Originally Posted by
USirritated
Besides, when you get certs, no points, and then they hit you three times, 1) then when you use the certs, you do not get room night credit or points for those stays, which are 2) not terribly flexible or the best of places, niceness wise, and 3) probably not a place you would choose if you wanted to be most effective in getting best value for the points you earned. Kind of hard to compare a CAT 4 property (which is 20K per night) such as a FI in Queens or a CY outside of MGM, with a CAT 5 resort, such as CasaMagna Marriott Cancun Resort (which is just 25K per night, only 5K more).
#1 is true whether you book a reg award or use a cert, so that's not a disadvantage to the certs. You won't get night credit or points for the room, although you will for incidentals.
#2 & #3. Sure there are some Cat 1-4s that are no great shakes, but there are also many that are in fab locales and/or are a great redemption when rates are high due to special events.
You've been off the forum for a while, but there are a few threads on great places/when to redeem Cat 1-4.
Originally Posted by
NJUPINTHEAIR
Those who have reported being able to switch are Platinum members, they may not be allowing Gold members to switch this time around.
Michelle on Insiders said previously that both would be able to do it, so if someone gets turned down (whether Plat or Gold) I'd go to her & push the issue.
Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
One wonders if it wouldn't be easier for Marriott to just give everyone a choice to be made at registration with no later changes allowed, as SPG has done for some of their promos. OTOH, maybe it's just people from FT who call to whine and beg to be switched to a different promo. Maybe most others aren't even aware that different promos have been granted to different people.
Agree that it would be better if one got to choose their own promo, but don't see that happening anytime soon. Michelle went into why they don't on Insiders.
Cheers.