To follow up on HHoope's comments.
I am looking at the big picture of comparative value between hotel loyalty programs. I can conclusively state that Marriott retains strong value in its hotel awards due to a member-friendly distribution of hotels among its categories compared to say Hilton or Starwood.
Every program likes to say they are the best and pick their attributes to publicize as support for the claim of being the best program.
I knock Marriott frequently on their high threshold for elite membership, but when it comes to hotel award nights, Marriott mostly rocks and Hilton mostly sucks.
Hotel loyalty programs are multi-billion dollar businesses that have more than 50 million members collecting points based on some inherent value. Every time hotel award categories change, the value of points in that program changes.
Keeping track of award category changes helps identify which programs are offering their members a fair deal by keeping hotel awards in line with hotel rates.
I don't understand why Marriott kept their hotel category changes under wraps until after the new award levels took effect.
Hotel award value (the cost in points for a free night vs. the room rate for a free night) is one of Marriott's strongest competitive advantages and I would think they would want to promote that aspect of Marriott Rewards more to their members and the public.