SAT Lawyer

I also hope that Marriott returns to promotions offering certificates as a reward for completed stays.

vrbaba

And everyone loves them at UA and DL, so Marriott should adopt it too?

VickiSoCal

Random comments on a social media board will not change Marriott's mind. If one or two promos in a row without Certs don't provide the same incremental increase in bookings that promos with certs provided, certs will come back. If they were the same or better, certs are gone.

nineworldseries

This is the major reason (along with the devaluation) that I'm done with Marriott. The promotions are terrible, and the cat 1-4 and 1-5 certificates are not as useful as they once were.

tkey75

I'm in the liking the points category. I easily get the max every time, so there's no difference of a couple cat. 1-5 certs or 50k, but the 50k can be applied different ways.

I've also had success calling in and getting the points converted to certs in the past. Haven't tried this fall, but didn't need to.

sdsearch

It seems that most people can get their offer switched by calling up and asking. So the "top offer" is available to most people, it's just that many people don't expect to be able to stay 25 nights or so in the promo period, so they're not interested in the top offer.
I know nothing about LHW Leaders Club (must be a small program, I don't see a forum dedicated to it), but the other problems with Marriott's cert promos (besides being category-capped) is that they were stay-capped and had expiration dates. If you needed lots of nights/stays during the promo period, they "ran out" after just a few stays. So they're not so great for those who need a lot of nights anyway. Plus certs in all programs tend to expire, while points don't. I don't necessarily need those free nights every year, then some years I need a lot of them, and points let me do that, while expiring certs don't.

Of course, in a dream world, Marriott could be the first hotel program ever to introduce non-expiring certs. But IMHO that's is incredibly unlikely.

Having said all that, if Marriott wants to make one option be certs again, that'd be fine. (Or two options, or three options. Perhaps they could make it easier to earn capped certs, a bit harder to earn uncapped certs.)

sdsearch

Isn't the current promo (ending Jan 15) the second promo that did not offer certs? I seem to recall that the summer 2014 promo (which went by a different name) was the first to not offer certs.

VickiSoCal

You are correct! I forgot about the Getaway bonus. So given that they are continuing this pattern, I am guessing it is working for them.

dank0014

I have no problem with them rewarding miles per dollar spent. In the end, I break out ahead and I can guarantee you that many others would too.

Marriott already does this off the base spend, so running a promotion tied directly to spend is no different than what Marriott does in current practice.

VickiSoCal

Nothing yet.

vrbaba

jlb3

Got mine. This one seems like a twist.

Earn up to 35,000 points for rewards you love — from little luxuries to big vacations.

See Details
Make your reality more rewarding with MegaBonus.
To earn up to 35,000 points:
Register by March 31, 2015
Stay at participating properties between February 1 and April 30, 2015
Earn 15,000 points after 15 paid nights plus 2,000 points with every additional night, up to 35,000 bonus points

VickiSoCal

Yes, in the past the 2000 per night incremental bonus was only offered to the highest level, not the mid levels at 15/20 nights.

nineworldseries

Here's mine, in case anyone's interested. This will entice me into staying zero times at Marriotts.

To earn up to 24,000 points:

Register by March 31, 2015
Stay at participating properties between February 1 and April 30, 2015
Earn 3,000 points on every paid stay, starting with your second stay, up to 24,000 bonus points

NJUPINTHEAIR

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth -- that is quite good.

It appears that they are going alphabetical beginning with "A."