Peril? A bit melodramatic considering we are choosing a hotel, hardly a perilous thing. We choose the best one for our needs. Many businesses are making a variety of changes and/or cutbacks. Changes to these programs come every year. There are annual increases to hotel categories, and the addition of Cat 8 this year was not unexpected. Regarding the point increases for awards, I expected them last year in the same time frame that SPG and Hilton raised their award levels.

I actually like one of the biggest benefits of economic downturns and that is lower prices, an item yet to be added to your list. My Sydney stay last month went from $369 AUD down to $289 AUD, and with the strong dollar my cost went from $350 to $189. My Hong Kong stay last month dropped from 1800 HKD down to 1035 HKD.

You also neglected to mention that due to the economic downturn Marriott is extending Platinum and Gold benefits for 2009 to many of its elites who did not qualify this year.

As far as the original assertion of bankruptcy, that won't happen to Marriott International unless the economy gets real bad and if that happens we have much more serious things to worry about than at what hotel we will stay. Now some of the individual hotels may go belly up, but that is what happens in hard economic times to hotels in weak markets; but that means that the owner of that hotel is the one most affected, whereas MI will have lost a revenue stream. Some of the current projects may get stalled or suspended (Fiji, Bali, Maldives - all of which are franchises and funded by the owners/investors, not MI), or some hotels like the Vail Marriott will use the next year to plan their next expansion to become a JW Marriott (also funded by the owner Diamondrock Hospitality, not MI). I am sure the same may well be happening to other hotel chains' hotels.

BTW, they (Vail Resorts) are building a new Ritz-Carlton next to the Vail Marriott. There is a boatload of new construction going on at Vail. Solaris, Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons just to name a few. Appearances here show no sign of a slow market. For their sake, I hope their gamble works. If not, I might actually be able to afford to buy some property at Vail in the next couple of years.