Travel Packages Update
 

Members,

This past Saturday, new Travel Packages became available for purchase for members. At the same time, due to system capabilities, we initiated a month-long blackout on cancellations and modifications to existing Travel Package certificates. After pressure testing our new system over the weekend, we’re happy to relay that starting today, the blackout period is over.

In addition, members who purchased a Category 6, Category 8 or Tier 1-3 certificate prior to 8/18 are able to request a one-time exchange for a Travel Package one category lower. This process will cancel your current Travel Package, reissue a Travel Package one category lower and result in a refund of 30,000 points to your account. To submit a request, follow these steps:

• Go to https://www.marriott.com/marriott/contact.mi

• Select “Packages - Deals” from the “Topic” drop down menu
• Submit your request

As a reminder, status.marriott.com will periodically have additional updates.

Kind regards,
Marriott Rewards Insider

Travel Packages Update
 

Members,

This past Saturday, new Travel Packages became available for purchase for members. At the same time, due to system capabilities, we initiated a month-long blackout on cancellations and modifications to existing Travel Package certificates. After pressure testing our new system over the weekend, we’re happy to relay that starting today, the blackout period is over.


In addition, members who purchased a Category 6, Category 8 or Tier 1-3 certificate prior to 8/18 are able to request a one-time exchange for a Travel Package one category lower. This process will cancel your current Travel Package, reissue a Travel Package one category lower and result in a refund of 30,000 points to your account. To submit a request, follow these steps:

• Go to https://www.marriott.com/marriott/contact.mi

• Select “Packages - Deals” from the “Topic” drop down menu
• Submit your request

As a reminder, status.marriott.com will periodically have additional updates.


Kind regards,

Alexandra B.
Specialist, Social Media
Marriott International

[email protected]

Thank you Alexandra. What if a member wants to exchange for 1 category higher?

I was specifically quoted by Marriott agents that my Category 6 package would be able to be used at a Category 6 hotel. Reading the threads here I see I was not the only one told this information.

I still expect to use my certificate at a category 6 hotel, otherwise I have been defrauded.

Respectfully, the right thing to do was to publish the conversion chart on your website before August 18 so that people could have chosen what they actually wanted instead of having to guess. This refund option doesn't cure the problem. The way to remedy that is to now let people upgrade or downgrade as a one time courtesy. I hope that you will go to your superiors and explain this. Thank you, and I do appreciate your work here.

Alexandra,

I have a Cat 8 attached to a property that moved to a Cat 6. I know it will be honored if we don't make any changes, and I hope to be able to keep that reservation, but what happens if we need to adjust the travel dates? Will I no longer have access to that hotel? Will I have the opportunity to upgrade with points?

If not, and I'm downgraded to a Cat 5, I understand that 30,000 points will be refunded. However, that doesn't make me whole. I was assured when I booked this travel package that it would be upgradeable. Additionally, 30% of the Cat 8 hotels moved to Cat 6 (including ALL of the hotels I was interested in). Had I known BEFORE the merge that my cert would only map to Cat 5, I would not have purchased a Cat 8--I would have purchased a Cat 9. I REPEATEDLY contacted Marriott and SPG and asked about the mapping both online and by phone but was told that they'd get back to me. No one ever did. I then called to upgrade my cert to a Cat 9, but "the system was down" and no one could do the upgrade. Then, the clock ran out.

I feel like I was robbed of the opportunity to upgrade to a Cat 9 when I still had the chance...is there a way to ensure that I can keep my Cat 6 hotel if I need to change the dates? Again, should I need to change the reservation, I do not mind paying the difference in points I would have paid to upgrade before the transition date had the system allowed it. Im not trying to game the system. I just want to be kept whole.

Thank you Alexandra. Appreciate your info and Marriott flexibility. Just 3 quick questions.

1. When is the dealline to change cancel and reissue?

2. Can we just cancel and not re-issue? And getting the original points back.

3. Will there be a 1 time extension of 1 year. I bought 6 travel packages thinking I am able to extend it for a year. Which was true previously, unless Marriot have changed the rules. Technically it was cancel and reissue, thus valid for an additional year.

Again thank you Lurker. Really appreciate your assistance.

I've spent four hours on the phone tonight with two different call centers, even after quoting your post over 10 supervisors claim that this is not possible until September 18th. Is there some magic word I need to be using?

