Marriott Bonvoy And The Struggle Bus

"The blogs are being told policies before Marriott reservation agents even know whats going on and certainly before front desk agents. No one knows what’s going on.”The Marriott and Starwood merger has been anything but smooth and leadership of the combined portfolio continues to display tone deaf responses to loyal customers. This week Richard and Ed Pizza discuss the continuing struggles of the new Marriott Bonvoy program, how it got to where it is, the current state of trying to be a Marriott Bonvoy loyalist and what Marriott can do to right the ship. Show Timestamps1:12 — Happy Travel Day2:21 — Bonvoy Merger Disaster3:51 — Problems attaching award certificate for an award night? Points advance bookings and more5:19 — Marriott is broken master thread6:55 — New Bonvoy Co-branded card discussion7:34 — Marriott's tone deaf responses10:33 — Has anyone never needed a passport to make a hotel reservation? Probably not18:07 — What could Bonvoy and Lolo Jones have in common?20:18 — “Bonvoyed”24:00 — Is there hope? What Marriott needs to do to improveToday's GuestEd Pizza founded the Pizza In Motion blog on the Boarding Area network. He's considered one of the preeminent voices in the loyalty program space and is a successful entrepreneur. ResourcesMarriott Is Broken #MasterThread in Award Travel 101Bonvoyed.comContact Marriott Where to Find UsThe Award Travel 101 Facebook Community.To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.You can also email us at [email protected] your Award Travel 101 Merch hereReserve tickets to our Late Summer 2026 Meetup in Milwaukee now. award.travel/mke2026Our partner CardPointers helps us get the most from our cards. Signup today at https://cardpointers.com/at101 for a 30% discount on annual and lifetime subscriptions! Lastly, we appreciate your support of the AT101 Podcast/Community when you signup for your next card!Technical note: Some user experience difficulty streaming the podcast while connected to a VPN. If you have difficulty, disconnect from your VPN.