Case Study: Marriott achieves customer-centric loyalty and deeper member engagement with Loyalty360

Marriott - Customer Case Study

Loyalty360 documents how Marriott, through its Marriott Rewards program, faced the challenge of an aging, commoditized loyalty model: a 35‑year‑old mainframe system, disconnected email marketing, and a membership base competing for customers’ attention across many programs. Loyalty360’s case study highlights Marriott’s need to move from “share of wallet” to “share of mind,” unify a sprawling 30‑brand portfolio (later expanded by a 23 million‑member Starwood acquisition), and rethink rewards to drive emotional engagement rather than just points.

As reported by Loyalty360, Marriott redesigned Marriott Rewards around four pillars—Recognition, Simplicity, Exploration, and Connection—and deployed experience‑based tactics (points for reading emails, a Universal Music partnership, real‑time targeted emails, social monitoring centers, event access and contests). Those changes helped Marriott deepen year‑round engagement, generate social buzz (thousands of messages around a million‑point contest), and scale a program that now counts roughly 60 million members and contributes to Marriott becoming the world’s largest hotel company (5,700 properties, 30 brands, 1.1 million rooms), delivering measurable increases in member engagement and brand strength.

Marriott