I suspect most would agree the new Travel Package is totally not worth it because there is no saving to be had like the old structure.

Someone has done an analysis posted on the net that one would be better off to just book the hotel nights with plain reward nights, and do the airline miles transfer separately as needed (the ratio of the transfer is kept at the old SPG level, with the devaluation happened at the SPG credit card's earning rate from 3 down to 2, a 30% devaluation)

In short, there is no saving to gain from the New structure, not any arbitrage value from the SPG to Marriott. We are all together now, that is what Marriott is telling us. What we are not told is, the new program has a lot of devaluation that are not in plain sight, like the categories moved upward, but rather in other ways that are less noticeable by not so savvy members.

For reward nights, there are actually some improvements such as more 25K and 35K properties to choose from because not only SPG are added, but many previous 30K Marriott properties now are at 25K. The very high end off the chart SPG properties now are much more reasonable (not just those on the islands, but also those at desirable destinations with iconic properties, think Venice as an example).

Hence going forward, plain reward night redemption would be the way to go. I am sure the last shoe to drop would be WHEN and IF we see Off Peak pricing! Given there is no defined periods, and it is all subject to the property's own discretion, I must say I am not hopeful on that!

I was told the completion of the stay, i.e. the date you check out. Others may chime in what their recollections might be.

Help
 

i am a package newbie so forgive my silly questions:
I need 100,000 miles but not really the hotel stay

1. If I cancel a new cat 1-4 100,000 package, I would get 45,000 points back?

2. Has anyone had luck booking a 5 night package lately?

Just FYI... After being on hold for an hour and then getting hung up on by an agent working to adjust my travel package, I called Marriott Europe.

Got through to an agent in 7 minutes. Explained that an agent prior to the merger told me that if I attached my OC8 to a hotel, I could always move it after the merger. However, the hotel I attached it to on her recommendation changed to NC5 and we'd like to use it for a NC6 hotel (both were cat 8 prior to merger).

Took her 10 minutes. She canceled my NC5, issued me an NC6 with today's date as expiration, and even credited me the difference in points that I was charged for the new certificate. No supervisor. No hassle. No massive time on hold.

So to sum up. Bought OC8. Got NC6. All is good in the world.

Hmmm... I suppose this could be done to convert OC6s into NC5s then as well?

Great you managed this - my problem is I'm wanting to use it at an SPG property and this still doesn't seem to be possible, so I'm not sure worth going through the hassle over try to get it converted and upgraded only to find I can't use it!

I dont know if they will enforce them right away with all the chaos, but the new T&C state that all the new certs are only worth 5,000 points if cancelled. 45,000 points was the cancellation value for the old cat 1-5 certs.

What the 45,000 MRs can you for you? Not even one single premium night. You'd better off going to spend a 7-night vacation somewhere overseas. There are plenty good hotels in other countries.

So, using these "refund values," i.e., the value of each package excluding the frequent flyer miles, would it be possible to upgrade from a new category 1-4 to a new category 6 for 120K points?

Only if the rep wants to do it. And only the supervisors can change those legacy TPs. If we give them more time, more things should open up. It can take from 15 to 30 minutes to work on any TP.....

I am happy to wait. I guess my question is whether this will be possible at some point?

My father-in-law is holding an old cat 1-5 travel certificate that he had planned to upgrade and use at Ko'Olina in January 2019. That would have required 90K points prior to August 18. Unfortunately, the Ko'Olina timeshare did not release any January rooms prior to August 18. So, he couldn't upgrade and attach a certificate or make a reservation. In the past, January rooms were routinely available using rewards points. I had assumed that Ko'Olina was waiting to open availability in January until after August 18 so that they could charge 50K miles. However, they still haven't released any rooms in January. Nevertheless, assuming Ko'Olina eventually releases rooms in January, my father-in-law would still like to upgrade his certificate and use it there. It appears that the upgrade would now cost 120K points verses 90K points prior to August 18. Nevertheless, if they gave this option, he would do it.

I remember seeing in the Wiki and in the common recommendation is that, if you do not get travel plan in mind, book OC1-5 TP. So a lot people booked the OC1-5 TPs speculatively. They never attached those since they had no intention to use those low-level TPs. Those TPs will likely drop in values even if some upgrade paths are possible. As you said, it is going to costly to use those.

If you take the face value of those TPs, the MRs you get back are just paltry. The OC1-5 had value of 150,000 and you can only get back 45,000. The OC9 had value of 270,000 and you'd be lucky to get back 165,000. But at least you can use those OC9 TPs.

For as long as I have been buying Travel packages, Marriott's policy had been to allow category changes and to extend certificate upon request. The first notice of a change in that policy was not communicated directly to customers. Rather the change was communicated by one of the Lurkers on August 15, which only left two days to make adjustments for those who were aware of the impending change. Since that Lurker never responded to requests for conversion rates, not everyone bought the package that best matched future travel plans.

In my case, I knew where I wanted to stay but couldn't commit to firm travel dates. Not having fixed dates wouldn't have mattered if I knew what legacy package matched to the new ones. Although my choices ended up being fine, others ended up with certificates that didn't match their needs.

Not true based on personal and friend's experience.

Did you read post 124 for the latest success change? Key is not waste your time with the inept North America based agents. Less than 10% of them is competent and willing, while the opposite is true for the international centers.

Not sure what your motive is to keep preaching to people not to call while those who are willing to endue the hassle, generally get things done to their hoped for solution.

You have no idea how the agents work. They do NOT work on "things". Their duties are taking customers calls which are routed thru by robot and would connect the moment there is an opening slot of a human. They do NOT sit by their desks working on "things" so "more would get done." They do whatever tasks at hand, i.e. the requests from the callers, and only do things that are permitted by the system, hardly any override.

As someone points out when eventually all agents are being trained and the system is tweaked further, then some of the desired outcomes would not happen.

The early birds catch the worms. Sure you have heard about this?

I just got off with the phone and the rep said only the supervisor can change the booking with the legacy TPs. This is the only time I called MR rep. I did not have to....