Originally Posted by
neo_781
I'm not sure you read this correctly. Not publishing the hotel categories is not a good thing. How do you know what the regular price is?
I don't see the benefits here.
Lauren said the maximum amount of points for the hotels won't be increasing. Often times, the amount of points required in low season are ridiculously high given the cash rate. For example in New York City, it is nuts that rooms in the winter time cost 60,000 points when the cash rates are $150.00. If the max rate is set it will help in high seasons, while giving more flexibility to go lower when hotels are in slow times than the current structure does. Also, redemptions will continue to be valuable on the high end properties with a 95,000 cap. Also, just like if cash rates drop, you now may be able to snag even better redemption rates by cancelling the room and rebooking it.
I also like the idea of transferring points between accounts for free. I can see myself giving family members hotel nights as presents with this feature. Also, it allows family members that have small points balances to not waste them by being able to combine them with mine.
My question would be if there are any changes/impact to premium room reward pricing, which can sometimes be a reasonable value but are often times completely out of whack when compared to standard rooms.