It's 60K (not 30K)

Thats a 2 category upgrade. I believe you need 120K points

Yeah, I'm okay using the points I just can't get anyone to allow it yet. I haven't tried the UK line yet, will go that route if I have to.

60k.

Some people have managed an OC6 to NC5 for 30k, which is as you'd expect.

I have an OC9 attached to a reservation. If I detach the reservation from the OC9, I believe it will become an NC6 based on the data here. Now my question is if the NC6 (which should have a new expr date) can be used to book a category 7 hotel which currently costs 60k per night.

For example, I want to book W Maldives using NC6 before March 2019 (before it goes up above 70k). Does anybody know or want to share your thoughts?

No. The NC6 can only be used for a Category 6 or lower hotel. I am unaware of anyone who has been able to pay to upgrade a NC6 certificate to a NC7.

I believe once you make the reservation and lock in the price the price will not change unless you make a change to the reservation that would cause it to reprice the points required (which the certificate does not do). Looking at it another way, once you lock in the points price by making the reservation with a points advance, if you pay for the reservation later in points the cost will not change. Similarly, if you pay later with a cert the cost should not change so long as the cert covers the points cost needed by the existing reservation.

Simply having the points cost go up should not be a factor with an existing reservation. I am not sure what happens if the hotel goes up in category and the cert you want to apply does not cover the new category. Is the existing res tied to the category at the time the reservation was made? Someone should have previous experience with this from the OC travel packages.

That's what I wanted to know. Thank you!

ahh yes you're right

That's how I interpreted this as well. Not really a travel package question but a 35k free night w/ credit card question. I'm locking in a few nights at 35k and am hoping to use a certificate or two to cover. I'm assuming the thinking is the same regardless of which certificate you have though.

OC6 has 30K additional value than OC5, that is why it is only another 30K to NC5.

I guess for upgrade to only one level up is easier than jumps two levels. Hope the poster have better luck with UK agents and achieve a 2 levels upgrade.

The CSRs would do the attachment for you. What they usually do, at least in the past, are to deposit the additional pts into the account, then take that back. Not sure how the new system would handle such. We can only hope it will have some provision to accomplish the same.

Advice - I have a OC7 that expires in early Aug. Was planning on using it the NC5 in June, but plans have changed and would like to use it for late Aug (after expiration date). Should I 1) book for something before the expiration to convert the cert and hope the expiration is extended and then rebook for Aug trip or 2) ask the rep to convert and hope I can just book for the trip I want there and then? What's the easiest way to do this?

Although a couple of posters did not get their certificates extended when converting to new certificates, the default appears to be one year from the date the award is changed. If you know the dates of your new reservation, it would probably be easiest to make a points advance reservation before calling to have your old certificate converted and attached.