Skift Take
Marriott and Starwood are ready to pull the trigger on integrating their loyalty programs — but will their hotel and loyalty members ever be ready for the change?
The merger between Marriott's Rewards and Starwood's Preferred Guest loyalty programs is right around the corner, and as August 18 looms, it's still not clear how steady the ship is.
As Skift's Deanna Ting reported last week, the two biggest issues facing the hotel giant revolve around maintaining quality control among member hotels and keeping the loyalty program member ranks in line. Already, several hotels unhappy with the way things are shaping up have left the network, while other owners have complained about integration issues around meeting bookings.
On the other end of the spectrum, loyalty members remain precariously ready to jump ship as Marriott's competitors launch salvos of incentives to woo business away. Just last month, Hyat
