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Old Aug 13, 2018, 2:02 am
  #5057  
maxcalls
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Kansas City, MO
Programs: AA, United, Delta, Marriott, HH, Hyatt
Posts: 41
Confirmed ...

Like all other I have a couple of Marriott travel packages and was in the process of decoding wheather to use them on a reservation or keep it as a floater or to upgrade it.

​​​​​​After going through the various blogs and the FlyerTalk threads I decided to call.

So I called Marriott India and got transferred to rewards desk and had a discussion regarding the much talked about topic of Marriott travel packages and asked him to help me decide what to do with them.

The great agent went in depths to explain how the whole process would work and what can be done to maximize the benefits of exisiting travel packages.

And all of this is in line with what Marriott have already said :

He said that the best way to use the travel package right now is to attach them to a reservation according to the category of the certificate before this transition period 18 Aug.

Meaning if u currengly have a category 6 - attach it to the present category 6 accordingly.

​​​​​​Upgrading or keeping a certificate floating is only going to have one result.

"MARRIOTT TRAVEL PACKAGE CERTIFICATE WOULD BE CONVERTED TO BASIC CATEGORY 1-4 CERTIFICATE AND THE REST OF THE POINTS OVER IT WOULD BE REFUNDED"

He mentioned that if u upgrade a certificate from category 1-5 to category 6 using 30k points and keep it floating - it would change to category 1-4 in the new system and 30k points would be refunded.

He further mentioned if u keep a category 1-5 floating - it would change to category 1-4 in new system. Keeping a category 7 or above certificate floating would result in the same result as above para.

So he stressed that using a category 6/7 etc certificate on the same category now would give u the advantage of having that hotel booked using that certificate and post September 18 the floating certificate would be converted to category 1-4 and the points costing to upgrade that certificate to the desired new category would be according to the new chart and would be much costly then now - so he suggested attaching the certificate now before August 18 for more value.

So according to the above discussion I guess he pretty much simplified the whole process.

​​​​​​So final thoughts - upgrading a certificate now to book a stay at a desired hotel category is the way to go or else leave any kind of certificate as a floater and would be converted to category 1-4 post sept 18 and one could use the new chart to upgrade them to category above.

If anyone else wanna share any views regarding the above can please share.

All The Best
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