swag

If certs attached, they will be honored.

If points advance, then you'll need the higher points.

After September, points advance bookings reserve the room but not the points rate. See the points advance thread for details.

christianj

Better yet...just give us the 35k (or 50k) points annually instead of the certificates! This however is NOT going to happen because putting all the other restrictions on it makes it more likely that people will not use the certificates or use for lower priced properties than if they dolled out the points. Most of the big hotel chains give you the certificates like Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and IHG but Radisson gives you 40k a year you can bank and use for higher cost redemptions.

RedSun

Now look at Marriott's reward chart.




With the 35k award night, it is Cat-5 now. But after the change, you can only book Cat-5 std, off-peak and Cat-4. Only downgrade (10k), no upgrade.

With the 50k award night, it is Cat-6 now. With the change, you have limited opportunity to upgrade to Cat-7 off-peak (10k pickup). But lose 15k with downgrade to Cat-5 (35k).

Marriott should really keep the award night as category night, not point night. If Marriott wants to turn it into point awards, then give us the points. Do not force us to fill your vacancy over your low demand off seasons. This change is a two-edged sword of taking away the category, then jack up the peak season prices and render those award nights worth less or worthless.

The point awards are subject to Marriott's category and peak/offpeak manipulations. Essentially Marriott is free to do whatever it wants to prevent members to use the award nights and steal value from them. This is not a good business practice.

rrgg

Yes, points would be better, but I know they won't do that. Expiring certificates creates incentive to spend.

I'm trying to make a reasonable request, which is why I suggested limiting the top-off to one category. Consider for example that during peak periods, there's not even a 50k level. You're guaranteed to spend a 50k certificate at a property costing 40k or less.

RedSun

Now do the math. The mid level Bonvoy credit cards have $99 annual fee. The AmEx business card AF will raise to $129(?) in a few months. On the surface, the 35k award nights are worth the AFs. But with the peak/offpeak change, they are essentially 25k award nights. And they are subject to 12-month expiration and can be wasted. All those cards have earn 2x with general spending. So those cards are not daily drivers. There is no upside to get to Platinum level. So what value do we get from holding those credit cards and stay with Marriott?

Also, almost none of us (FT) want to take our family to the middle of nowhere of those Cat-4 properties during summer or holiday seasons. Not sure even the $99 AF is worth this.

mahasamatman

Because my travel is 100% flexible.

And how can you say it's a real problem without knowing the peak dates? It may never affect you at all. SPG had peak days, and I never hit them even when I had a more restrictive schedule.

crimsona

Just upgrade the credit card certs to 40k (like the 75 night elite gift option), and people would be happy.

Who am I kidding, it's clearly intentional

Ripley62

Well I guess that’s the end of any rewards booking that's anywhere near 1cpp.

Yes we knew this was coming but logically the peak/normal/off peak would be distributed over the hotels calendar not the entire portfolio of Marriott properties. That make the comments by Marriott about how much will be effected a joke.

RedSun

This is another very unpopular Marriott change that making no sense at all. The impact is very profound.

mahasamatman

Or make the certs immune from peak/off-peak.

You must not have been on FT long. Nothing makes people happy here.

Or a "happy accident" (from Marriott's point of view).

MasterGeek

Ripley62

nycflyer17

Someone explain why this is wrong but....

Because the peak/off peak/standard division is spread across all properties, this essentially functions as dynamic pricing at any property you really would want to stay at. When it costs more, you will pay more points, when -- if ever -- it costs less, you may pay fewer points or the standard rate. So even the idea that you can benefit if you travel off-peak doesn't exactly hold water because you might consider booking with cash on those dates anyway. Bottom line is you are, on average, guaranteed to get less value for your certificates than before. There is simply no other way to look at it as far as I can tell. And given the annual fees are now creeping above $100, I see no reason to keep any Bonvoy credit card.

MasterGeek

I'm talking about the new limit of 3 active points advance reservations per account that will take effect from September 14

jn in ca

Dear Marriott, do you know when your membership program is FUBAR? When it is so convoluted that you have to publish Youtube videos to explain it, like you did today.

True, but Marriott has said they are only going to update the peak/off peak nights once a month, so it is not dynamic like Hilton's pricing, which devalues in real time as the cash rate changes.

Although this is spread across all properties so it could turn out to be a huge devaluation, I'm guessing Marriott won't use it that way. If Marriott wants to charge more points for a hotel, they'll simply move the hotel to a higher category. Marriott has not been shy about moving hotels to higher categories.