More changes to Marriott Rewards - points expiry from 2016

It never rains when it pours, does it? At least that’s what Marriott’s thinking seems to be. After last week’s category changes that affected around 1200 hotels in the Marriott Rewards program, here’s some more disappointing news. Marriott will now start expiring points effective 1 February 2016.

 

To be honest, most of the other big programs (SPG, Hilton and Hyatt) already do this, ie, expire points after some level of inactivity. And in all fairness, Marriott Rewards’ terms and conditions always included a provision that expired points, but they never really enforced it. So here’s what’s going to happen. To quote Marriott Rewards:

Starting February 1, 2016, members who do not have qualifying activity in the prior 24 months will forfeit all accumulated points.

Since this takes effect 1 February 2016, you have until 31 January 2016 to have a qualifying activity, but equally importantly, here's what counts as a qualifying activity:

• Make a paid (or redemption) stay at a 3,800+ participating hotels worldwide
• Redeem points
• Make a purchase using a Marriott Rewards credit card
• Earn points with one of our program partners
• Purchase points
• Hold a qualifying meeting or event, including earning points through the Rewarding Events Program

And here's what doesn't qualify:

• Gifting or transferring points
• Receiving points as a gift or transfer
• Earning points through social media programs, such as #MRPoints

None of this applies to Lifetime Status members, so no changes for them, really. 

In all, I think I understand the reasons for this change. My guess is that the number of points held by members (including points that should have been expired but haven’t) would’ve grown so large that the corresponding liability for Marriott, at least on its books, is huge. And that could well have prompted this.

How do you think your strategy with Marriott is going to be affected by this change?