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No more AA AAdvantage Miles through Marriot Rewards

UWSurfer

UWSurfer

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This arrived in my e-mail tonight...

We would like to provide you with an important update to the American Airlines AAdvantage® program. Effective July 1, 2010, the Marriott Rewards program will no longer offer AAdvantage miles for stays at Marriott hotels.

All qualifying stays at participating properties completed by June 30, 2010 will be eligible to earn AAdvantage miles. It is also important to note the final date to convert your Marriott Rewards points to AAdvantage miles will be June 30, 2010.

As an AAdvantage member you have access to an extensive network of hotels where you can earn AAdvantage miles, including 60 brands in over 100 countries. For a limited time, visit the AAdvantage® ConnectionsSM Web site for a list of our special hotel offers.

We appreciate your loyalty to American Airlines and the AAdvantage program.
 
Does this apply to converting Marriott Reward Pts earned from credit card and timeshare-conversions to AA Miles?
 
Yes here is the quote:
We would like to provide you with an important update to the American Airlines AAdvantage® program. Effective July 1, 2010, the Marriott Rewards program will no longer offer AAdvantage miles for stays at Marriott hotels.

All qualifying stays at participating properties completed by June 30, 2010 will be eligible to earn AAdvantage miles. It is also important to note the final date to convert your Marriott Rewards points to AAdvantage miles will be June 30, 2010.
 
That's the confusing part. It seems the letter talks about receiving AA miles for stays at Marriotts...then that part you quoted infers ANY Marriott Reward Pts regardless how the pts are earned can no longer be used to get AA miles.
 
I wonder if this applies to travel package rewards. I have use many travel packages to get AA frequent flier miles, and if I can do this in the future I will be very upset.
 
It is also important to note the final date to convert your Marriott Rewards points to AAdvantage miles will be June 30, 2010.
Click to expand...

I haven't received said email, but based on this cryptic statement it does appear that the highly-touted (to say the least) travel packages will no longer have access to AA.

As one of the many people who primarily fly AA, I see this as potentially very bad news indeed. This is also precisely the concern I've stated to a number of Marriott timeshare salesmen, when discussing the "wondrous" opportunity being offered to us, of giving money to Marriott in order to utilize their arrangement with a 3rd party airline that is neither directly represented nor a signatory to the contract they are pressing me to sign. (Presumably there is a reciprocal agreement, wherein Marriott provides discounted lodging to AA's staff in exchange for AA's discounted offerings to Marriott, as well as the ability to earn points in each other's system, and whatever else on which they (used to?) collaborate. I've never seen Marriott's contract with AA, and the salesmen with whom I've talked didn't know jack about it either. So I have no idea how likely it is to continue. Although I'm interested in achieving lifetime platinum status with both Marriott and AA, I just couldn't buy the idea that this option will be there in perpetuity, simply because some guy seemed to suggest it and I want to believe him.)

Anyhow, if this is what it appears to be, it could well be a major blow to the credibility of Marriott's sales strategy and value proposition, particularly if other airlines follow suit. Any Marriott salesperson unfortunate enough to push this with me again will regret it. They may have to come up with a different answer for those of us who are aware of timeshare resales, rather than reflexively spinning the points-for-travel-packages angle.
 
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After viewing several threads on Flyer Talk, I can confirm that Marriotts representative there states that we will not be able to convert Marriott rewards points to AA frequent flyer miles by any means(i.e. no travel packages to get AA mile.) This is most upseting as I have used AA as my primary air carrier and travel packages as the primary source of my miles.
 
The Marriott Rewards program is fairly worthless now. MVC better think of offering a better reason to buy a timeshare from them. AA is, by far, the biggest FF program and easiest to gets seats on. Now it's off the table for Marriott.
 
I also consider this a HUGE problem. American is the premier carrier to the Caribbean with more flights to the islands then any other carrier in and out of the San Juan hub. not being able to use MR points to move to my AA frequent flyer account to get those flights is a serious issue.
 
There is no way Marriott wanted this. This devalues the MR program significantly in my book. And it sucks for my family because that is how I got to Maui first class for free.

