[lilquigs]

1st week of Feb 2012, I was browsing Delta's Skymiles page to redeem my miles for a 1night stay at a hotel. Logged in a few days later and can no longer hotel options. Only air and magazine subrscriptions. I email their customer service dept and was informed that as of Feb10, they've changed their policy. Non-US Skymiles acct holders no longer have access to hotel and car rental redemption. I was annoyed because 1- there was no notification of such changed 2 - I was about to purchase additional miles so I can stay maybe 2nts as oppose to and I would've been hooped! I went back to the newsletters I get from them every month and there was no notification of such change. This is the first response I got.

Thank you for your e-mail to Delta Air Lines inquiring about SkyMiles
Marketplace to book an hotel reservation. We apologize for any kind of
inconvenience caused to you.

Effective February 10, 2012, SkyMiles Marketplace will become an
exclusive benefit for all U.S. based Delta SkyMiles Credit Cardmembers
from American Express. We realize that SkyMiles Marketplace is a popular
way for many of members to use their miles; however, we have decided to
limit redemptions to our co-brand card holders only going forward. As
analternative, you can visit delta.com/usemiles to explore other ways you
may use your miles. We appreciate your interest in Delta Air Lines.

So this is what I sent back

Thank you for your prompt reply. This is certainly an inconvenience. I
was about to purchase more miles in addition to my existing ones in
hopes of booking a hotel. Good thing I didn't as I would've been very
disappointed. I understand that you have to make changes and
limitations but did you make your non-US based clientele aware of this
ahead of time so we could've been given options on what we would like to
do with our miles? Like I previously mentioned, I was browsing online a
few days ago in hopes of booking a hotel and no where was a
notification of such change.

Whether Marketplace is powered by another company or not, it is unfortunate that you didn't even give your clients the respect of notifying them before you changed your policy. What's the point of sending monthly newsletters via email if you leave that important part out. You simply cannot pass the blame to American Express when YOUR customers are carrying/collecting DELTA SKYMILES....its not called American Express Skymiles. Extremely poor customer service! It definitely goes to show how you value your customers.

Your alternative suggestion is not satisfactory. The remaining option
does not work for my needs as I have no use for magazine subscriptions
and frequent air travel is booked by my work. As this change is recent,
I am hoping that there is something you can do about this situation that
would enable me to still redeem my miles for a hotel.

Delta's customer service supervisor got back to me with this email.

Thank you for your e-mail. We regret any misunderstanding that may have occurred concerning our procedures.

We have again reviewed the matter; unfortunately there is nothing we can add to what has already been stated in our previous correspondence.
Respectfully, we must decline your request. Please know that any
further communications would be repetitive and likely would not prove to
be productive. As such, we will not be responding to this matter again.
Please accept our apology for the unfavorable impression you received in
this instance. We appreciate your selection of Delta and will always
consider it a privilege to be of service.

Thanks Delta!!