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The future of Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest is revealed tonight

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At 4.30pm EST (9.30pm in the UK) on Monday, Marriott will be hosting an event to reveal the replacement loyalty scheme for Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest.

It seems that the new scheme will be introduced from August, presumably with some sort of transition period.  Everything needs to be in place for 1st January so that members know what they need to do to earn or retain their status.

Marriott Starwood new programme launched

There are plenty of rumours swirling around, almost all of which are unsubstantiated so I won’t bother you with them.

We WILL get clarity on the new elite tiers and what will be required to achieve them

We SHOULD get clarity on whether key aspects of the old programmes, such as Marriott Travel Packages, will be retained

We are UNLIKELY to get any clarity on whether, in the UK, American Express will remain a partner – the future of the Starwood American Express credit card, the free Starwood Gold card for Amex Platinum members and the fate of Membership Rewards points transfers to SPG and therefore Marriott Rewards will remain unknown at this stage

More on Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on how much clarity is available before I go to bed tonight.


How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (December 2021)

There are various ways of earning Marriott Bonvoy points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

The official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card usually comes with 20,000 points for signing up, 2 points for every £1 you spend and 15 elite night credits per year.

You can apply here.

American Express Marriott Bonvoy credit card

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points sign-up bonus and 15 elite night credits Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points by converting American Express Membership Rewards points at the rate of 2:3.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Marriott Bonvoy Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Gold and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

American Express Platinum card Amex

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

You can also earn American Express Membership Rewards points with American Express Gold (20,000 bonus points), the American Express Rewards Credit Card (5,000 bonus points) and – for small business owners – American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus points) and Business Platinum (40,000 bonus points).

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Marriott Bonvoy points

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Comments (139)

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  • Roger I* says:

    OT: The US Travel Association’s annual sale of various travel deals is on, a day at a time – hotel and car rental points, theme park days etc.
    https://dailygetaways.ustravel.org/

    I was interested in today’s offer of multiples of Hilton points at 0.5 US cents. I had bought items in previous years. At first only AmEx payments were allowed. There was a workaround mentioned here to allow ‘aliens’ to buy. Now MC and Visa payments are allowed.

    However, address checking has been tightened up. Only US and Canadian states/provinces appear in the dropdown box, and there is a critical change: ZIP/post codes must match the cardholder’s address. I tried UK MC, Visa and AmEx cards and all were rejected.

    There still three or so weeks to go. Does anybody know how to adjust details to benefit from the offers?

    • Roger I* says:

      BTW today’s Hilton offer is sold out. The IHG offer from 11 April is still available, though much less interesting IMO.

  • RK says:

    I’m sure Rob will cover this in more detail

    Details on the Marriott/Starwood rewards programmes

    https://amp-businessinsider-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.businessinsider.com/new-marriott-rewards-starwood-ritz-carlton-hotel-2018-4

  • Tony says:

    How on earth have RR got into this position? At worst it could bankrupt them but Certainly is going to cripple new engine sales.

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.