[Update] Marriott seems to have noticed that people were making fun of its original slogan wording/timing, so it changed it. But honestly, the new one is still pretty cheesy... It is now: “All as One, Moving Forward with Marriott.” See the official WeChat post.
Marriott has now followed with its own policy update. For details, see the official WeChat post. Does this mean both beginners and veterans can extend their status? Not so fast—first, look at the key condition.
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Key Condition
To qualify for an elite status extension, you must meet the following requirement:
Members who earned elite status through eligible stays completed in 2019, and whose country/region listed in their member profile as of February 1, 2020 was Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, or Taiwan.
So if you changed your address temporarily a few days ago, you do not qualify. Marriott likely had little choice but to use February 1 as the cutoff, since too many people were changing their addresses at the last minute.
Customer Care Policy
Elite status extended by 12 months
Members who earned elite status through eligible stays completed in 2019, and whose country/region listed in their member profile as of February 1, 2020 was Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, or Taiwan will automatically receive the extension.
Suite Night Awards and free night certificates extended through December 31, 2021
Suite Night Awards earned through Annual Choice Benefits and originally valid through December 31, 2020 will automatically be extended through December 31, 2021. If you have already applied a Suite Night Award but have not yet completed the stay, you may call customer service to cancel the original reservation. The Suite Night Award will then be redeposited into your account so you can reschedule your trip.
Eligible free night awards earned through Annual Choice Benefits or promotions that were set to expire in 2020 will automatically be extended by 12 months from their original expiration date.
These updates are expected to be reflected in member accounts by the end of April 2020.
Points expiration waiver
For Marriott Bonvoy members with accounts in Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan, if their points were set to expire before February 2021, the expiration date will be extended to keep the account active. Beginning in February 2021, the standard points expiration policy will once again apply to members whose accounts have been inactive for 24 consecutive months.
Summary of Customer Care Policies
We expect more overseas airlines and hotel groups may join in with customer care policies. For now, here is a summary of the major ones that matter most to our readers:
Hotels
We guessed Marriott was still working on the slogan. Marriott actually has a larger and stronger base of upper-tier and top-tier elites, so this policy likely puts more pressure on Marriott than on others. The Chinese slogans from the major hotel groups have also been pretty memorable (the dates below are the address cutoff dates). In any case, credit should first go to IHG for being the first to take the plunge and set a good example.
- 02/17, IHG, Greater China [“Across Continents, Together with IHG”]
- 02/18, Hyatt, Asia-Pacific [“Awaiting Spring with Hyatt”]
- 02/19, Hilton, Greater China [“Hope Together, Moving Forward Together”]
- 02/01, Marriott, Greater China (this post)
[“When Winter Passes and Spring Arrives”][“All as One, Moving Forward with Marriott”]
Now that Marriott has also followed with a policy update, we expect more international hotel groups to do the same. For US readers, these four hotel groups are probably the ones that matter most (except Hilton). If additional hotel groups follow, we will not publish separate posts for each one; instead, we will summarize them on the homepage under 101 News.