(Hat Tip to Paul for the email)
Good morning everyone, happy TGI Friday. I have 2 short pieces of news to share. A few days ago, Marriott announced their new partnership with Netflix via this press release:
Bethesda, Md., June 10, 2015 – Marriott Hotels, the flagship brand of Marriott International Inc., and Netflix announced a groundbreaking partnership to revolutionize the guest room entertainment experience. Guests staying at select Marriott Hotels will be able to subscribe to Netflix or sign into their existing accounts simply by using the Netflix app on the hotel’s internet-connected guest room televisions.
Don’t get too excited just yet, only 6 Marriott properties will be available at the beginning, but more will be added throughout the year:
With this agreement, Marriott Hotels is the first hotel brand authorized to offer guests direct access to their Netflix accounts as part of its guest room entertainment offering. Netflix is currently available at six properties, with six more launching this summer. The brand plans to expand Netflix to 100 of its properties by the end of 2015, and to nearly all of its more than 300 properties in the U.S. by the end of 2016.
This feature will be built into the TV and not dependent on the WiFi speed in your hotel room. I don’t have a Netflix account or watch any of the “amazing” Netflix programs, but I am sure this is good news for some of you.
In other news, I have a love-hate relationship with Plenti (mainly that I love to hate Plenti points and their rewards program). If you are not familiar with Plenti, please read this Devil’s Advocate post. When I was looking around my Plenti account this morning, I stumbled onto Plenti Offers which has offers from the 8 current Plenti merchants. I activated them all and added them to my Plenti account. I will not go out of my way to complete any of these, but if I accidentally complete them, good for me.
Plenti also has Household Offers. I am not sure how these differ from Partner Offers. They look pretty similar to me. Who knows what is going on with Plenti?
Last but not least, Plenti is getting into the online shopping portal industry. The layout looks pretty familiar and easy to navigate. It has a similar look/feel as the Chase Ultimate Rewards Mall. I wonder if American Express was working on this as soon as they killed their own Membership Reward Shopping Mall. I didn’t have a chance to compare any of the Plenti Points vs. other online shipping portal rates, but my guess is that the Plenti Points deal is bad.
If you haven’t signed up for Ebates, sign up today and receive a $10 gift card after your first Ebates purchase. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. Have a great weekend everyone!
P.S. I will be flying out of SFO tonight, so I will be having dinner at the AMEX Centurion Lounge. Feel free to join me if you are at SFO tonight.
We stayed at the JW Marriott in Michigan area on 6/7/15 and Netflix was available to log in on our room TV.
Very cool, did you try it out? If so, did you like the interface?
Sorry, we didn’t have time to try it out, but thought it was a cool feature.
Ahh bummer. If you go back any time soon, check it out and let me know what you think.
Why use NetFlix when KODI is available for free. Bye Bye NETFLIX. Don’t know what KODI is? YouTube it. I run KODI on my Amazon Fire TV box.
Thanks for the tip about KODI. I’ll check it out.
http://www.cashbackmonitor.com/ has them included on the sites they track. Gosh I wish they would add British Airways portal as well. It’s at least as important as Plenti.
Thanks for checking CBM. I’m sure Plenti is not competitive with the other shopping portals.
Grant, I can advise how the Household Offers differ and why you are correct in hating Plenti!
The Household offers are administered by the same folks who administer http://www.savingstar.com and they are the same offers! You can earn either Plenti points or the cash back savings and I know which one I prefer to earn!!
Moreover, I was excited to see that Alamo car rentals would earn Plenti points, as well, until I learned that if you were to use a Alamo ID Number to earn FF miles or hotel points (my favorite is to earn CC points even though the program has been devalued, you can earn them at 1,500 points/rental day) you again can’t earn both at the same time!
Wanna bet which one I am going to choose to earn??
Colin
Thanks for the update Colin. I haven’t see SavingStar in a long time, but I’d rather earn cash back that Plenti Points too.
I love Netflix!
grant, cpl Qs:
1) can anyone sign up for plenti or do you have to get an associated CC to link to this program etc? from a lot of what I’ve read, it doesnt seem worth it. but it looks like you’ve joined so I’m reconsidering. how exactly does plenti keep track of your purchases at partner stores?
2) I just got an AMEX Plat – what exactly is the procedure to goto any of the Centurion lonuges. do you just walk up with your Plat and they check your boarding pass/swipe your Plat to let you in?
thanks!
You do not need a credit card to enroll in Plenti. I believe you can enroll online or pick up a temp card at one of the participating merchants. The rewards are not worth it right now. Hopefully Plenti adds new partners and has better redemption option, but until then, I wouldn’t bother with the program.
As for accessing Centurion Lounges, just take the Plat card with you to any Centurion Lounge and show them your drivers license and boarding pass for that day. You can bring unlimited family members or 2 other guests per visit.