Apparently the troops at the call centers have not received the memo about "successfully pass the pressure test" so today the travel package cert can be used... So as the system apparently has not been told it has passed the "pressure test".

Many reports on the net that people spent hours with different call centers, both front line and supervisor level customer service, NO ONE has been able to use the travel package cert as of now.

The PR sprint is totally out of control after the backlash.

I would love to be able to upgrade and / or extend my certificate as well.

Bazinga!

Alexandra B. -
The one-time exchange for one category lower for Category 6, Category 8 or Tier 1-3 certificates before 8/18 with the 30K refund is a start, but the only fair solution is for that same group of people to have a one-time upgrade for one category higher for a fee of 30K points. I state this because people were forced to make decisions without the new category map that was kept from them. This meant that people depended highly on input from the CRP and they were just winging it or misleading people to buy the dud categories. The best thing for Marriot to do to avoid massive numbers of complaints to multiple state Department of Justice Attorney General Office Consumer Protection Departments, Better Bussiness Bureaus.

Lurkers, I purchased two Category 1-5 Travel Packages which I want to attach to a legacy SPG hotel. I was unable to do that before the conversion, of course. Before the conversion, the hotel was a Category 4, so I reasonably expected that a Category 1-5 certificate would cover me, especially with repeated assurances that we wouldn't be losing any value. The hotel at which I wanted to use the hotel part of the packages is now a Category 5, so that should have been OK. But now, even though I bought Category 5 Packages and the hotel is a Category 5 hotel, the validity of the certificates is apparently based on points, and I cannot use them where I want.

I don't feel that this is fair. Category 5 certificates should be redeemable at Category 5 hotels, it seems to me. While I understand that you're not going to restructure the entire program, perhaps you would consider:

1) Allow pre-August 18 Travel Packages to be redeemed based on Category alone, or
2) Allow me to upgrade by paying the difference between the Travel Package I purchased and the one I actually need for the Category 5 hotel.

Thank you.

Dr. HFH

Hi,

I was told the travel packages is upgradable and the expiry date is extendable, so I purchased 2 packages.
The new terms make the travel package very unattractive, I would like to cancel them and get a refund of the points if I can.
Had I known it cannot be upgraded and the expiry date cannot be extended, I would probably not purchase one.
I feel I was misled.

Thanks.

Hi,

If you have an old category six certificate do you get 30000 points back and a new category 5 hotel certificate or a new category 4 hotel certificate?

Thank you.

Hi Alexandra,

Thank you for the update. As a holder of a Tier 1-3 certificate this is great news and a step in the right direction. However, I sincerely hope Marriott would consider allowing a one-time upgrade/downgrade for these certificates. I have absolutely no problem paying the proper price (whether that be the upgrade price from old Tier 1-3 to old Tier 4-5, or from new cat 6 to new cat 7), but without knowing how certificates mapped before the merger I guessed wrong and am stuck. Now I have essentially tossed away a good chunk of points on a cert that I don't even need. The refund value is nice (I would get 225k back) but still wipes away a good chunk of the points I've spent a good deal of time accumulating to spend at the St Regis Maldives.

Thank you for all your hard work as well as all the hard work of the other Lurkers.

Except that NONE listed in the first post by Marriott Insider is working.

People need to visit the Marriott Travel Package thread to see all sorts of failures when following the steps outlined in the first post.

The refund request was met with an email to tell the customer contact "Reservation"... for example

another poster received email telling him they are experienced "technical difficulty" and would take (unknown) tine to resolve his refund request.

Nobody is able to use a legacy cert for a reward booking, myself included, called 11pm to 2 call centers, supervisors tried hard to help but system would not allow it.

So much for the Ad Hoc PR Spin and the "successfully pass the Pressure Test". LIES after LIES.

Psa: if you have an existing travel package certificate already attached and you cancel the booking, you might be unexpectedly refunded 45k points instead of getting a cat 1 through 4 new cert.

Guess who actually needs the 7 night and ended up with 45k points.. All because I wanted to change hotels

If a lurker or Marriott insider is able to assist that would be appreciated too...

​​​

Yep, I tried this morning to use one of mine and two separate agents said it's impossible at this time.

