FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Marriott Travel Packages
View Single Post
Old Jul 27, 2018, 11:54 am
  #4309  
pinniped
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,497
Originally Posted by SP03
But clearly people are redeeming for the certs now at last mins to take advantage of potential windfall. I may even do that. But I wouldn't expect Marriott to essentially give us miles for points at 1:1 ratio.
I don't think anyone is booking a TP right now expecting a windfall. I certainly would not book one expecting to get 120,000 FF miles for 120,000 MR points (effectively, by getting 150,000 points put back in my account on August 18th).

I did book one recently expecting to get a 1-week hotel stay. I expect that to be a current Category 5 hotel, which I understand is effectively a future Category 4 hotel. I expect no windfall - I just expect to redeem the award like normal, sometime prior to June 2019, my certificate's expiration date. If some bonus comes my way - an August 18, 2019 expiration date that I can then extend to August 18, 2020, or the ability to redeem a *new* Category 5 - then great. But I do not expect it at all.

This is why people are redeeming TP's right now: they've seen the new program, they've crapped a brick at how the TP's are devalued post-merger, and they're clearing out their points at today's rates. They may not be as aware of the program as all of us are - about how you can extend and upgrade certificates later - they just know they need to pull the trigger now and hope to use the certificate for their 2019 vacation or whatever. They expect no windfall beyond redeeming their points under the terms and conditions which they earned the points to begin with. Nobody beyond this forum and a few blog sites is talking about a redeposit of points back into accounts. Marriott hasn't hinted at that at all.
pinniped is online now