Officially no. In the T&C's at 3.14.c.ii it states that the hotel portion is not refundable. In reality, there may be a a few agents that would, but you saw how it was with upgrading.

Can anyone clarify again that is making a reservation with the new certificates(NC) qualified as points redemption therefore can be issued to 3rd party according to terms 3.1.c(... if requested at the time of issuance, an Award may be issued to a third party....)?

I know for sure that it was possible to do that last year, but I'm getting DPs that's unsuccessful recently.

P.S. I called today to have it clarified with an agent, he said yes. However, I won't book it anytime soon, so just want to know that did anyone successful book any reservation under someone else's name recently.

Thank you!

Most metro areas/suburbs will have hotels in the RI level for families in the Category 1-4 area right? Admittedly, they won't be right in the metro area so everything is in walking distance, but with kids, driving is probably better, and the bigger cities have metros that go pretty far out to the less densely populated areas.

Interested in Portland? have a family? I would recommend the RI at the airport as an option. Right next to a metro stop if you just want to use public transportation into downtown Portland. It is like a 20 minute train ride. Parking is free at the hotel, so you can just drive all over as well.

I just saw Asia is an option for you. Taipei has a ton of Bonvoy properties. I hear good things about the Courtyards there, although if you are insistent on "maximizing" your TP by staying at a category 4, they are only Category 3s. There is a full-service resort outside of Taipei that is a 4.

PDX airport is a nice spot to use a one-night cert but I wouldn't want to spend an entire week there.

Downtown Portland is worth a couple nights. The Oregon/Washington coasts are worth a couple nights (although no idea about Marriott coverage out there), heading out into wine country is cool, Mt Hood is cool...but this doesn't seem like a great spot for the 7-night travel package. You'd end up spending a ton of time in the rental car getting everywhere and then back to the airport every night.

The only places I can think of to use a Cat 4 for an aspirational trip are in Asia at this point. Perhaps Africa too, if I took a closer look.

I've been having a hard time getting the name input properly on any points bookings. I call and say that I am making it for a different person, give the name, get told everything is fine, and then find the reservation is under my name. That being said, I did notice that I could change the name on a reservation 2 weeks ago, but I don't know how that impacts a certificate that is sent to the hotel. The terms still say you can book for a 3rd party, but the implementation sure seems off...

Courtyard Taipei Downtown is Category 4, new hotel opened earlier this year, rooms much better than the legendary Sheraton, has a club lounge with breakfast buffet and happy hours that one can skip dinner

Actually there are some RIs are near metro stations.

In June we stayed 5 nights at an RI in Alexandria within a few metro stops to DC proper It was extremely convenient to reach DC or to/from either DCA or IAD airports, the DCA metro station is directly connected to the airport. Parking is an expensive $30 a day and you probably dont want to drive into DC anyway. For kids DC should be a very good location, other than it can be hot and crowded in museums during Summer.

One may want to check Chicago area for that purpose. Though SoCal may be out of question because while there are some Cat 4 SpringHills or such, they are quite away from the proper city centers or beach areas.

My NC is extended.... sort of. I called asking the rep to make a reservation using a travel package certificate for 10/9-10/16 (3.5 weeks pass the NC expiration date) and she was able to do that. I was put on hold quite a bit since the rep didn't know how to attach the travel package certificate. I didn't mention the certificate was a NC or it was expiring on 9/14... just played dumb, and it worked! I'm super happy about it!

For your reference, I only have lowly Gold status. I bought 2 packages in June 2018. Called to use one of them back in September 2018 and both packages got converted. I didn't ask for that and the agent didn't explain that to me at the time.Maybe Marriott saw that on my account and made an exception (?). Anyhow, if you have travel in mind I suggest giving them a call to see if you can use your NC beyond the expiration date.

Arent you allowed to use the certificate for stays beyond the expiration - so long as it is attached prior to the expiration?
I have a reservation coming up where the stay is 3 days after the cert expiration, and I've already attached the certificate and so far everything seems fine
Just checking if I will have any troubles

It's not clear. The general rule seemed to be that the certificate expires on the expiration date and is not good for dates thereafter (whether attached or not), but some have reported receiving extensions if they call in.

In aujusco's case (and yours), if it were me, I'd call in to make sure the certificate is extended so that it does not automatically disappear on expiration date. Some of the CSRs may not be taking steps to prevent expiration.

Very..Sound.Advice.

+ keep screenshots and notes recording who I spoke to and when.....