The Marriott Insiders forum — through which members can discuss virtually anything which has to do with Marriott International, Incorporated and its portfolio of hotel and resort properties under an umbrella of 30 brands — has been shut down to read-only status effective as of Friday, April 3, 2020 with advance notice of only one day…
Yes, Marriott Insiders Forum HAS Shut Down and Moved
…and the site itself will be permanently shut down altogether effective as of Wednesday, July 1, 2020 with no plans on resuscitating it in the foreseeable future; so you are advised to save any content before then which you do not want lost forever.
The complete message is shown verbatim:
Hi Insiders,
For several months, we have been evaluating the best community platform to transform Marriott Bonvoy Insiders into a more contemporary experience.
Last fall, we conducted a survey, asking for your feedback on how Insiders can be improved. You told us that you wanted a community platform that was reliable, easy to navigate, and accessible from your smart phones.
After an exhaustive review of the available options, we concluded that Facebook Groups offers the best experience for Insiders. So, we will be moving the Marriott Bonvoy Insiders community to a new Marriott Bonvoy Insiders Facebook Group on Friday, April 3.
We understand that this news may be disappointing to some of you, but please know that we’ve ensured that the newly created Insiders Facebook Group will function much like Insiders does today. It’s a place for you to connect with other like-minded members about our travel program. It’s also a place where we continue to welcome your valuable feedback on Marriott Bonvoy. The same Insiders Community Managers will continue to provide support in the Insiders Facebook Group.
Join us in your new Insiders Facebook Group here. We invite you to continue building a strong and engaged community in this new space and can’t wait to welcome you there!
Thank you so much for your loyalty and support over the last 10+ years of Marriott Bonvoy Insiders. Hope you and your families are staying safe and well.
-Community Managers
Marriott International, Incorporated does not have a good track record with informing its customers about the status of the Marriott Insiders forum. For example, the forum was inoperable and inaccessible since Friday, December 7, 2018 through at least Tuesday, December 11, 2018 with no official notice or mention of its fate, which had caused concern among some members that the popular forum had been shut down permanently.
Summary
“We’ve known for a long time that the current Insiders platform has been unreliable and was no longer reflective of the exemplary experience we wanted to provide you, as some of our most loyal members. This decision was made after several months of evaluating alternative community platforms.”
Considering that the timing of shutting down the Marriott Insiders forum is not merely serendipitous as the 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic is simultaneously still flourishing around the world and wreaking havoc on the economy, I personally believe that the actual reason is simply cost savings during difficult times for the lodging company — especially as the forum is being moved to a platform which is significantly less expensive overall.
Regardless of whether times are difficult, things which should be relatively simple to fix — such as poor communications with customers — easily casts a negative shadow on the largest lodging company in the world.
Photograph ©2017 by Brian Cohen.
