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Marriott International and MGM Resorts International announced today that they have signed a long-term licensing agreement that will see many of MGM’s properties integrated into Marriott Bonvoy and members in both programs should be able to benefit from the partnership (though we don’t yet have details about how benefits will work). This explains why Hyatt and MGM are ending their partnership on September 30, 2023. While I am very much disappointed that the partnership between Hyatt and MGM is ending, I imagine that the Marriott partnership will be more broadly useful for both sides and members alike.
Update: I tuned in to the press conference making this announcement. A couple of key notes:
- They said that the initial agreement is for 20 years and they hope to expand it, so this partnership is likely here to stay.
- We were told that they anticipate announcing how things like points and loyalty stuff will work before the October launch, but they weren’t ready to share details yet. One of the things mentioned in passing was how lounge access will work, so I have some hope for Marriott elites in that regard (though not huge expectations).
When will MGM properties partner with Marriott?
The new strategic partnership is slated to begin in October 2023. At this point, we don’t have much more information about the integration beyond what is included in the press release. It sounds like some properties will integrate with Marriott Bonvoy sooner than others:
Beginning in October, several MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy resorts will be available for booking on Marriott’s robust digital platforms, including Marriott.com and the Marriott Bonvoy mobile app, with all properties expected to be available by the end of the year.
The good news is that it sounds like that integration will be complete by the end of 2023, so we shouldn’t have to wait long to be able to book those properties through Marriott. The press release does note that members will be able to earn and redeem Marriott Bonvoy points at MGM properties, though we obviously don’t yet know what that will look like.
Where will MGM properties fall in the Marriott portfolio?
Of the 17 MGM resorts that will join MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy, four properties will also be affiliated with existing Marriott collection brands:
- Bellagio Resort & Casino will join The Luxury Collection
- ARIA Resort & Casino will join Autograph Collection
- Park MGM will become part of Tribute Portfolio
- The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas will continue its affiliation with Autograph Collection.
Eight MGM resorts in Las Vegas will join MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy:
- Vdara Hotel & Spa, MGM Grand Hotel & Casino
- NoMad Las Vegas
- The Signature at MGM Grand
- Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
- New York-New York Hotel & Casino, Luxor Hotel and Casino
- Excalibur Hotel & Casino.
Five MGM Resorts in other U.S. locations will also join MGM Collection with Marriott Bonvoy:
- Borgata (Atlantic City, New Jersey)
- Beau Rivage (Biloxi, Mississippi)
- MGM Grand Detroit (Michigan)
- MGM National Harbor (Maryland)
- MGM Springfield (Massachusetts)
What Marriott benefits will apply at MGM properties?
Unfortunately, we don’t yet know the answer to this question. I did follow up with Marriott, specifically to ask about the ability to choose complimentary breakfast as a Welcome Gift for Platinum members and above at those properties joining existing Marriott collections. All we know at this point is that more details will be coming in the fall.
Will there be opportunities to match status between Marriott Bonvoy and MGM Rewards?
Again, all we’ve been told so far is to wait for additional details. However, I am hopeful that we’ll see some sort of link between elite status levels between the two programs. Obviously members will want this and I think it will look like a significant downgrade from the Hyatt partnership if there isn’t a path for Marriott elites to get waived resort fees and free parking in Las Vegas.
Will Marriott Bonvoy members receive elite credit and earn points when booking directly through MGM?
This wasn’t entirely addressed in the press release, but given the wording of various sections of the release, I expect that Marriott Bonvoy members likely will earn elite credit and Marriott Bonvoy points when staying at MGM properties even when booked through MGM. I expect that since I assume both sides will sell this partnership as beneficial for their own members — and the most tangible way for MGM to do that would be to tell members that by booking direct with MGM, they can also earn credit and points with Marriott.
BetMGM partnership also announced
One thing I found particularly interesting in the announcement was under the section about BetMGM and Marriott Bonvoy partnering. On the surface, I expect this will mean opportunities for BetMGM members to redeem rewards for Marriott stays (most of the sportsbook apps have ways to use rewards points for some type of travel or experiences at poor value).