Hi guys! The blackout is over! Except we only told you guys and not our reps/supervisors who actually do the work.

How many cat 6 hotels when you bought your cert are still cat 6?

Most hotel got downgraded in the squish, so it doesn't affect my cert in the least.

Official link
 

First, I would like to thank William and his team for your help in passed few years.
But for the TP issue, I really hope you can give us an official link of announcement/T&C. I'm tired of this kind of semi-official info that no CSR nor web support team know.

Nor the corporate has told the system that it should behave! now that we are satisfied that the system has passed the "pressure test" so no more blackout.

It is not the reps / supervisors not willing to help but their hands are tied because system simply would not accept it.

Oh, some supervisors blamed the info being NOT correct as it was from blogs not "official".

So can we trust the first post is being "Official" communication directly from a vetted Company Representative, because that is exactly the same information Marriott has informed the bloggers who then in turn wrote their articles...

Originally Posted by YeahThatsKosher https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/imag...s/viewpost.gif
I was specifically quoted by Marriott agents that my Category 6 package would be able to be used at a Category 6 hotel. Reading the threads here I see I was not the only one told this information.

I still expect to use my certificate at a category 6 hotel, otherwise I have been defrauded.


QUOTE=Hipplewm;30111397]How many cat 6 hotels when you bought your cert are still cat 6?

Most hotel got downgraded in the squish, so it doesn't affect my cert in the least.[/QUOTE]



I was told today by a UK customer service rep that a cat 6 cert purchased before 8/18 was still a cat 6 cert. She then asked me to hold when asked for her name for reference and she went to speak to a supervisor. She said her supervisor confirmed it. A cat 6 cert purchased before 8/18 is still valid at cat 6 hotels.

Guys, I really don't understand the drama about packages...
Someone forced you to buy those package before the merger?

Yeah, some of those CSR have said some doozies over the years.......

That said I bought my TP for the express reason of gambling. I never expected to hit the lotto, just come out ok
cat 6 to cat 5 post merger is almost a lottery win, most of the post merger cat 6 are cat 8 and 9 pre merger
Most of the cat 5 post merger (What our cat 6 TP will supposedly downgrade too) were cat 6 and 7 pre merger

To me that is a hell of a win.

Somebody needs to send out a search party to find William.

So if a person is not forced to buy something, they can't complain about it. That doesn't make sense.

Can the Marriott Insider read some of the posts on the Marriott forum's Travel Package thread, such as the following

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30112663-post6108.html

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30112395-post6102.html

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30112153-post6092.html

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30112102-post6090.html

and more posts the past 24 hours, on how Marriott Reward dept seems have NO KNOWLEDGE on what is being said in the First Post by the company representative - just how this could happen, when you are telling customers to do certain things, while your own employees are completely in the dark and the system is not capable at all to do what you describe?

Brilliant line of logic. I hope you have never complained about any purchase in your entire life, as no one forced you to buy anything.

Total Drive-By from Marriott Rewards Insider.
Post and then disappear. How professional.

What's the over/under on when you might be able to use these on a former SPG hotel?

of course I complain, on a regular basis )))
but I tend to find this drama kind of too much.

you should blame the bloggers like TPG for sharing informations (=propaganda) and encouraging such buys instead of Marriott.

But at the end, greedy people gambled. When you gamble you can loose or win ;)

Why wouldn't Marriott use some formal communication channels to notify the customers about all these? Emails, mail, facebook and twitter? Posting things that weren't echoed by the customer services in the call center, instead, by somebody who self claimed as "company representative" in public forums. That is such a bad practice.

I can't imagine that after 2,3 years of preparation, the whole final merge is still a big mess. Misleading communication, chaotic call centers, crappy apps/websites, frustrated customers. This whole merger will be a lessons learnt to other big M&A, worst than that, it will be (or already be) a big joke to general public.

It used to be Lurkers I,II and III would make a annoucement and they stick around to answer our questions and address our concerns. Most of us, certainly appreciated the fact that SPG had a team of Lurkers that were most helpful in many ways. Now with the 'Merger", we do very much hope it is continued.

Lurker IV, please do reply to our questions after getting the confirmation from Marriott executives.

Lurker IV, please do post update even you don't have the answer. At least showing you are monitoring the thread you posted.