did anyone else receive one?

 

[pedro47]

To the OP, thanks for posting this article. Interesting survey results . We also, did not receive a survey from Marriott’s.

 

[bnoble]

It's not hard to believe at all. Most people who belong to any particular loyalty program don't really pay much attention to it. There has been a lot of ad spend on Bonvoy. The average person gets the survey and *has* heard of Bonvoy but never really knew much about what preceded it. So, sure, they might say they like the new program better, because advertising works---but not, for example, because it actually delivers more value.

And, that's probably fine with Marriott. Whether or not the program delivers real value is less important than if customers think of it positively.

 

[controller1]

It's not hard to believe at all. Most people who belong to any particular loyalty program don't really pay much attention to it. There has been a lot of ad spend on Bonvoy. The average person gets the survey and *has* heard of Bonvoy but never really knew much about what preceded it. So, sure, they might say they like the new program better, because advertising works---but not, for example, because it actually delivers more value.

And, that's probably fine with Marriott. Whether or not the program delivers real value is less important than if customers think of it positively.

Well, it's not hard to believe Sorenson said this but it is hard to believe it to be accurate. Having expertise in statistical analysis I highly doubt the survey holds any statistical validity.

 

[pianodinosaur]

There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

I am a member of several customer loyalty programs including: Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, International Hotel Group, Hyatt, AccorHotels, United, and Southwest. They all claim to be the best. I had been a member of both Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Group prior to the Bonvoy fusion. There other programs that I have dropped. I have been well pleased with Hilton Honors and Bonvoy.

Can you guess the programs I dropped?

 

[Superchief]

Having worked in marketing research my whole career, I know that surveys can be structured and sampled to show the results than management wants. I highly doubt the statement: 'In a recent survey of Bonvoy members, respondents said that they preferred the new Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program over either Marriott Rewards or SPG by an eight to one margin'

I have not yet spoken to any previous Marriott Rewards member who prefers the new program. Comments on Marriott Insiders are overwhelmingly against the new program. The only advantage is that there are a lot more hotels to earn points at than previously, but that is due to mergers and expansion. 40% of new members came from China, so perhaps they were the ones surveyed about program preference. Redemptions are up because members now realize that you better use your points now before they become worthless.

The key for Marriott over the long term is what are the opinions of their most loyal members, and will the program devaluation cause them to take their business elsewhere. Unfortunately, most of their competitors have also devalued their programs.

 

[bogey21]

I hate the name. Couldn't they have come up with something better than Bonvoy...

George

 

[pedro47]

I also disliked the name Bonvoy.

 

[Superchief]

I find it interesting that the Chief Marketing officer who led the introduction of the Bonvoy program recently resigned. I think a consultant was probably paid a substantial sum to come up with this 'wonderful' name.

 

[WBP]

I find it interesting that the Chief Marketing officer who led the introduction of the Bonvoy program recently resigned. I think a consultant was probably paid a substantial sum to come up with this 'wonderful' name.

The architect of the disasterous Marriott Bonvoy program, David Flueck, is still at Marriott International. He's probably on his way to an appointment as Archbishop, as he did exactly what Marriott International and Marriott hotel owners wanted, he massacared and entirely devalued the Starwood Preferred Guest Program, and to a lesser extent, the second tier (behind Starwood Preferred Guest) Marriott Rewards Program, and created Marriott Bonvoy, leading to less operating costs (and fewer liabilities) for Marriott International, and less costs and higher income potential for hotel owners. The loser in all of this, once Starwood Preferred Guest and Marriott Rewards members, and especially Marriott Vacation Club timeshare owners (if my memory is right, the maintenance fee on our Custom House week was about $700.00 in 1998).

That maintenance fee, for a Custom House platinum week, about $700.00, in 1998, exchanged for 125,000 Marriott Rewards points (every other year, to start, then modified, to every year (upgraded for a fee)), and got you 7 nights in a Marriott hotel anywhere in the world, and two airline tickets to just about anywhere in the world (and, maybe in that era, an 8 day Hertz car rental (or the ability to return the car rental certificate for a credit to your Marriott Rewards account)). Now, for just about a $2,000.00 maintenance fee, that Custom House platinum week exchanges for 125,000 Bonvoy points, which get you a fraction of what it did in 1998. Oh, and the basis for Custom House ownership is a 62 year leasehold, expiring on December 31, 2057. So, the points/financial metrics must take into account that the remaining term of the leasheold in 2020, is 37 years, and not 59 years, as it was in 1998.

Back to the survey, and results, I think the survey was designed to produce entirely irrelevant, flawed results. More BS from Marriott.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

This survey doesn't include people who were in the program and defected. Bogus findings. And if the findings were negative, they would not publish the results.

 

[gerryburguera]

https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea...d-spg-members-leaving-marriott-data-suggests/

 

[Trax58]

I, for one, would agree. I had status in both programs, but was lifetime on the SPG side. I don’t travel as much as I did in previous roles, but I now use Hilton and IHG much more


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[bnoble]

I didn't see much direct data in that article vs. a lot of speculation. That doesn't make it wrong, (and I believe it is probably right) but I don't know that "data suggests" anything like what the author wrote.

