Hell hath no fury like a loyalty program member scorned. Grousing about Marriott's IT systems has become almost de rigeur among Bonvoy loyalty program members, but this month, a new campaign took complaints to a new level. Launched by three activist loyalty members, bonvoyed.com aims to showcase latent issues with Marriott's IT systems as well as offer unhappy customers a path away from the brand.
Crowdsourced complaints on the site range in variety. Some complain about the ways in which Marriott has handled merging its system with Starwood Preferred Guest. Others fume about hold times when calling customer service. According to the owners of the site, those who submit complaints will eventually be offered status matches to other, competing hotel chains like Hilton or Hyatt.
None of the IT issues, of course, are quantified in terms of the scale of the affected users — only Marriott knows what percent of its members are having difficulties and it would be problematic to release that data. What the new website does show, however, is just how apoplectic some Bonvoy members really are. To win these customers back, Marriott will need to put in some serious time in the confessional.
