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Originally Posted by Happy
(Post 30759166)
CY as Cat 6 is ridiculous no matter how you slice it.
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Originally Posted by conde
(Post 30759218)
The category changes were predictable. We just didn't know which properties, or the scale of the changes. Very little good from this. It is nice to see the Bristol in Vienna drop to a Cat 5. That was the only hotel dropping a category which interests me.
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There are two UK hotels listed that are no longer part of the Marriott family !! |
Originally Posted by Counsellor
(Post 30760680)
Others in Europe are also dropping. Some very nice hotels in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland will drop one category and I don't see any increases in those countries, nor in Hungary (I was concerned about the Budapest Marriott, one of my favorite hotels).
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From reading this thread and others, it appears those of you with a number of years with Marriott should have expected these changes in general.
I see statements such as "[name of hotel] in [Any City, Any Country] is my favorite and it is increasing from a Category [x] to a Category [y]." Well, if it is your favorite hotel then perhaps it is hundreds or thousands of other members favorite hotel also. And since Marriott determines categories based on popularity of use of award reservations at said property, it is somewhat expected. It was much better on the member with SPG as they based their award categories on a property's ADR. So yes, you might have a Four Points in San Francisco at a higher category than a full service property in the U.S. midwest, it was easier to justify because the regular rates and thus the ADR of the San Francisco property was higher than that midwest property. Even though I prefer the SPG way of pricing award categories, it is hard to argue with Marriott's way of pricing award categories since it is based on the principal of supply and demand and the higher category properties are demanded more often in the form of award reservations than are the lower category properties. |
Originally Posted by Kacee
(Post 30759471)
In the context of ongoing program devaluation as Marriott leverages its market position, yes.
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Originally Posted by controller1
(Post 30762211)
From reading this thread and others, it appears those of you with a number of years with Marriott should have expected these changes in general.
I see statements such as "[name of hotel] in [Any City, Any Country] is my favorite and it is increasing from a Category [x] to a Category [y]." Well, if it is your favorite hotel then perhaps it is hundreds or thousands of other members favorite hotel also. And since Marriott determines categories based on popularity of use of award reservations at said property, it is somewhat expected. It was much better on the member with SPG as they based their award categories on a property's ADR. So yes, you might have a Four Points in San Francisco at a higher category than a full service property in the U.S. midwest, it was easier to justify because the regular rates and thus the ADR of the San Francisco property was higher than that midwest property. Even though I prefer the SPG way of pricing award categories, it is hard to argue with Marriott's way of pricing award categories since it is based on the principal of supply and demand and the higher category properties are demanded more often in the form of award reservations than are the lower category properties. Ironically, since the merger is making MR less rewarding, they're actually driving loyal customers to try other brands or Airbnb. |
Originally Posted by ehallison
(Post 30760576)
But everything about San Francisco is ridiculous. It's $68 + 14% tax just to park a car at some of those hotels.
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Originally Posted by rrgg
(Post 30762432)
Ironically, since the merger is making MR less rewarding, they're actually driving loyal customers to try other brands or Airbnb.
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Originally Posted by rrgg
(Post 30762432)
I thought SPG used something like a property's annual revenue or profitability to determine its category, but I guess it was ADR. Whatever the case, one argument Marriott made for the merger was they needed it help compete with Airbnb and similar. I haven't seen MR do anything to address this.
Ironically, since the merger is making MR less rewarding, they're actually driving loyal customers to try other brands or Airbnb. |
Originally Posted by BaconSF
(Post 30763052)
They have the largest global footprint and they’re fully leveraging that advantage
I just do NOT get that warm and fuzzy trusting feeling with Marriott that I had with Starwood and they've given us several reasons recently to feel this way. I'm just waiting for the shoe to drop on the peak award pricing and then I think there's going to be a lot more people playing the free agent field. |
CC certs
Marriott sets the reward category not in hotel price or quality but redemption demand. They just switch to mostly CC certs of 35k. Thus greater demand on properties in the category. This is a great example designed inflation. In most cases, even for 5th night free redemptions, remaining loyal to creat MR point for Hotel redemptions wasn’t the best usage of MR, now BR, points. It’s easy to 1ccp transfered to airlines. Hotel nights are often around ½ ccp. But the CC don’t give point but certs. In a short couple of years 25k certs being useful, thus the cards worth their annual fee. To being difficult to find a place to use them. Now the 35k certs are become just as much deadwood. Hotel earnings alone are no reason to keep the Marriott branded credit cards. It’s just silly to use a 35k cert for a hotel I can purchase for $150-200/night but that’s what these catagory changes do since they’re unrelated to the actual purchase cost of night. There not much encentive in loyalty. The price difference between getting a basic room and status upgrade with lounge access and no status but getting a package with breakfast isn’t much for leisure travel. It’s not a big step to just ignore the brand an only look at immediate price forgetting the reducing benefits of a loyalty program |
5 Attachment(s)
Of course this has never, ever happened bef;)re, but just in case something gets quietly changed, attached is todays version of the category change pdf for future reference.
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Originally Posted by Ripley62
(Post 30764165)
But the CC don’t give point but certs. In a short couple of years 25k certs being useful, thus the cards worth their annual fee. To being difficult to find a place to use them. Now the 35k certs are become just as much deadwood. Hotel earnings alone are no reason to keep the Marriott branded credit cards. It’s just silly to use a 35k cert for a hotel I can purchase for $150-200/night but that’s what these catagory changes do since they’re unrelated to the actual purchase cost of night. There not much encentive in loyalty. |
Originally Posted by swag
(Post 30764290)
I'll disagree with this. While you might not want to cash in 35K points when that only saves you 0.5 cents per point, if you're paying $95 annual fee and getting a cert you can use to save $150-200, that's a win.
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