Loyalty Program Integration

Marriott-Starwood merger

Combined three loyalty programs with 110M+ members into one unified digital ecosystem under a tight legal deadline.
Role: Lead UX Loyalty Designer, responsible for the digital loyalty experience, coordinating strategy and execution across enterprise-level departments

30 HOTEL BRANDS

3 PROGRAMS

14 TEAMS

DIGITAL LOYALTY UX

RESERVATIONS

REWARDS

PROMOTIONS

OPERATIONS

PRODUCT OWNERS

HOTEL WEBSITES

DEVELOPERS

QUALITY ASSURANCE

MOBILE

CUSTOMER CARE

BRANDING

STANDARDS

MARKETING

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

Two-Year Process

Over two years, loyalty programs and rewards were merged with a focus on user education, consistency, and intuitive flows to sustain member confidence and reduce customer service calls.

Merging Member Benefits

One part of the merge was tiered member benefits.

Goals

Merge The Ritz-Carlton Rewards, Marriott Rewards and SPG into one loyalty program.

Impact / Results

Legal Deadlines Met

Achieved ADA Compliance

Stable Customer Care Volume

Member Retention Maintained

Minimal Change Requests

Positive Press Coverage

Waterfall

Development was behind schedule so all teas adopted Waterfall in order to move quickly and keep the project on track. We executed carefully 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 create compliant designs from the start, preventing wasted QA cycles and avoiding rework.

Company collaboration was held in ballrooms

MERGE HIGHLIGHTS

  • Excited and informed members about upcoming changes.

  • Communicated merger benefits to preserve trust.

  • Effective communication enhanced member satisfaction.

  • Ensured omni-channel consistency.

  • Managed rewards spanning multiple companies.

  • Rolled out combined brand guidelines.

  • Educated members before linking accounts.

  • Limited stepper to five bullets to create a simpler impression for users.

  • Integrated common unhappy paths to preserve a streamlined flow.

  • Excluded edge cases from the main flow.

  • Educated members on complex awards, location, and usage.

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