And it loses business for AA at the same time for sure because those loyal Marriott owners will switch over to another airline. I guess they felt in the long run they were better off.
 
What happens in this situation...

UWSurfer said:
This arrived in my e-mail tonight...

We would like to provide you with an important update to the American Airlines AAdvantage® program. Effective July 1, 2010, the Marriott Rewards program will no longer offer AAdvantage miles for stays at Marriott hotels.

All qualifying stays at participating properties completed by June 30, 2010 will be eligible to earn AAdvantage miles. It is also important to note the final date to convert your Marriott Rewards points to AAdvantage miles will be June 30, 2010.

As an AAdvantage member you have access to an extensive network of hotels where you can earn AAdvantage miles, including 60 brands in over 100 countries. For a limited time, visit the AAdvantage® ConnectionsSM Web site for a list of our special hotel offers.

We appreciate your loyalty to American Airlines and the AAdvantage program.
Click to expand...

We just last month turned in our 2BR DSV-I villas for points. Was told it will not be posted until January 1 so I don't have access to putting the points into American before June 30 -- do I have any recourse? :mad:
 
MOXJO7282 said:
There is no way Marriott wanted this. This devalues the MR program significantly in my book. And it sucks for my family because that is how I got to Maui first class for free.

And it loses business for AA at the same time for sure because those loyal Marriott owners will switch over to another airline. I guess they felt in the long run they were better off.
Click to expand...

.


So true. However, the real danger of being dropped by American Airlines is that other airlines may or may not continue with the Marriott program.

If they don't all continue with the Marriott program then I would say my points for traveling are virtually useless.

Let's hope other airlines continue with the program and don't monkey around with it.



.
 
MOXJO7282 said:
There is no way Marriott wanted this. This devalues the MR program significantly in my book. And it sucks for my family because that is how I got to Maui first class for free.

And it loses business for AA at the same time for sure because those loyal Marriott owners will switch over to another airline. I guess they felt in the long run they were better off.
Click to expand...

Why do you say that Marriott didn't want this? Isn't it the airlines that make money on deals like this because Marriott has to pay them for the FF miles?
 
Both the husband and I received the American e-mails 2 days ago, and we're really upset also. we're just glad we converted our Marriott points to AA on April 10 for our next Feb. trip. I hope this isn't the beginning of a trend for the other airlines. I also wonder why marriott didn't notify anyone since the June 30 deadline is so near and doesn't give a lot of people chance to do something else. I think American was the only airlines that didn't have blackout dates and that was important to me since I'm a teacher and that precious February break we have will be impacted.
 
This is a huge, HUGE devaluation of both the MR program and of buying a timeshare to trade for points. As someone who is sitting on a big pile of points from business travel, it's hugely disappointing.
 
Lively discssion about the demise of the Marriott Rewards program on FlyerTalk

There is a very lively discussion in this regard on FlyerTalk:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marriott-rewards/1080063-changes-marriott-rewards-bye-bye-aa-why.html

I have to believe that Marriott Vacation Club is a leading purchaser of Marriott Rewards points. It'll be interesting to see if Marriott Vacation Club can leverage their "purchasing power" to change Marriott Rewards decision with regard to Marriott's participation in the AAdvantage program. For the knowledable consumer, this is further cause to purchase a Marriott timeshare on the resale market and NOT from Marriott Vacation Club.

Just received an email from a friend who tells me that the Lynne Roach Hilderbrand, former Vice President of Loyalty and Database Marketing at Marriott (including Marriott Rewards) now works for Marriott Vacation Club. Perhaps Marriott Vacation Club will play that card.
 
It appears that airlines, rental cars, and hotels are all reducing their program associations. I recently received notification that Southwest Airlines is dropping out of the American Express Membership Rewards program, and Hertz rewards are no longer offered in the program. Marriott is not alone in reducing benefits.
 
If I had bought developer to trade for points, this would have put me through the ROOF because for me, a ton of the value from travel packages comes from being able to trade for AA miles.

