Originally Posted by
Horace
Marriott only announced August -- not a specific date in August. August is easily interpreted as August 1, so you see lots of references to August 1 on this forum. But it could be different date.
Except that Amex issues Starwood points (both on Starwood cards and in transfers from Membership Rewards), and Amex USA has said August 1, though I think Amex Canada may have said Aug 3. Amex has to know when it's happening, because it has to synchronize earnings changes on its Starwood cards at the same time, plus it has to transfer the right number of Membership Rewards points to the right number of some kind of points at Starwood no matter when you initiate the transfer and when the transfer is actually completed (or else temporarily suspend all such transfers if the date is unknown to Amex?).
Chase is relatively unaffected, because Marriott points are not being "recalibrated" the way Starwood points are.