Originally Posted by
Points Poppa
Except the "travel agent" didn't say anything to you. Have holders of existing unattached travel packages been advised anything?
Ummmm, Yes!!! They have, on more than one occasion, encouraged people to attach their "floaters." Some believe it is a guise!!!
Originally Posted by
onlysuites
Now same situation. I buy a holiday and a couple weeks later the Travel agent says your flights are still intact but the hotel is only for one night now. I was given the commitment that it was 7 nights and valid for 1 year. They simply can't turn around 2 months later and say here is 1 night instead of your 7.
No, that is not what they are saying!! They are saying that your current hotel voucher is good for a 7 night stay at this list of properties; for maximum benefit you should make your hotel reservation now. You will still be able to make a 7 night reservation after the change but the list of properties you can use it at will be different. If you use your voucher before the changes they will honor your reservation even if it would otherwise not be available to you after the changes.
Look at it this way. You redeem 270K for a TP. 225K is redeemed for Airline FF Miles and 45K is redeemed for a 7 night Cat 1 certificate. However, as an added bonus this special Cat 1 certificate will allow you to make a reservation at any hotel up to and including Category 5. Hence we will refer to it as a Cat 1-5 certificate. Category 1 hotels are 7500 MR per night but we will throw in a 5th night free. 6*7500 MR = 45,000 MR is required for a 7 night stay at a Category 1 property. For maximum benefit you can attach your Cat 1-5 now and take advantage of the "special provision" allowing you to reserve a 7 night stay at any property up to Category 5 until August 18th. If you have not made a hotel reservation by that date we could cancel your Cat 1-5 certificate and return your 45K MR to your account in the new program.
In the new program a Category 1 property is 7500 MR per night STANDARD, 5000 MR LOW & 10,000 HIGH. With the 45K residual points from your TP and a 5th night free you can reserve a Category 1 property for 7 nights STANDARD, 11 nights LOW and 5 nights HIGH with 5000 MR leftover.
Don't fool yourself into believing that your 45 MR points are only worth a 1 night stay in the new program. You have a window of opportunity to maximize your redemption now, anything else is a gamble.
Just my 2 cents and I am sure a Small claims court judge would see similar.
What a SCC Judge would see is that you had an opportunity to attach your certificate to a reservation to maximize your redemption but you chose not to do that in hopes of a better redemption in the new program. Marriott is not liable to you for your negligence and since the entity where you redeemed your MR points and
could have made a reservation no longer exists, you are bound by the Terms and Conditions of the new program.
Originally Posted by
rny321
Also, MPG is still selling travel packages and not telling customers that what they are purchasing might be worth far less than it is currently. Regardless of the legality of doing so, such an action would not be viewed charitably.
Why should they stop selling travel packages? Not everyone is "floating" their certificates. The airline FF miles are a good value and attaching a certificate to a reservation adds further value to the redemption. Would you be happy to have to wait to redeem for your airline miles at the devalued rate? The Cat 1-5 certificate has a value of 45K MR points. Unless it is going to be less than 45K MR points in the new program, why would anybody need to advise you? Besides, they don't have any information to relay to you anyway. The intent of the redemption should be to "attach" the certificate to maximize your value while you still can. The end date to do so is known. "Floating" into the new program leaves you "exposed" to the unknown. Are you comfortable with that? A huge windfall is highly unlikely.
One solution that might work is to refund points equal to the difference between a Cat 5 and currently held packages. Then issue a voucher with a value of up to 150K that can be used on a single 7-night stay. That would be easy to implement and wouldn’t disadvantage current holders.
That is what I have been suggesting. All "floater" certificates converted to a "restricted" 150K point certificate which would be equivalent to a 7 night stay at a new Cat 1-4. Any points used for category upgrades in the current program would be returned unrestricted. The point certificate would be "restricted" in the sense that if it was not used for a 7 night hotel stay it would retain it's 45K value which would be returned upon cancellation or become worthless if allowed to expire. Any upgrades of the 150K points certificate would be at the new upgrade rates. 60K additional MR points would upgrade you to a new Category 5 which would allow a redemption at a lot of existing Marriott Category 8 properties requiring a 90K MR upgrade now. Believing you are "owed" 150K "unrestricted" MR points and/or Certificates should transfer Category to Category is simply nonsense. A current Category 7 CANNOT have the same weight as a Category 8, 9 nor a Tier 1-3, 4-5 in the new program.
But hey!!! These are just numbers, Do with them as you please.
James