More interesting to me was this part: “Under this agreement, Marriott and BetMGM will collaborate to provide Marriott Bonvoy members opportunities to earn Marriott Bonvoy points on certain BetMGM transactions, and participate in exclusive games, experiences, and offers on the BetMGM platform. BetMGM Rewards members will have the opportunity to exchange BetMGM Rewards points into Marriott Bonvoy points. More information about the collaboration will be available this fall”.
As someone who has earned some MGM Rewards points, I’ll be curious to see how they can be exchanged for Marriott points. Furthermore, I wonder what type of transactions will offer the opportunity to earn points. Since BetMGM exists in a number of states, we’ll have to keep an eye on what this partnership means.
Since one can currently move points between MGM Rewards and BetMGM, I further assume this will mean a path to move points between MGM and Marriott. That certainly could be appealing in the right circumstances. While I would generally prefer to have Marriott points as I find opportunities to use them for outsized value, I could see someone with a very large sum of Marriott points being happy to redeem some of them at $0.01 per point toward their MGM folio if that ends up being possible with this connection (to be clear, we don’t yet know how this will work).
Is this a net win or loss for members?
Personally, I’ll find the loss of the Hyatt/MGM partnership to be a huge bummer. I’ve always picked MGM properties in Las Vegas specifically because of that partnership. I’m disappointed that it will no longer be possible to earn Hyatt points and elite night credits with MGM stays.
However, I have to imagine that this news is a net win for the vast majority of people. After all, while World of Hyatt has a large following in the loyalty program space, there is no denying that Marriott is much, much larger program with far more members who can benefit from this partnership. Obviously that means that Marriott can offer a much greater reach to market MGM’s properties, but it also means that a much greater number of people will benefit from the link between the programs.
While Hyatt is wonderful if its footprint works for you, it just isn’t an easy fit for everyone. Many Hyatt fans (myself included) lean on Marriott as their backup program since one can find a Marriott stay in almost any major or mid-major city (and indeed in lots of small cities and towns as well). Therefore, the ability to (hopefully) earn Marriott elite night credit and points with stays in Las Vegas should be broadly useful both for those whose primary program is Marriott as well as to those who view it as a secondary option.
Obviously this will hurt those who have enjoyed picking up cheap Hyatt elite night credits in Las Vegas (count me in this group), but at the end of the day I think the change to Marriott is the most broadly useful for the widest range of customers. I might have rather seen a partnership with IHG given the chance to earn milestone rewards cheaply with them, but realistically Marriott is the better fit all around.
Bottom line
Marriott and MGM will begin partnering in October 2023, after the demise of the partnership between MGM and Hyatt. We don’t yet have many details about how all of this will work in practice, but we expect that it will be possible to earn and redeem Marriott points at MGM properties by the end of 2023. We will certainly be on the lookout for more news on this front as it becomes available.
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[…] this month, MGM ended its long-standing partnership with World of Hyatt in favor of a new fling with Marriott that’s supposed to begin later this month in late 2023 in early 2024. We’ve already poured one […]
[…] this month, MGM ended its long-standing partnership with World of Hyatt in favor of a new fling with Marriott that’s supposed to begin later this month in late 2023 in early 2024. We’ve already poured one […]
I’m waiting to see what the status match will be and the weigh my options. If holding a Marriot AMEX with a $650AF will match and comp rooms in Vegas and AC for a year it might be worth it since I travel twice a year to Vegas and AC multiple times a year. Those resort fees, parking fees and room feels might just balance out. Wait and see at this point.
I agree with Nick’s rationale. But thing that was left out, is this: Marriott’s merger of SPG to their program was an absolute disaster. Causing thousands of SPG elites to migrate to Hyatt and Hilton. I envision this partnering will also be a clusterf***. Marriott only cares about one thing, their profits. I cannot see this being anywhere close to the type of partnership that Hyatt and MGM had. Think of it this way, how could Marriott Titanium be matched? MGM Noir? No way that is happening! Noir is by invitation and represents gambling of huge sums, consistently. I don’t think even Marriott Ambassador Elite, is good enough for Noir. Marriott Titanium will get MGM Platinum, at best. Marriott Platinum to MGM Gold, and MAYBE Marriott Gold maps to MGM Gold, but that is a huge maybe!
