December 26, 2018 Integration Updates, Management Company Monthly Recap

December Monthly Integration Recap | SPG Hotels

Franchise Management Companies | Below is a recap of the key changes shared with – and tasks asked of – SPG branded hotels related to the integration this month. We appreciate your support in ensuring your hotels remain informed and engaged throughout this process.

As part of our continued effort to keep hotels informed, SPG hotels will continue to receive weekly email content via The Check-In, and Change Crews will have the opportunity to participate in bi-weekly webinars. The Change Crew webinars will be held every other Tuesday beginning January 8 through April 2, 2019. Properties continue to receive details and registration information via the Weekly Update.

Franchise management company contacts also have the opportunity to participate in twice-monthly webinars which are held on the second and fourth Friday of each month at 2 p.m. ET. Stay tuned to the weekly mi360 RUNDOWN for details, which will be shared the week prior to each webinar.

SUMMARY OF THIS MONTH’S KEY ACTIVITIES

Reservations Platform Stabilization
Hotel Websites Content Publishing Freeze
Retirement of Starwood Systems
EMPOWER: Guest Experiences (GXP) GPMS and FOSSE Phase 2 Deployment
Customer Engagement Policy Changes
Brand-Specific Q1 Game Plan

Reservations Platform Stabilization | SPG hotel teams have accomplished so much over the last several months to ensure a successful cutover to the Marriott Reservations Platform. We appreciate these efforts, as well as your support of your hotels, to make this integration a success.

Beginning Jan. 8, Change Crew webinars for SPG hotels will be hosted every other week through April 2 to ensure properties receive the information necessary to continue to acclimate to the Marriott Reservations Platform.
A series of in-market workshops will be hosted throughout Q1 and Q2. Additional details will be shared with properties via the Weekly Update and Change Crew webinars.
Training remains available within the Digital Learning Platform (DLP). Both pre- and post-cutover training is available. Post-cutover training includes reporting, data management and more. To view a full list of post-cutover training by function visit the Interactive Planning Tool on the Digital Learning Zone.

Prepare for Hotel Websites Content Publishing Freeze in January 2019 | Starting in January, Marriott Hotel Websites and Apps will freeze content publishing in preparation for the launch of the new Loyalty program name and identity later in Q1 2019. Hotels were asked to review the list of impacted systems and content publishing deadlines. Changes as well as content submitted during the freeze will not be published until after iT has confirmed all applications are operating correctly after the freeze is over.

Prepare for Retirement of Starwood Systems on Dec. 19, 2018 and Jan. 10, 2019 | With all SPG properties now live in the Marriott ecosystem, certain Starwood systems will be retired in the coming weeks. Hotels should review the SPG Application Retirement Guide to understand which systems are retiring when and any actions required by users before those dates.

Prepare for the EMPOWER: Guest Experiences (GXP) GPMS and FOSSE Phase 2 Deployment | In 2019, GPMS hotels and hotels on FOSSE PMS will begin the second phase of GXP (formerly GuestRequest/GXi) deployment and will go live with the full functionality of GXP in March. Hotels should prepare for the GXP FOSSE Phase 2 Deployment by:

Logging in to Land-It to begin the pre-deployment tasks and
Reviewing the FOSSE Phase 2 Deployment Cost One-Pager for a list of program costs.

Prepare for Customer Engagement Policy Changes; Submit Service Agreement by Jan. 21 | Effective Dec. 29, the CECs will realign from two previous legacy models – Starwood Reservation Services (SRS) and Area Regional Sales Offices (ARSO) and regional participation (for legacy Marriott hotels) – into one harmonized group called CEC Property Support Services. The completed Service Agreement must be submitted by Jan. 21 to take advantage of the new services. Review the fact sheet to learn more about the programmatic enhancements and key changes.

Review Brand-Specific Q1 Game Plan | The Q1 Game Plans are now available on The Check-In for your hotels. Game Plans are intended to aid hotels in their planning for the quarter by providing an overview of actions that will be requested of hotels by Marriott in the coming months. Review the Game Plan and share it with your teams so they are aware of all of the topics and activities required. Please note that GMs received their Q1 Game Plans via the Dec. 17 edition of the Weekly Update as well as via a direct email on Dec. 19.