Marriott Leak Hints at New Program Name and Elite Tiers
It's been 26 months since the Marriott and Starwood merger was inked and three months since the Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest and Ritz-Carlton Rewards loyalty programs merged. Since April, Marriott has said that the combined program would operate under a new name starting in early 2019. Despite 2019 being just over a month away, Marriott still hasn't announced a loyalty program name.
But now, we might have the answer from a leaked website and trademark filings. An eagle-eyed One Mile At A Time reader found a now-removed development webpage introducing the new name: Marriott Bonvoy.
But there's more changes to come than just the program name. Two elite status tiers are being renamed in 2019:
- Platinum Premier Elite => Titanium Elite
- Platinum Premier Elite with Ambassador => Ambassador Elite
In addition to this testing website, Marriott filed a trademark for the name "Marriott Bonvoy" on October 30. The description of the trademark provided to the US Patent and Trademark Office said:
Advertising, business management, business administration; office functions; incentive award programs; promoting hotel, resort, airline, car rental, time share, travel, and vacation services through an incentive award program; organization, operation and supervision of loyalty programs.
A statement from Marriott International to TPG confirmed, "We know there is tremendous interest around the new name of Marriott International's loyalty program. We look forward to sharing all of the details in early 2019. Until then, we have no additional comment."
While a testing page and trademark filings are pretty clear signs that these are the details of the new program, Marriott could still be testing a few different names.
What do you think of the new name? Sound off on TPG's Instagram Story poll.
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