Time to sound off.

Marriott has not only massively devalued its point program (like Hyatt, Hilton and the others have recently), but still maintains the most inflexible award program for award redemption, because of their ridiculous "certificate" system, which requires planning weeks out - no last-minute trips allowed!

I don't see how anyone can find "increased value and flexibility" in the changes that were just made. What marketing schmuck writes this material?

1. Whereas Marriott points were always valued in the 0.8 - 1.0 cent range previously, the inclusion of airline awards values them at about 0.4 cents. More options = less value.

2. Marriott gift certificate awards range from 0.3 to 0.5 cents. More options = less value.

3. The Terms and Conditions mentions that the old Award Chart can be used for a few more months, but it is not made available on the web site. Lousy.

4. Car rewards: 3 weekend days in a rental car (value = under $100 anywhere) for 30,000 points? More options = less value.

5-15. The other classes of merchandise awards are just as devalued.

16. For those of you who want to find out what hotels are in each category, the web site requires 50 manual searches, one for each state. Not as bad as Hilton, which requires 250 searches to do the same thing.

17. The "50% additional" points for "Anytime" awards is unfortunately the way the entire industry is going, and gives them an excuse to effectively devalue the awards another 50%. I'm willing to bet that there will be properties (just like airline flights) that have ZERO availability at the lower point levels and that REQUIRE the more expensive award.

More ranting later - I need a break.