Annual Award Category Changes - Effective March 5, 2019.
 

I'm wondering when Marriott will communicate the Annual Award Category Changes for 2019. In the past, SPG and Marriott have done this around Mid Feb - Early March.
I guess its likely to happen in March, when they Categorie 8 and Peak/off-peak Awards will be introduced, together with the new program name.

Any guesses/ insights/ ideas on this?

Cat 8 will be added in March. I presume any realignment will be adjusted at the same time.

We already had all our 2019 category changes! They just happened in August 2018!

It would be nice if the only change Marriott made in March is the addition of off-peak and peak periods as well as moving hotels into category 8. That said, I won't hold my breath that Marriott won't use the opportunity to move some hotels around cat. 1-7 at the same time.

+1. The allocation of hotels to the "new" award chart took a long time to be published last year.

If Marriott feel the need to adjust hotel categories PLUS add the new 8 and peak / off-peak pricing. Well... might as well give up and convert everything to miles for as long as that lasts.

Hello,

Is there an exact date in March set yet for the introduction of peak/off peak awards?

Thanks for any replies.

agreed....i was making some plans for the summer & was wondering whether to book now or wait to see if there are any category changes....over the last few years marriott has announced category changes around this time in feb or may do so on 13th feb along with the new name change but i doubt it given the massive changes that took place less than 6 months ago....

2019 Category Changes Announced
 

See them here: https://points-redemption.marriott.com/category-change (click the Review Here link)

VftW has some analysis: https://viewfromthewing.boardingarea...-changes-2019/

2019 Category Changes Posted
 

Gary's blog has a link to the category changes:

https://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2019/02/08/marriott-category-changes-2019/?utm_source=BoardingArea&utm_medium=BoardingArea#_ ga=2.6819322.918897473.1549284479-1690604599.1532984164

I think we had all hoped that there would be no adjustments since we saw a ton happen in August but say it isn't so! As usual I am seeing more increases in category that will impact me. I'm especially not happy about:

Cosmo LV up to 7
Fonecruz Lisbon up to 6
Sheraton Lisbon up to 5
Pine Cliffs Residences up to 8
Bodrum Edition up to 6
St. Regis Istanbul up to 6
London Edition up to 8
Renaissance Paris Vendome up to 7
Sheraton NYC TS up to 6....it had just dropped to 5 a couple of months ago and now back up to 6

Only decreases I see that catch my eye 2 W's in LA going down to 6 and Bristol in Vienna going down to 5.

It's out now: https://points-redemption.marriott.com/category-change

PDF of properties sorted by brand: https://lacek.hs.llnwd.net/e2/marrio...ogram=marriott

Also just noticed that with these increases it eliminates 6 hotels in New York City that now can no longer be booked using the 35k free night credit card awards! :mad: :mad: :mad:

The Lexington Autograph Collection NYC
CY NY Manhattan Times Square
CY NY Manhattan Soho
RI NY Manhattan Central Park
RI NY Manhattan Times Square
Sheraton NY Times Square

Wow.... every single property I am considering to use my OC1-5 travel package cerficate on is going up to NC5. And I can't commit to dates now. Ugh....

Marriott 2019 Category Changes.
 

Everything (well almost everything) is going up in category this time. Marriott is really wanting to say bon voy to all of their loyal customers.

That was my exact same reaction. It really makes it difficult to find a hotel for OC 1-5.

This is why I hate the switch to point-based certificates. We have de facto 24 categories due to peak/standard/off-peak.

It would be nice if Marriott let us top off a certificate with any gap in points.

One thing the Marketing interns that are running the program did learn in school is that you announce bad news on Friday afternoon when people are easing into the weekend! Definitely missed the class on how to win customer loyalty!
#BonVoyageMarriottBonvoy

If you have some dates in mind, you may be able to make points advance bookings now at the 35K price and then later apply the certificate. I know that it is possible to apply a certificate as part of "paying for" a points advance booking (and if it is a multi-night booking, you can use points for the other nights at the same time); and I'm not sure but my impression is that if you make a points advance booking now and pay for it after March 5, you're supposed to still be able to lock in the points rates from when you booked. So if your booking still shows as 35K points/night when you "pay for" the points advance, I would think the certificate would still be usable then.

