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Marriott Bonvoy just cant shed their IT woes, or the ‘#bonvoyed’ tag for that matter. In its latest iteration of mishaps, their IT system triggered erroneous emails to members informing them of points sharing from their Bonvoy accounts. Cue for panicked members.
Marriott IT strikes again – Bonvoy shared points email
The email came with the subject line of “Thanks for sharing” and in large fonts ‘You Shared Points’ in the email body, followed by details of the transfer confirming number of points and account number. Exactly what is expected in cases of legitimate points transfer activity.
While it was easy to assume a hack or a phishing attempt, trying to gain access to personal information, a close look at the email confirmed it was yet another Marriott goof-up;
- The email came from official Marriott inbox (marriottbonvoy@email-marriott.com)
- Number of points transferred reflected the correct amount of shared points activity in each account, from the past
In my case, an activity from June 10th 2019;
- Account number reflected was correct
- Member Support and Change Password links pointed to the official Marriott pages/links
Marriott customer support has confirmed that it was in-fact an erroneous email sent by them. However, they were unable to confirm the extent of the impact, did the emails go only to accounts that had ‘points sharing’ activity? To accounts that shared and received points? Was it simply a case of extremely delayed email confirmations of previous points sharing activity? Social media and online forums suggest a mixed bag of data points. The number of members impacted however, is quite large.
Easiest way to confirm that no additional points left member accounts, is to review the activity page. On the heels of Marriott hack which exposed data of up to 500 Million guests, email goof-ups like this definitely trigger panic among members.
It would help if Marriott can send a follow-up email clarifying the mishap, and perhaps include some points as small token of apology. Wishful thinking?