As it is, it will cause me to cash in a ton of points earlier than I planned.

In the end, a very good reminder that it's best to be cautious making any long-term plans regarding rewards or frequent flier programs. They can change almost everything and anything at a moment's notice, and you have very little recourse except threatening to take your business elsewhere.
 
yet, another devaluation of the MRP. What next? The new Marriott Points system???
 
MikeM132 said:
The Marriott Rewards program is fairly worthless now. MVC better think of offering a better reason to buy a timeshare from them. AA is, by far, the biggest FF program and easiest to gets seats on. Now it's off the table for Marriott.
Click to expand...

I never thought the MR Points were any sort of reason to buy a timeshare. Even when they made offers like 500,000 points it wasn't enough to get me to spend 35,000+ on a timeshare that was going to hit me up for $1,000+ in MF's every year. I don't think this will affect retail timeshare sales all that much.
 
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winger said:
yet, another devaluation of the MRP. What next? The new Marriott Points system???
Click to expand...

And that is the exact reason not to buy any timeshare for any rewards points system. They can change the rules at will. This year we booked a cruise we wanted to take using MR points. Although it's not the best use of points, we had over 600,000 points and I didn't want to see them go to waste plus, it was a cruise we really wanted to take but didn't really want to shell out the $$.
 
MOXJO7282 said:
There is no way Marriott wanted this. This devalues the MR program significantly in my book. And it sucks for my family because that is how I got to Maui first class for free.

And it loses business for AA at the same time for sure because those loyal Marriott owners will switch over to another airline. I guess they felt in the long run they were better off.
Click to expand...

I called American Airlines today because the reward line with Marriott is closed until Monday. We had gotten this email this am. For what it is worth, according the the AA rep all association is severed and she indicated that American was not exactly happy with the loss either.

I am not happy at all as I am lifetime gold with AA and will not get beneies unless I pay for the ticket :-((. We ususally always travel with ff miles for our tickets. This is quite a blow. :crash: :crash:

What are everyone's thoughts on whether dropping AMerican is a precursor to their timeshare points system in order to make that seem more attractive??? :ponder:

Beverley
 
Beverley:

I definitely think that there is some connection between severing the AA connection and the new timeshare points system. It definitely make using Marriott rewards points for travel packages less valuable. Perhaps AA is only the first airline to get severed. Those of us who actually purchased a unit to trade for points(I know not a good idea) will be less inclined to exchange for points. Why not put it in the new points program instead! I think I for one will either use my week or deposit it with Interval. We have an April Monarch week for which we can exchange it every year for 110,000 rewards points. I am not interested in giving Marriott any more money.
 
Beverley said:
I am not happy at all as I am lifetime gold with AA and will not get beneies unless I pay for the ticket :-((. We ususally always travel with ff miles for our tickets. This is quite a blow. :crash: :crash:


Beverley
Click to expand...

Hi BEverly,

A bit of an aside, but can you explain your comment that you will not get benefits...I am lifetime gold as well, and I am missing (other than accumulating more miles going forward) how this affects benefits...paying cash versus using miles. I am sure this will be obvious when you say it, but I appreciate your feedback.
 
Are we assuming the worst?

It is very interesting that AA is making this announcement, not Marriott. That makes me wonder if AA has cancelled their program with other hotel chains too? AA has many partners at which you can earn FF miles -- car rentals, flowers, shopping, hotels stays, etc. and this may be across the board, not a slap at just Marriott.

You can't double dip in most of these airline programs, so long ago I selected to save MR points for hotel+air packages instead of just FF miles which I think is 2 FF miles per US$ for full service Marriotts and 1 FF mile per US$ for Courtyards and less.

The package of 120,000 FF miles to AA (and other airlines) comes from Marriott buying those points for you with MR points. And there's no mention of that in AA's message which concentrated on hotel stays.

I'm sure we'll hear from Marriott this week on the situation. It's highly unlikely the other airlines will follow AA's lead and that might just mean you switch your loyalty to UA, BA, or other airlines interested in frequent flyers.

We'll know soon, and can then make plans for the future.

Brian
 
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