“And looks like they’re already sold out (in 40 mins). I’ve been looking for a way to redeem my MR points for a while now, but outside of hotel stays the value is abysmally low. Do you have any suggestions on best way to redeem MR points at a decent rate?”
This Sale From Marriott Rewards Is a Disappointing Embarrassment
When I first received the e-mail message from Marriott Rewards to “Break out the nice list and use points to save up to 50% on gifts from KitchenAid, Michael Kors®, YETI®, and more” for a sale which would last for 24 hours, I figured that even though I was not interested in participating in this flash sale, I thought that readers of The Gate would benefit from it…
…but how would I know that only eight different items would be offered for sale — I still do not know the quantity of each item which was offered — only to be completely sold out within 40 minutes, as posted in the Comments section of this article by Sorab, who is a reader of The Gate…
…and with the countdown clock still ticking down the seconds at the top.
Summary
So exactly what purpose did this promotion serve? Was it to call attention to potential customers to “shop your favorite brands all year long”? If so, I would not be the least bit surprised if it was a colossal failure…
…and frankly, I am not sure that the offerings were even a good deal: 50,000 Marriott Rewards points for a KitchenAid mixer? 15,000 Marriott Rewards points for headphones? Perhaps they may be a good deal when compared to the regular prices of the eight items — but who would purchase these items at full retail price, anyway?!?
The terms and conditions did state that “Offers are extremely limited and are available on a first-come, first-serve basis for a maximum of 24 hours or while supplies last, whichever comes first.” Extremely limited is almost an understatement here, in my opinion.
Marriott International, Incorporated has invested a lot of time, money and effort over the years to build a respectable brand. Having sales such as this one is similar to what Hilton did with Hilton Select: the otherwise respectable brand is tarnished to a customer and can potentially erode trust and credibility.
I am stopping just short of calling on Marriott Rewards to apologize to any customers who were inconvenienced by this so-called “sale”, as they did nothing illegal, as far as I can tell — but if you are going to announce a sale, then at least have more items to offer during that duration of 24 hours; or at least replace the Internet web site with something that clearly indicates that the sale is indeed over.
Please accept my sincere apologies if you were inconvenienced by this “sale”, as I am embarrassed for highlighting it here at The Gate. Had I known that it was little more than a joke with little realistic chance for customers of being able to purchase even one single item, I would never have written an article about it in the first place…
…and the countdown clock keeps on ticking — there hours to go with a sale which actually ended yesterday…
Source: Marriott Rewards.
