Sheesh: New Marriott Hotel Brand Won’t Offer Elite Nights

Back in mid-2023, Marriott announced plans to launch StudioRes, its new “basic” extended stay hotel brand. As usual, it takes some time from when a brand is announced, until the first property actually opens.

With the first StudioRes property opening in the near future, Marriott has today revealed what Bonvoy members can expect when staying at StudioRes properties, and I’ve gotta be honest… this is kind of wild.

Marriott will offer no elite nights, 4x points, at new brand

Marriott has revealed what Bonvoy members can expect when staying at StudioRes properties. Most significantly:

• Bonvoy members won’t earn any elite nights for stays at StudioRes properties; most brands offer one elite night per night, and in 2023, we started to see one elite night for every two nights at select brands (and that only started in 2023)
• Bonvoy members will earn 4x points per dollar spent; stays at most brands earn at least 5x points, and stays at most full service brands earn 10x points
• Bonvoy members won’t earn elite bonuses on those 4x points, so even elite members won’t earn more points per dollar than that
• Spending at StudioRes properties will count toward the Ambassador spending requirement, which is currently $23,000

The one exception on the above is that Marriott Executive Apartments has offered one elite night for every three nights stayed, plus 2.5x points per dollar spent.

For some context on StudioRes, I mentioned above how this is a “basic” extended stay brand. At least when it was first announced, Marriott stated it hoped most guests would stay 20+ nights, and would be spending around $80 per night, depending on the market. However, there’s nothing preventing people from making shorter stays, so I have to imagine the average length of stay will be way lower than that.

What this Bonvoy policy says about Marriott’s growth

In isolation, Marriott’s 32nd brand having some strange policies when it comes to Bonvoy participation might not seem like a huge deal. But when you step back and look at the big picture, I think this perfectly sums up the “growth at any cost” ambition that we’re seeing at the major hotel groups.

Is Marriott Bonvoy a loyalty program that’s intended to get heads into Marriott beds, or is Marriott fundamentally an online travel agency, that’s just looking to take a commission on anything it can sell to members? It sure seems like the latter is the case.

Keep in mind you can earn elite nights and points at a faster pace when renting a home through Marriott, than you do staying at some of the brand’s hotels.

I thought it was a little extreme when Marriott started awarding half elite nights for certain brands, because elite nights are supposed to represent, you know, nights. But to see no elite nights at all for a Marriott brand… huh?!? Like, not even a quarter of an elite night, or one tenth of an elite night?!

The irony here is that Marriott Bonvoy will give away Platinum status with a credit card, and despite elite ranks being swelled, seems to offer an extended double elite nights promotion most years. Yet now we’re suddenly seeing the company get cheap with one of its newly formed brands.

What this ultimately comes down to is that Marriott wants to grow at any cost. The company wants to grow its net room count as much as possible, and wants to capture as much share of wallet for travel as it can, even if its not for its own hotels.

Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano isn’t even secretive about this. As he has said (jokingly), “I worry they’re going to put a ‘net rooms growth’ figure on my tombstone.” And more seriously, he has also said “we want to capture as close to 100% of your travel wallet as possible.”

So yeah, I guess that’s how we end up with situations like this. Clearly Marriott wanted to make the new StudioRes brand as low cost and attractive to developers as possible, and that came at the expense of loyalty perks. As usual, Marriott’s real customers are developers, and we’re just the product. But in this case, Marriott took it to the extreme with what it’s offering developers, if you ask me.

One wonders how members will respond to this. Marriott’s power comes down to its huge membership base, of over 200 million members. Will guests still blindly choose Marriott even without elite nights, or is this the point where members will draw the line?

Bottom line

Marriott’s new StudioRes brand is launching soon, and it represents a new low when it comes to Marriott Bonvoy participation. Stays at the budget extended stay brand won’t offer any elite nights, and will just offer 4x points per dollar spent, with no elite bonuses.

It’s disappointing to see this, but I also can’t say I’m surprised. Marriott wants to grow its room count at any cost, and I suppose Marriott thinks that hotel owners want a really low cost, high margin brand. Let’s see how members respond.

What do you make of these Bonvoy perks at StudioRes properties?