A group of hotel owners are sick of footing the bill for Marriott customers who cash in their credit card points for discounted stays.
Most of the Marriott hotels travelers encounter are owned by franchisees, not Marriott International. However, because they are still under the Marriott umbrella, they are expected to honor the company's Bonvoy customer loyalty program, including offering discounted stays to customers who've racked up points on their Marriott-branded credit cards.
The hotel operators absorb the cost of discounting rooms. With maximizing travel credit card rewards a favorite subject of travel buffs, the operators say they're feeling the squeeze and want Marriott to share the revenue from the loyalty program with the owners, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The company's Bonvoy program is popular; it added approximately 43 million members last year, and counted its total membership at round 283 million at the end of first quarter 2026, the WSJ reports. Marriott has said it expects that the fee revenue from its co-branded credit cards will rise 35 percent this year, nearing $1 billion, the outlet reports.
The hotel owners were reportedly under the assumption that Marriott was breaking even on its travel rewards credit cards, according to the WSJ. A group of 51 hotel owners — representing approximately 1,000 Marriott-branded hotels — sent a letter to Marriott demanding a bigger slice of the revenue the company makes from credit cards.
The owners are asking for, at a minimum, that Marriott match third-party booking sites like Expedia when it comes to reimbursing them for stays discounted through the loyalty program.
“Hotel owners are absorbing an increasing share of the program’s costs while Marriott captures an increasing share of its revenue,” the group wrote in its letter.
The demands were addressed to Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano and Chairman David Marriott.
In the past, Marriott customers could only generate loyalty program points by actually staying at Marriott hotels. The more they stayed, the more points they'd earn and eventually they'd be able to redeem the points for a discounted future visits. Marriott owners all paid into a pooled fund that covered the discounted stays.
Even if the hotel owners had to occasionally absorb a booking, the program still encouraged guests to use Marriott hotels regularly.
The loyalty programs work different today. Now travelers — depending on the programs they're using — can earn points by using their credit cards to buy groceries, gas, or various other items and then convert those points into travel points.
That means travelers can rack up a free night's stay without actually spending money at a Marriott hotel.
Marriott told the WSJ that it is taking the hotel owners' concerns seriously, and noted that it recently increased the compensation they're given for loyalty bookings on high-demand evenings. The hotel chain also shared some of the program’s financial information with owners for the first time, the WSJ reports.
The Independent has requested comment from Marriott International.
