Originally Posted by
Mr. Vker
Future rates are never guaranteed, but paid stays can often be gotten for similar costs. The Bonvoy jump can't be avoided. They can limit the number of rooms on awards to mitigate, but they were hitting all resort spots hard with this last round.
As
nexusCFX notes, hotels are currently desperate for cash. If they can push guests to rebook with cash instead of points, they can improve their situation. Since resorts are more likely to require a deposit, it means they get that money now. In comparison, points stays are not paid by the chain until after the guest departs.
(I never worked for a Marriott. But, I did work in the accounting office of a hotel for about a year. Point stays were paid via the normal accounts receivable process. That meant it took a few weeks to get paid for points redemptions.)
It's also worth noting that unless a hotel is full, points redemptions are miniscule. Once a hotel hits a certain occupancy (which varies by hotel group but often is 90%), the hotel will get paid a much higher rate (usually the average daily rate for the date the points were deemed). As such, a cash booking can bring in multiple times more actual money than a points booking unless the hotel is full. Since no one really knows when leisure travel will return to normal levels, a smart hotel will push guests to make cash reservations.
The question a company like Marriott faces is whether the inability to rebook a reservation at the same rate for future travel going to anger people enough to get those people to switch to a different hotel group (even if they wait until they've redeemed existing points). Personally, I doubt that would happen with too many people. Although, I suppose it could be the tipping point if someone had other issues with Marriott.