ShopMyWay is an Internet shopping portal which once offered an easy way to earn Marriott Rewards points by shopping for items which you would purchase anyway at many retailers.
Earn Marriott Rewards Points By Shopping Once Again — But…
As of almost one year ago — on Sunday, January 15, 2017, to be precise — ShopMyWay suddenly no longer participated with Marriott Rewards; and any orders placed on or after that date will not earn Marriott Rewards points. No record of any announcement pertaining to that change was given in advance.
Fast forward to Tuesday, October 31, 2017, when Marriott Rewards MORE was introduced — not to be confused with the ShopMarriott Internet web site — which once again gave members of the Marriott Rewards frequent guest loyalty program an opportunity to earn points simply by shopping with the new mobile software application program and extension software for Internet browsers on computers.
You can earn an additional 1,000 Marriott Rewards points for your first transaction of a minimum of $25.00 — United States or Canada dollars — or £25.00; and if you pay with your Marriott Rewards credit card, you will earn a bonus of 25 percent more Marriott Rewards points after each transaction. These points are immediately available to use for your next purchase; a hotel redemption stay; and other items for which you can redeem points.
To download the mobile software application program on Android and iOS, click on the relevant link below.
Android:
http://go.lrgrewards.com/marriott-more-android-us
http://go.lrgrewards.com/marriott-more-android-ca
http://go.lrgrewards.com/marriott-more-android-uk
iOS:
http://go.lrgrewards.com/marriott-more-ios-us
http://go.lrgrewards.com/marriott-more-ios-ca
http://go.lrgrewards.com/marriott-more-ios-uk
Drawbacks and Disadvantages
The Marriott Rewards MORE shopping portal is currently only available to members in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom — although future plans are to expand it to other areas around the world.
“The convenient, one-stop shopping app and desktop extension enables members to get richly rewarded with Marriott Rewards points when shopping over two-dozen top retailer sites including Converse, NET-A-PORTER, Nike, Ralph Lauren and Sephora”, according to this article written by Dan Forman — who is the senior director of public relations for Marriott International — in the official NewsCenter for the lodging company. Also, you can “use Rewards Points or a combination of cash + points directly on top-retailer sites. The convenient tool bar visible on the app and the desktop browser links with each member’s account to display the number of Marriott Rewards points available for use.”
As of the time this article was written, only 21 total retailers are displayed at the shopping portal, which is certainly not “over two-dozen top retailer sites” — has the number of participating retailers been reduced since the introduction of the Marriott Rewards MORE shopping portal?
Summary
I have used the ShopMyWay shopping portal in the past. It was not exactly the most convenient way to earn Marriott Rewards points, as weeks may have elapsed until points were credited to a Marriott Rewards membership account; but it was an inexpensive way to keep Marriott Rewards points from expiring ever since a new expiration policy for Marriott Rewards points was announced back in August of 2015 and became effective as of Monday, February 1, 2016.
Prior to that expiration policy becoming effective, Marriott Rewards points generally did not expire.
I have only shopped at two of the companies in the past which are currently featured at the Marriott Rewards MORE shopping portal; and my frequency of shopping at them would be occasional at best. Additional retailers need to be added to the shopping portal if it is to be of much use to members, in my opinion.
I am also not thrilled about the extension software for Internet browsers for computers. Rather, the process of shopping should be completely integrated in the Internet browser through which one shops.
Whether or not the Marriott Rewards MORE shopping portal will be significantly improved in the future remains to be seen…
Photograph ©2017 by Brian Cohen.
