Fortunately for me, I was not banking on Marriott over the July 4th weekend, rather SPG for me, so no pain, but if true, it is a cutback, no doubt about it.
As to whether it is a significant devaluation, that is another story.
However, those of you who think that it is a signficant devalluation of Platinum there is an option -- go for Gold and give the rest to some other chain. @:-)