Originally Posted by
beachfan
The devaluation will happen in 2020. Even without the merger, they needed more Marriott categories or higher point requirements.
so many courtyards have went from cat 4 to cat 5 to cat 6 over the last few years-it was already putting pressure on Cat 9s in the current MR grouping to maintain a reasonable price differential between courtyards and JW London, Essex House, etc.
And even the hotels that stay the same or go down now will likely go up in 2020 because I suspect there will be considerably more redemptions at properties like the Renaissance Republique in Paris.
To the best of my knowledge, Marriott has not denied that owners or management of individual properties can influence which category a property gets classified.
I suspect my annual redemption of points for 7 nights at the J.W. Marriott Grosvenor House in London has come to an end.
What's worse is almost all of the London hotels are presently priced the same, despite major differences between the quality of the properties and the services or amenities offered. One of the few full-service properties that is a good value under the current award-redemption chart is the Marriott Maida Vale.
I'd be willing to bet that the J.W. Marriott Grosvenor House, Edition, Marriott County Hall, Marriott Park Lane, Blakes Hotel (Design), Le Méridien Piccadilly, Park Tower Luxury Collection, The Wellesley Knightsbridge Luxury Collection, The Westbury Luxury Collection, W Leicester Square, and the Sheraton Grand Park Lane will be either category 7 or category 8. The only ones that could be a category 5 are the Sheraton Grand Park Lane and Le Méridien Piccadilly.