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Six months after the merger of Starwood Preferred Guest and Marriott Rewards, IT issues still abound with Marriott. The latest problem has to do with the Megabonus promotion that ran between September 2018 and January 2019. The promotion had two elements:

• 2,000 bonus points on all stays of two or more nights
• 1,000 bonus points per brand, starting with the second brand

There was also an added bonus for those who stayed at 10 or all 29 brands…

• 10,000 bonus points for staying at ten different brands
• 29,000 bonus points for staying at all twenty-nine Marriott brands

What has Gone Wrong?

The 2,000-point bonus for staying 2+ nights should have credited along with the stay.

The brand-based bonus was due to be added within 6 weeks of the end of the promotion – i.e. before mid-March 2019. However, reports are surfacing on Flyertalk that the brand bonus is only being received whenever stays at individual brands were also 2+ nights in length! I can confirm that this sounds correct, since I stayed at three brands, but only one of which involved a stay of 2+ nights –> therefore zero bonus points.

It might be possible to chalk this up to ambigious wording of the promotion’s terms, but luckily the fantastic “Starwood Lurker” on Flyertalk was quite clear on the matter. (having cleared it internally)

Here is what we got back after making our inquiries:

1. In regards to the part of the offer where you can earn 1,000 points for trying a new brand…There is no minimum length of stay, but you only earn it starting with the second brand. So if you only stay at one brand during the promo period, you will not earn this bonus. But if you stay at 2 or more brands, you will earn 1,000 points for each of those brands after the first one even if the stay is only one night.

How to Get it Fixed

It seems unlikely that Marriott will make it a priority to fix their mistake. After all, there would be a substantial temptation to not pay out points to those unaware of the error.  So you will have to call Marriott Bonvoy.

Some Flyertalkers have suggested that asking “to be transferred to the loyalty department” will help expediate your way past the regular customer service agents – and that the missing points will ultimately be added as a “goodwill adjustment”.

Conclusion

It is quite astounding how quickly Marriott is burning through customer goodwill, at least with those who are most engaged with their loyalty programme. Even though I’m sure that you have better things to do with your time, it appears that you’ll need to phone Marriott Bonvoy if you want to chase any missing bonus points from the previous Megabonus promotion…