I certainly don't blame Marriott for acting quickly to close a loophole that was causing problems for the company or certain properties.

It would be nice if they were this nimble to fix "defects" in the MR program that sometimes make things a little tougher for their best customers. As has been discussed by me and others, why not a "platinum override" (at least on a one time annually basis) for "Stay Anytime" MR stays?

Or, failing that, and along those lines, why not a points premium for just one or two nights on some of the longer-term or "hopper" EEO certificates? This would provide a nice break for someone who's hard-earned standard or hopper seven night cert is useless because one or two nights during his/her vacation is on "Stay Anytime".

Why not just let the guest pay an extra points premium for the nights in question instead of having to cough up an entire week's premium? This should be simple enough to do.

And puh-leeze, if a "string is attached" to a standard reward in the form of cash, keep it reasonable. $200 for each night of a stay while also burning points typically isn't much of a "reward"! But in some circumstances, $200 over the course of a week's reward might stay might be reasonable....or a preferable option to a 50% points penalty.