Marriott International CEO Arne Sorenson sent a letter to the company’s loyalty program members last week in light of the merger with Starwood Hotels and Resorts.
Sorenson’s letter was titled, “One Step Closer to More Choices for Marriott Rewards Members.”
Here is the text of Sorenson’s letter:
“We’re excited to announce that we’ve secured shareholder approval for Marriott International to join together with Starwood Hotels & Resorts—a significant milestone toward creating the world’s largest lodging company and strongest loyalty program in the industry. Since we announced our plans to merge with Starwood, you’ve raised questions about the impact of the merger on your membership and the Marriott Rewards® program. I want to take this opportunity to provide an update on where we stand.
Serving our valued guests has always been our priority at Marriott, and your feedback is important to us as we collaborate with Starwood on the vision for our loyalty programs.
After we become one company, we expect to run parallel loyalty programs while we engage in the complicated work of integration. During this period, there is no change to how you manage your Marriott Rewards account or book reservations, and you will maintain your existing member benefits for some time. In fact, we don't anticipate launching a newly combined program until 2018.
The good news is that we have many possibilities ahead of us because Marriott and Starwood both have great loyalty programs. We intend to draw upon the very best of both Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest® (SPG®) to provide even more value to our members.
Here are just a few of the future opportunities we’re excited about:
Giving our members access to our collective portfolio of 5,500 hotels and resorts in more than 100 countries.
Offering even more unique benefits to help members pursue their passions and greater opportunities for exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
Personalized and relevant service before, during and after the hotel stay.
In the meantime, we’re actively exploring ways to build bridges between the two programs to further enhance your experience.
Marriott remains committed to evolving our Marriott Rewards member benefits. Our recent announcement of Marriott Rewards Member Rates is the latest way we’re showing our loyalty to our members. These new rates are exclusively designed to reward members with the lowest rates available across our portfolio when booking directly on Marriott.com, our easy-to-use app, our call centers or through select corporate travel professionals.
We are grateful for your loyalty, and we are listening to you and taking your input into consideration. Our merger is on track to close midyear, and as we have more news to share, we’ll reach out to you. In the meantime, we will continue to provide you with the exceptional service and travel experience you have come to expect from us at Marriott. You can find the latest updates here and via Twitter (@marriottrewards), and as always, reach out to us through our hotels, at marriott.com, in our Marriott Rewards Insiders community, on the Marriott app or via our call centers.
Thank you for your continued loyalty, and happy traveling!”