 

[bizaro86]

I didn't see much direct data in that article vs. a lot of speculation. That doesn't make it wrong, (and I believe it is probably right) but I don't know that "data suggests" anything like what the author wrote.

On the other hand, the SPG program was superior to Bonvoy in nearly every way. Everything from elite recognition to the credit card program was better. The reaction from writers, bloggers, and frequent travelers has been essentially 100% negative. I've talked to dozens of former spg elites since the merger, and their responses fit into 2 camps.

"I hate it, and have switched to Hilton/Hyatt"

"I hate it, but have lifetime status and/or need their breadth of properties, so feel stuck"

That isn't data, of course, but the opinions in the article are more than speculation, imo. I'd put them more in the "informed qualitative opinion" camp. The only party with actual data on it is Marriott, and they haven't been forthcoming with it. Probably because the data shows they are losing elites and stays from elites.

 

[ski_sierra]

Many mergers lead to loss of consumer choice and often prices go up. I despise mergers.


The discontinuation of the SPG program was one of the reasons I started looking into timeshares. Earlier, I was able to collect a lot of points from the SPG program and my best use was a 2-week Xmas/NY stay at Sheraton Mountain Vista for 11.5k points per night.


I'm going to dump 5 of our 6 spg/bonvoy cards when AF is due next. I will only keep one Ritz Card.
I don't plan on staying at a Marriott branded hotel, if I have another choice.

 

[WBP]

The architect of the disasterous Marriott Bonvoy program, David Flueck, is still at Marriott International. He's probably on his way to an appointment as Archbishop, as he did exactly what Marriott International and Marriott hotel owners wanted, he massacared and entirely devalued the Starwood Preferred Guest Program, and to a lesser extent, the second tier (behind Starwood Preferred Guest) Marriott Rewards Program, and created Marriott Bonvoy, leading to less operating costs (and fewer liabilities) for Marriott International, and less costs and higher income potential for hotel owners. The loser in all of this, once Starwood Preferred Guest and Marriott Rewards members, and especially Marriott Vacation Club timeshare owners (if my memory is right, the maintenance fee on our Custom House week was about $700.00 in 1998).

That maintenance fee, for a Custom House platinum week, about $700.00, in 1998, exchanged for 125,000 Marriott Rewards points (every other year, to start, then modified, to every year (upgraded for a fee)). At that time, 200,000 Marriott Rewards points got you (Award Code 713) 7 nights in a Marriott hotel anywhere in the world, and two airline tickets to just about anywhere in the world (and, maybe in that era, an 8 day Hertz car rental (or the ability to return the car rental certificate for a credit to your Marriott Rewards account)). Now, for just about a $2,000.00 maintenance fee, that Custom House platinum week exchanges for 125,000 Bonvoy points, which get you a fraction of what it did in 1998. Oh, and the basis for Custom House ownership is a 62 year leasehold, expiring on December 31, 2057. So, the points/financial metrics must take into account that the remaining term of the leasheold in 2020, is 37 years, and not 59 years, as it was in 1998.

Back to the survey, and results, I think the survey was designed to produce entirely irrelevant, flawed results. More BS from Marriott.

I identified an error in what I wrote in Post #11, and corrected it, above.

 

[kds4]

Having worked in marketing research my whole career, I know that surveys can be structured and sampled to show the results than management wants. I highly doubt the statement: 'In a recent survey of Bonvoy members, respondents said that they preferred the new Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program over either Marriott Rewards or SPG by an eight to one margin'

I have not yet spoken to any previous Marriott Rewards member who prefers the new program. Comments on Marriott Insiders are overwhelmingly against the new program. The only advantage is that there are a lot more hotels to earn points at than previously, but that is due to mergers and expansion. 40% of new members came from China, so perhaps they were the ones surveyed about program preference. Redemptions are up because members now realize that you better use your points now before they become worthless.

The key for Marriott over the long term is what are the opinions of their most loyal members, and will the program devaluation cause them to take their business elsewhere. Unfortunately, most of their competitors have also devalued their programs.

Sounds like an opportunity to begin our own TUG sourced 'Bonvoy Satisfaction Survey'.

 

[WBP]

Sounds like an opportunity to begin our own TUG sourced 'Bonvoy Satisfaction Survey'.

May I please cast the inaugural ballot?

In the case of "Bonvoy satisfaction," I give Bonvoy a zero, on a 0 to 10 scale, with 0 being abomidable and 10 being superb.

Funny, Marriott sent me an email today, encouraging me to vote for Bonvoy, in The Points Guy contest. I followed the link that Marriott supplied me with, to The Points Guy ballott, and voted for anyone other than Marriott Bonvoy. Not quite what Marriott was hoping for, I guess.

 

[NboroGirl]

I just got a survey! It didn't come from Marriott, though, it was through e-Rewards, a program which offers survey on many topics giving you the opportunity to earn e-Rewards currency which you can then use to buy miles at various airlines, Hertz points, etc. The survey I just completed was definitely about Marriott since 99% of the questions were regarding the Marriott Bonvoy rewards program and satisfaction levels (or dissatisfaction levels) on various parts of the program and why.