I can't find the answer to this. I have two OC certs that expire in a couple of weeks and not sure if I would use the NCs in the next year or so. If I do convert to NC, can I still get the points refunded or does that only apply to OC certs?

NC T&Cs said NO REFUND and NO Extension. OC T&Cs did not prohibit refund nor extension, that is basically about it.

Current practice is, the above restriction on NC is not enforced.

Whether next year it remains so is anyone's guess.

Called the UK number and tried this. The rep was firm that you could only convert the OC8 to the NC5. She seemed to know what she was doing. Might have had better luck HUCA, but at this point I figured it was just worth converting.

I just had the same thing with my OC6.. I wanted to go to a NC5 and pay 30k extra.. she said it wasn't possible and that it would automatically convert to a NC4 and refund 30k. She seemed very aware of the process.

Ron.

Just tried the same and no luck. Anyone have different result with US number or by HUCA?

HUCA, still no dice with cancel/upgrades. Will only convert.

When I called I never said upgrade and only said convert. I used the codes that they see on their screen (reference the wikipost at the top of the thread) and it went smoothly.

It may not work as smoothly as in the past.

Just refer back to Margarita Girl's post a few days ago on her experience with the UK call center - the rep even questioned her WHERE did she find out the internal codes that supposedly only known by Marriott reps.

Though if one is determined enough to HUCA, may be one can eventually find a rep not so up to date and still willing to do the conversion to higher categories but the chance is getting slimmer by the day.

I have tried multiple times over the last few weeks to do a conversion to a higher category and no luck.

I had an agent yesterday that was willing to convert my OC5 5 night to NC8, but she couldn't find the NC8 certificate for 5 nights. There is a 5 night NC8 package, which is 893T.

I wasn't hopeful, just thought I would try...if it worked out, great!

Just for the kick and for DP sake, I called the US Marriott regular number 1-800-450-4442 but the rep said she could not handle this kind of transaction, gave me 1-800-328-6242 to call.

I called, and after very short prompt got a girl sounded very much like based outside of US (like Philippines ...) . I told her it would be an equal conversion from OC5 to NC4. She said No, It was not equal conversion - this can only converted to category 4 up to 25K pts / night only. Huh?!

Here is the kicker - She claimed, for equal conversion to Cat 5 you need to pay additional points then proceeded to look at the "6 levels table"... Then said, "There were 6 levels on this table, I needed to check which should be... " (My guess would be, there were 2 codes for NC4 due to the OC6 was downgraded with a 30K refund, AND the same also for OC8 - hence her confusion.) She sounded quite uncertain ...

Since I have no intention to convert "upward", I asked, "Do you know how to do a conversion from Old Cert to New Cert? Or we need a supervisor to handle it so we dont waste time?" She insisted she knew what she was doing, but then told me she needed to consult her supervisor, as to which number on the table to use. The call went to hold then was dropped.

When I called back the same 1-800 number, after the short prompt, it stayed silent for over 30 sec without robot / music or human. I do not know this 800 number exists. It does not have the usual annoying dual language prompts, quickly sent you to a rep but without asking your Marriott number. But it sounds to me a dedicated number to handle the out of ordinary award bookings - from Travel Package conversion / extension to may be the Point Advance payment...

Those who haven't been able to go "upward" may want to also try this 800 number - who knows? At this point it is pure luck whether you call UK or US.

For myself I hang up and called the UK number instead as all I needed was the True Equal Conversion OC5 to NC4... lol.

UK rep knew exactly what to do. I jokingly asked whether I could pay additional points to convert to the Cat 5 as what it was "original" for... He said unfortunately No, not any more. It took less than 5 min to handle the OC5 to NC4. Before emails arrived the new cert is already online.

The feeling I got is, many UK based reps have been briefed on the "No More Conversion Upward" policy but there might still be some who aren't informed yet, therefore it would be continued HUCA if you really want / need to go upward, ASAP - because it sounds the upward conversion now goes under audit after the fact. Pretty soon every rep would be briefed...

Am I glad that I've been done with all my certs and dont have to go through this cr@p any more. Getting a free 7d cert in the process due to confusion helped me through this dark time... :-)

Lucky You! :)

Called the US line and successfully changed a 7-night category 4 certificate to a category 5. Originally used the word "convert" or "upgrade" and was told it wasn't possible. Asked what I could do if I wanted to book a category 5 hotel, the agent said that he would make the change. Was placed on hold for a minute or two and then the change was taken care of. 60K points deducted, certificate expiry date pushed to 7/15/20.