One of things that Hyatt was majorly burned on, was letting low value stays earn stay credits, probably the reason for their ‘divorce’. I cannot see Marriott allowing that to happen again. On the other hand, how can there be partnership if they don’t have some level of reciprocity?
I hate Marriott as a company with vengeance. I have the old SPG Amex card with the free night. Otherwise, I avoid them. Many years ago, I worked at Amex as a travel agent. Marriott was the slowest hotel to pay commissions. We were only to book them by customer directions and/or their corp. contracts. That is the reason there were no Amex Marriott cards for years and years. Marriott is a tightwad company.
And Marriott was already on the dance card. Marriott for years and years wanted no casinos in their hotels. Proof is how the Westin Las Vegas, closed its casino, right about the time of Marriott/SPG merger. In the case of this partnership and the Cosmopolitan, Marriott’s name isn’t on the signs. The Marriott-MGM Collection, please you have to be joking. This is not a marriage made in heaven. I venture to say it is more a marriage of necessity. Because all of the other casinos have marketing arrangements and MGM would be left out. Yeah, I would not expect big things from this partnership.
It’s almost certainly going to be horrible for us consumers. You can’t combine millions of Bonvoy members and tens or hundreds of thousands of MGM members, give everyone status, let everyone combine and use all those points, and expect nothing bad to come from that when the number of existing hotel rooms on the strip goes up 0%. The only thing that will come from this giant merger is a loss of benefits and massive devaluations. I suspect the only people who will ever be able to get any benefits for anything will be the very highest tiers.
Thanks Nick. I had no idea about BetMGM. Unless it’s a trivially simple program, maybe it will be worth writing a little about it. For example, in the future if I find a game with a very low payout and very low risk that also earns BetMGM points, could it be worth the small potential loss to “pay” for those points? Making a note to check on this after more details come out about the partnership.
Building off some of what’s been said already below, the silver lining I am trying to see is cheap elite qualifying nights at Marriott. With 30 nights in the bag between the personal and business Marriott cards and some nights of organic stay, I could see this being useful. Obviously still a bummer as I just requalified for Hyatt Globalist thanks to some cheap stays at the Luxor this summer, but not a horrible option.
Also curious how the status matching will work. Since I am currently MGM gold would love to see an MGM Gold Marriott Platinum merry-go-round
that’s wishful thinking. MGM Gold –> Marriott Platinum! hahahahaa.
Maybe Marriott Gold.
Would be great if what you say happened (have Gold in both)…but don’t kid yourself.
Given what they did with Hyatt (combining two upper levels at Hyatt into one at MGM) I guess it might make sense to do Marriott Gold and above matches to MGM Gold but MGM Gold only matches to Marriott Gold….but as people said below, there’s a lot of Marriott Gold members out there. It would seem strange to have it so out of balance like Marriott Platinum->MGM Gold but MGM Gold -> Marriott Gold. Maybe there is a precedent for that in one of the program matches?
Maybe they’ll wake up and say…we don’t like precious metals anymore. We’re moving to precious stones. Marriott Amethyst matches to MGM Opal. Marriott Sapphire matches to MGM Emerald (Emerald castle?), or is that MGM Jade?
I’m not very optimistic. Marriott executives are very vindictive and have shown great disdain for their members getting any semblance of good value. Remember how pissed they were when the SPG properties were loaded in after the merger with the max of 60k points, instead of waiting until they hiked the max up to 85k. They were HEATED. They hate anything remotely resambling “gaming” al a meeting “trick” for 10 enc.
“Heated” or “pissed”? We’re the ones that broke the story about the max of 60K points at all of the SPG properties and that stemmed from a conversation with two Marriott program executives at the SPG merger event. They didn’t seem heated or pissed at all to me – -they’re the ones who confirmed to us that it was coming.
The pulling of ALL inventory(including cash rates) at some of the desirable properties to stop members from redeeming points indicates otherwise. Also, this is only one indication of Marriott’s disdain for their members out of many over the years. I am curious if you think some mgm properties will only give 1/2 elite night credit? Like excalibur and luxor.
