Loyalty Program Integration

Marriott-Starwood Merger

Combined three loyalty programs with 110M+ members into one unified digital ecosystem under a tight legal deadline.

Make it stand out.

  • 30 Brands

  • 7,000+ Properties

  • 3 Loyalty Progras

  • 110M+ Membe

3 Loyalty Programs

3 Loyalty Programs

30 Hotel Brands

Challenges

Project Velocity Lagging

Collaboration Inefficiencies

Complex Loyalty Programs

No User Testing

Development Process

Thoroughly vetted upfront requirements left no room for adjustments.

Define

Define

Develop

Design

One part of the merge was tiered member benefits.

Goal Highlights

Merge 3 large-scale complex loyalty programs with 110M+ members within a strict deadline.

Impact / Results

Legal Deadlines Met

ADA compliant

Limited customer care calls

Positive influencer posts

Strict Legal Deadline

Development was behind schedule so all teas adopted Waterfall in order to move quickly and keep the project on

DIGITAL LOYALTY UX

RESERVATIONS

REWARDS

PROMOTIONS

OPERATIONS

PRODUCT OWNERS

HOTEL WEBSITES

DEVELOPERS

QUALITY ASSURANCE

MOBILE

CUSTOMER CARE

BRANDING

STANDARDS

MARKETING

Waterfall

Development was behind schedule so all teas adopted Waterfall. We executed with no time for user testing. Every design decision relied on our expertise to produce high-quality outcomes and rely on our knowledge of ADA requirements to prevent wasted QA cycles and rework.

Rented-out hotel ballroom Company collaboration was held in ballrooms

Cross-Department Collaboration

14 departments across the company had to come together each with their own set of priorities.

MERGE HIGHLIGHTS

Make it stand out.

  • Points Coversion

  • Status Matching

  • The Ritz-Carlton Rewards

  • Marriott Rewards

  • Starwood Preferred Guest

  • Marriott Bonvoy

  • One Brand

CASE STUDY: Free Night Awards

$500,000 Fire

The Rewards Team had lost $500,000 in one month due to changes in the Free Night Awards redemption.

Three Phased Solution

Phase 1

  • Taxonomy rollout #1

  • Communicate users on award changes

Phase 2

  • Taxonomy rollout #2

  • Communicate users upcoming award changes

Phase 3

  • Taxonomy rollout #3

  • Change “Free Night Award” benefit

Result

The fire had been put out.

Efforts Validated Post Release

Bottom-line impact in UX design is often difficult to quantify, making it particularly noteworthy when positive user sentiment serves as a qualitative measure of success.

”The [account linking] process is very simple”
- The Points Guy, 1.8M followers