As someone pointed out in the Starwood forum - if the trend continues every year - eventually all properties from the lowest Fairfield to highest JW will be Cat. 7

This is the main reason why you are better off spending your points ASAP rather than "banking for retirement" - inflation and/or devaluation is inevitable.

In addition, this points out a critical flaw for those who buy timeshares with the hope of converting them to a fixed # of points per year (a popular sales pitch with SPG - don't know about Marriott) - the points will buy less and less every year.

I love how "rising hotel rates and occupancy levels" are always provided as justification. Funny, but I don't remember hotels or airlines cutting award costs when times were tough. For some reason things only go one direction - not to the benefit of the consumer.