Rumor: 2014 Marriott Rewards Hotel Category Changes?
 

I was speaking to a trusted source within Marriott International very recently for an unrelated matter. Later in the conversation, they mentioned to me that several current category 6 properties (~ 25% or so) would be downgraded to category 5 in spring 2014. This specifically so that the cat 1-5 certs can be redeemed for stays there.

I asked if they could specify any on the top of their head, but they did not have further details. They did mention, however, that ever since the 2013 category changes (several cat 4's converted to cat 5's, and several cat 5's converted to cat 6's), many Marriott properties have seen a drastic drop in redemption levels, causing them to lose significant revenue. Significant enough to serve as an impetus for what appears to be a forthcoming partial re-valuation.

That's all the details that are known / were shared with me.

One place we like to use the certs Aruba Ren. flops between a 5 and 6 all of the time. I think its partially because of the certs. I think many cat 4's went to 5 last year because of the megabonus promos that put may cat 4 certs in the field. Self fulfilling.

makes sense as the increases FAR outnumbered the decreases and wasn't reasonably linked to the # of redemptions as alleged for the lopsideness........

This sounds great. The only thing I wonder is how many hotels will really move from Cat. 6 down to 5. If the reason for this downgrade is revenue, then I'm curious how Marriott and the properties book the revenue from these certs.

Prior MegaBonuses had Cat 1-4 certs, but the latest MegaBonus only offers the Cat 1-5 certs. I thought the reason for this move was to keep the number of properties eligible for cert redemption about the same as prior to the 2013 category changes.

I hope that if this is confirmed the certificates in next year promos do not go back to
Cat 1-4:rolleyes:

that's a great news thanks. No cat5 hotels in boston...or anywhere close to boston.

doesnt make much sense to me, I know of some props that deflagged due to the large # of award nights they were getting and not enough paid nights from MR.

The rate the hotel gets is very little so I cant understand why any hotel will go out of its way to get more people staying on award nights

i have to wonder how much a hotel gets on a certificate based night. a couple of years ago i used my cert at a courtyard (for some reason) and the front desk really messed something up and instead of using my cert (despite making the reservation through the 800 number) the hotel charged me the amount the hotel gets from corporate for cert usage and my certificate ended up staying in my account.

i was charged..$13.50. when I stupidly called about it the rep put me on hold and came back in a frenzy saying the hotel charged me what they get from corporate for some reason. he told me he would get it taken care of and I hung up. The bill was refunded and cert was debited from my account later in the day.

$13.50 is nothing really so they must really hope for cert and maybe even points users to hit the restaurant options and other stuff to make up the difference.

Little revenue is better than no revenue. Ie, if those rooms would be empty otherwise, then it's ofc better to get people to stay on award nights at least.

that may be true if it was $0 cost to a guest in a room. But theres a break even $ amount per room and between wear and tear, water , electric, heat or a/c usage. Cleaning the towels and sheets toilites and time for housekeeping to redo the room, thats besides using the hotels facilities. I will stick to what I said and a couple of mgrs told me , it costs the hotel more then what Marriott pays them

this is also why roomsaver rates are alot higher and many hotels have dropped it, and why PL is also higher then it used to be. Yea occupancy rates are higher but so is the braekeven rate per room. No its cheaper to let the room go empty then to give it away below your break-even amount

As far as award nights - don't hotels control them to some degree thru capacity controls and availability?

whats the difference if they do or dont, either way they end up with less $$ then their break even costs. They hope that they get alot more paid reses off of MR to more then offset that.

My pt was why would any hotel want to go down in cat #, in order to get more award nights booked and get less $$ from MR for that. A cat5 will get less $$ then a cat 6. Doubt their breakeven amount goes up or down according to their cat #

I admit that I dont remember how things work Award night wise, dont recall if its like SPG where if theres a standard room avaialble for sale then its available for pts (or should be)

Unfortunately, no they don't. I do believe that each hotel has to make a certain percentage of standard rooms available for awards (but not all of them) and that they have to provide award rooms for every night (i.e. no Blackout dates.)

If I remember correctly, I think that Starwood compensates their hotels more if it reaches a certain occupancy level (i.e. 90-95% or something like that.) It may be possible that Marriott does so as well. If that is the case, then it may be in a hotel's best interest to try offer more award nights if it can help get the occupancy level above that threshold.

with SPG if the hotel ends up at that magic % then the Hotel gets the reg rate for the award rooms.

Even if MR does the same since they have no idea if they will reach that magic % #, why would they want to go down in cat to get more people to stay on awards, the chances are they wont hit that # and will end up getting less $$ from HQ. Yea during peak season it might work for them but overall I cant help but feel they end up on the short end of things

Hilton used tohave teh Diamond force even on Award stays and paid teh going rate to the Hotel instead of the few bucks they would have had to for a reg award stay. that went the way of the doo-doo bird, once Blackstone took over.HQ wasnt pay 1 cent more then they to

wasn't there a NY hotel (don't recall which brand) that was recently caught riggin' the % in order to bill rack rate to HQ ????