For my travel habits, this is really bad news.
My most frequent use of points is to tag on a two or three night weekend stay when I get a business trip to a good location. The category 8 properties in London and New York will be particularly painful. It wasn't that long ago when the Marriott East Side was just a category 6 property!
With the elimination of the Stay Anytime awards, does that mean fewer rooms will ultimately be available? Does this affect the reimbursement by Marriott to the hotel for award stays? It was my understanding that Stay Anytime awards were reimbursed at a much higher rate than Standard Awards (which was practically nothing).
I wonder how the properties feel about this news.