The so-called “global” quarterly promotion with which you could have earned 1,500 bonus Marriott Bonvoy points per eligible paid stay at participating hotel and resort properties worldwide — as well as earned 3,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per eligible paid stay at All-Inclusive by Marriott Bonvoy resort properties, as first reported with this article here at The Gate and gave an update with this article on Tuesday, September 21, 2021 — ended on Sunday, December 12, 2021…
Global Promotions are Not Global With Marriott Bonvoy Anymore?
…and I never was able to register for this promotion myself — even during its final days.
The message I kept getting when I attempt to register for this promotion is:
A Note About This Promotion
We’re sorry, but there was an error in directing you to this promotion.The reason for this error could be:
- You’re trying to access a miles promotion and are a points-earner, or vice versa
- You are not eligible for this promotion
- This promotion has expired
Updating your earning preference is fast and easy; simply sign into your account. For all other issues, please contact Marriott Bonvoy Customer Support.
I did have one stay which occurred during the promotion period; but I had not thought about this promotion when it occurred. I contacted Marriott Bonvoy via its official account on Twitter and asked:
@MarriottBonvoy I was never able to register for what is supposed to be a global promotion; and I have not earned bonus Marriott Bonvoy points for a stay as a result. Can you assist me, please?
The response I received from a customer service representative with Marriott Bonvoy was:
Hello, Please share which promotion you are inquiring about. For account security please provide the full name on the account, contact email and a past stay (date and location).
After giving the information, the customer service representative sent this message:
Hello Brian, We can enroll you as of today. Any past stays would not qualify for this promotion. Please let us know how you would like to proceed.
As I wrote in this article, “I cannot impart to you the terms and conditions for this promotion — simply because I do not have access to them” — and I never did have access to them. How was I supposed to know that “Any past stays would not qualify for this promotion” if I did not have access to its terms and conditions, I initially thought to myself?
I wrote back the following message…
Well, it’s not my fault that I did not automatically qualify for this promotion. I would like to be credited for that past stay. We are talking a total of 1500 points.
…to which the response was:
You may call Marriott Elite Services 800-321-7396 and speak to a supervisor. We would be happy to enroll you today though any stays prior to today cannot be added.
I simply wrote…
Very poor customer service.
The exchange ended with:
We sorry that you feel that way. That is the policy of the promotion. Have a good night.
I did not bother to waste my time continuing the discussion any further after reading that response. Instead, I followed the advice of calling the telephone number to Marriott Elite Services. The customer service representative with whom I spoke was not any more helpful or informative than the one via Twitter; so I asked to speak to a manager, who was nice and listened to what I had to say — but there was nothing she could do either. She did say that she would relate my experience to her “higher-ups” at their next weekly meeting.
No explanation was ever given as to why I could not simply register for the global promotion from my Marriott Bonvoy membership account. Was the reason a technology issue? Was I never supposed to be eligible to register for this promotion? Was it actually targeted and not open to all members?
Who knows?!?
Final Boarding Call
I understand that Marriott Bonvoy currently has several promotions in effect which are targeted for certain members. That is their prerogative, as they obviously conduct these targeted promotions based on their analytic data which is designed to further improve the bottom line in terms of revenue and profits. I am not targeted for any of those promotions — other than for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card, with which I could earn three free nights — and that is fine with me…
…but typically all members of a frequent guest loyalty program are eligible for a global promotion — and only a few seconds of effort are required for a member to simply register for the promotion. Several readers of The Gate also reported not being able to register for this promotion; and at least one reader suggested that I contact Marriott Bonvoy to have them register me: “Send a message to Bonvoy customer service. They registered me almost immediately.” Why should I — or anyone else — have to call to qualify to register for a global promotion?
When the IHG Rewards Club frequent guest loyalty program launched its Accelerate promotion for the summer of 2019 on May 1, I initially did not qualify to participate in it — but I did qualify for it the next day. I thought that perhaps something similar might still happen with this latest promotion from Marriott Bonvoy even though the promotion had already started — but that never happened.
Marriott Bonvoy failed with this past global promotion — as well as with the customer service over a measly 1,500 points — in my opinion; and that is not conducive to customer retention in the future…
Photograph ©2021 by Brian Cohen.
