Originally Posted by pinniped

Indeed, it's worth it. As long as you have a need for one Cat 5 Marriott night per year, it's well worth the $65.

I find that Cat 4 to Cat 5 is a pretty big jump in the Marriott system - in many cities it's the difference between a Courtyard and an FS Marriott (Washington DC is one that immediately comes to mind). I sometimes find myself stretching a bit to find good uses for the Megabonus Cat 4 certs I get all the time but I never have any problem finding a solid FS hotel to use Cat 5's.

Not that 4's are awful...I do find uses for them too. But 5 opens up a lot of good hotels in most places - hotels you couldn't simply get on Priceline for $65.

The category creep from 4 to 5 is recent (IMHO) so I imagine we still have a few years before someone returns to this thread and posts "Now you need Cat 6 to escape the Courtyards and Residence Inns."