Marriott Rewards SPG Points Transfer & Elite Status
The Marriott and Starwood merger becomes official today and it appears the company has made official their plans for how they plan to handle the two major loyalty programs in the short term. Specifically, we now know how points transfers and loyalty status will work between Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest.
Linking Accounts
You can link your Marriott/Ritz Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest accounts at http://members.marriott.com/.
Points Transfers
After linking your accounts, points can be transferred between the programs at a 1:3 ratio. That is 1 Starpoint = 3 Marriott Rewards points. An overall fair valuation I think.
Elite Status
Linking accounts will also provide reciprocal elite status. Elite status will be provided as follows:
- SPG Platinum = Marriott Platinum
- SPG Gold = Marriott Gold
- SPG Preferred Plus (Amex CC status) = Marriott Silver
- SPG Preferred = Marriott Basic
Interesting Observations
While there is a lot to analyze here and I did not get this information ahead of time like some other bloggers, here are my initial thoughts:
- SPG Gold can be had with an Amex Platinum. That gets you Marriott Gold which gives free breakfast at a lot of properties. It is a nice upgrade in status and a good match in that direction.
- Marriott Platinum = Starwood Platinum which is quite lucrative as well. Holders of the Ritz Carlton card can spend $75,000 now to receive that status although points earned on spending aren’t worth much.
- Starpoints can be transferred over to Marriott for Flight & Hotel packages. These packages can be used to help towards the Southwest Companion Pass.
Conclusion
For now I think we can be happy that the points transfers are at a somewhat fair value and that elite statuses have been matched between programs. What do you think about this news? Has Marriott been fair with their initial integration? What do you think we will see as these programs move towards integration in 2018?
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[…] Starwood has been purchased by Marriott and that means that SPG as a loyalty program has been put on notice. Sometime early next year Marriott is supposed to launch a new combined program for the Starwood, Marriott and Ritz Carlton brands. This means that the SPG Amex as we know it probably will be going away. […]
I am planning to use the Marriott flight and hotel package to get the CP from Southwest. Do you think we would be able to pick the 100,000 point SW package and then later book an SPG property for the weeks stay or will we have to stay within Marriott? I probably wouldn’t book the hotel portion for several months into the year.
Most hotel programs are cooperative and generous in letting a husband and wife pool separate points for an award, but it can involve phone calls and faxing in forms. cough – Hyatt.
SPG is the best because you can simply pool all points in a household by transferring them to single account.
This now means that you can pool Marriott points by using SPG, and if desired, transfer right back to Marriott in a single account.
I plan to pool our Marriott points for the nights and flights to get the companion pass in 2017, so I guess I can transfer the points without the fee from Marriott now. They wanted $10, I think.
such a great chain of hotels and hospitality thanks for the post
If I am SPG Platinum and matched to Marriott Platinum, do I receive United silver status?
Given this status match is new, there is no way to tell 100% because it could be a Hyatt MLife restricted scenario. HOWEVER… why dont you just try it now and verify? Registration required so thats the ultimate test after you SPG match. May take a few days for Marriott to register you although its “instant”.
https://mrrewardsplus.com
oh yea. btw. no way this relationship will last long. too rich. structure will be moded later in 2017 im sure.
Sounds like the leaks were real… holy shit… everyone was complaining about Marriott and potential deval but this is insane. status match is ridic.
Most likely people will mini AOR SPG Personal/Biz + Marriott Personal/Biz …. maybe this is CSR wave no. 2…
Do you think with this confirmed 3:1 transfer with status match, Amex would still bust out 35k again? because thats over 100k Marriott points! wow. this merger business is going much faster than i had expected… very interesting… But i guess Amex CC offer has nothing to do with whatever SPG and Marriott wants to do with 3:1 transfer rate… hmm…
SPG gold for life? platinum for life?