I’m not sure which properties you mean. I had a reservation at the St. Regis Maldives this summer. I had to change plans and cancel it, but as of about 2 or 3 months ago, I was looking at changing around the dates and there was still award availability. Yes, it is hard to find availability at the most desirable properties — but we covered some ways to do it on the podcast last week.
To be clear, I’m not arguing that Marriott’s primary focus is customer service or guest experience. You’re absolutely right that it isn’t. Well, it is, it’s just that Marriott’s “customer” isn’t us — it is hotel owners. I think the inconsistency in elite benefit offerings and certainly enforcement is indicative that hotel owners are the priority for Marriott.
I was just responding to the claim that executives were “pissed” when the SPG properties “were loaded in at 60K points” instead of waiting until the top-tier price went up to 85K as though that was an accident that they didn’t anticipate when in fact they told us about it in advance and we reported it well before the 60K pricing even took effect. The notion that it was a surprise and they were angry about it is a fabrication and I am somewhat uniquely positioned in saying that since we got that info straight from the horse’s mouth so to speak.
Could I imagine them giving half elite night credit at some places? Yeah, I could imagine that. I would bet against it because I think the hours it creates in paying phone agents to calm people down and explain that to them when they call upset probably isn’t worth the cost savings, but maybe they will disagree with my assessment on that.
While I was sad to see Hyatt/MGM partnership to end. Despite of how Marriott customer service is. I think this overall will be a better partnership for many more customer as a whole
Consolation and reshuffle in the hospitality industry has always brought tears and smiles, depending on where you land. Aside from the FNC’s from 3 AMEX CC’s, I’ve shifted my focus and attention away from Marriott, in large part due to the lack of franchisee compliance and of course the devastating SPG demise. I always keep 200-300 Bonvoy points at bay, just in case. Not being a casino person, it’s doubtful this lateral movement by MGM will tip the scales for me one way or the other. However, sometimes exciting discoveries are made in the midst of the turmoil. I’m currently Lifetime Marriott Platinum, so cheap EQC’s are of no consequence to me.
“cheap EQC’s are of no consequence to me” — far be it from me to convince you otherwise, but to speak to your situation (or potential situation), assuming that two of your Amex Bonvoy CC’s are at least one consumer and at least one business card, you are starting the year at 30 or 40 elite nights. I know you don’t need to hit 50 for free breakfast since you’ve got Lifetime Platinum, but you might decide that you are close enough to 50 to consider bridging the gap to pick up some Suite Night Awards. Recognizing the limited use of those awards, I could imagine a scenario where someone decides that finishing up the final 5 or 10 nights at a cost of $3/nt (if those types of opportunities still exist and count) is, well, worth the gamble.
You certainly make a strong argument for this Nick. I do recall some ultra cheap nights in Vegas under the Hyatt banner. Hopefully, this will also be the case under Marriott management. Where were the 3 bucks nights found? It seems I saw $12-25 nights.
$3 is overvaluing what SNA’s are worth.
They were mostly at Excaliber and Luxor, but some at NYNY as well. I had a reservation at Luxor and 4 of the nights were $8.
I wonder what the status match opportunity will be? I would assume that is will be Marriot Plat to MGM Gold. Gold to Gold would be too good to be true.
agreed – so many people have Bonvoy Gold there’s no way they would allow Gold to Gold
Likely, although hyatt explorist translated to mgm gold. Hyatt explorist requires 30nights vs marriott gold requires 25night, granted that doesn’t account for the ease of getting marriott gold thru cc/amex plat.
How one may wish, but would seem very unlikely indeed.
Was thinking about this myself. Assuming (hoping!) there is one, I tend to think Marriott Platinum to MGM Gold is more likely. Any ideas on number of Hyatt Explorist vs Marriott Gold members? My gut is they’d want it available to less members than more Then again maybe they’ll keep it simple since MGM has Platinum as well.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Marriott Piat gets MGM Platinum. I just looked on the MGM site for the benefit differences between categories. Gold at MGM is all you really need. All the good perks for MGM Platinum still require a high level of MGM tier points which will likely draw people into trying to meet those levels by gambling and spending focused at MGM resorts vs the competition down the strip. It’s one of those ‘friendly traps’ that people obsessed with status perks are sometimes willing to overspend to ‘earn’.
Well that was quick