Originally Posted by
CPRich
I'm curious how you figure that. Cat 4's still cost what Cat 4's used to, and only 36% of the properties went up a category.
36% of the properties went up, with an average of a 20% increase in points each (estimated - I'll need to look at the detailed data), that's just over 7% across the board. with inflation at 2-3% (thus, the points earned per stay up that much), it's a real devaluation of about 5%. Not pleasant, but nowhere near the impact of the wholesale 2009 changes IMHO.
Of course, if the one property you were targeting went up, the aggregate numbers don't make you feel any better.
Maybe I should have been more specific in writing that a lot of properties that used to give a redemption value of 1.1 cents/point have gone down in value. I wish it was just one or five properties, but the list is rather long for me with the category adjustment over the past two years. The ratio of properties going up versus down is not even close. Two of the properties going down are in Cairo, Egypt, and we know Egypt is not as safe as it once was for foreign visitors.
I consider many of the category 9 properties to be a poor deal for using points, and many of the category 6-8 properties are getting close to that point as well. Why anyone would redeem for the Virginia Beach properties at the new category 7 & 8 is beyond my understanding.
36 % of the properties going up is larger than the previous year's increase and is probably one of the larger ones since 2009. This year's adjustment redudes the edge Marriott has over Hilton for their award chart
I am referring to category 1-9 for Marriott and excluding the RC properties. For Hilton, I am comparing their category 1-7 and excluding their highest tier properties. Marriott still has an edge in the lower categories, but they used to have a bigger gap for the middle and higher category properties.