Note there will also still be NYC hotels available for 35K points, like the TownePlace Suites off Times Square, which is a budget hotel with very small rooms but at least in a good location (or in as good a location as some of the other NYC hotels that are going up in price anyway). Not sure if there will be many 2-bed room options left in central NYC though.

I have a couple of points advance reservations in June for a property that is going up one category. What is everyone's thought on whether I need to lock those in by paying the points prior to March 5? I don't think I shouldn't have too, but...

Thanks for the advice, I did think of that and have asked if this is possible on the travel package thread. The issue is that the certificate doesn't mention a maximum number of points you can redeem it for so I'm afraid that if you call after the 5th they'll say "you can't attach a cat 4 certificate to a cat 5 property" even if it was booked when it was still a 4.

The OC 1-5 (NC4) can only cover up to 25K per night btw, not 35K, so they are effectively increasing everything in Manhattan to NC5 and higher.

I have a feeling that they're assigning categories mainly based on the area the property is in without any regard for its quality or lack thereof. The CY Waikiki is going up to a 6(!) for example. It's been two years since we stayed there but we couldn't wait to get out of there and run to a brand new Hampton Inn for less $ instead.

I think in theory you are right, but in reality prepare for pain. My experience is the advance value will change and then you need to go through the gauntlet of customer support to change it back. I had one over the merger that went up 7500 points. Given multiple issues I had over the migration with more important bookings, I decided to let it slide. I preferred to eat the cost rather than burn time and raise my stress levels with one or more CSAs.

My approach nowadays is to avoid points advance. I prefer to get the points or certs deducted and the reservation 'locked down'. There is then a much lower chance (I hope) of IT issues. You also have a confirmation email to fallback on, which you do not get with the advance.

Looking at the list, it feels more Marriott properties have changed than legacy Starwood.

It's another massacre. They're shutting down many of the decent values that were left on the chart.

Value of MR points just dropped IMO.

There's more than enough lamenting in this forum, but I'll just add some more: Since some good people (first and foremost: William/StarwoodLurker) are still there, I haven't given up hope that Marriott will come around to see the long-term loyalty value-prop of FTs rather than their short-term cash potential.

But these changes are just one more pain point on the road to despair.

NYC used to be one of the few good and consistent redemption values for the credit card cert, but alas it feels like someone at Marriott woke up to this "mistake."

My exact thoughts...ugh!

Make multiple reservations.

Adding some salt to the wound...with their change over to "peak/off-peak" chart there will be times (I'm assuming every desirable holiday or summer period) when you won't even be able to use the 50K free night credit certificate from their "premium" cards at those same hotels :eek:

After I saw this, I looked and it seems the Fairfield Inn Times Square, AC Times Square, TownePlace Suites Times Square and Element Times Square are still category 5. The cert wouldn't work during peak pricing, though.

I'm kinda surprised to see another devaluation to coincide (sorta) with the start of Bonvoy. This is the fourth one in 14 months, I'm told? I'm not saying some changes aren't justified, I just thought they'd want to start on a positive note. Legacy Marriott Members have been though a lot these last two years. Coming from the SPG side, Marriott initially had much lower redemption rates (especially because of the 1:3 conversion), and there was huge arbitration opportunity these last couple of years: Why would I stay at a 36-48k Starwood property (old SPG Cat 5, converted to Marriott points), when I could stay at a comparable and nearby Marriott for 25-35k? So there were some painful increases on the Marriott side in 2017 and 2018, while SPG saw relatively few increases. Then, in August 2018, they sorta tried to harmonize things -- put nearby Marriotts and Westins in the same category, that sort of thing. In some cases that made sense, in some it didn't -- and I think a big part of what we're seeing now corrects these adjustments. Sadly (but predictably) they're predominantly going the route of increasing points (rather than lowering the over-categorized properties). I would expect to see a few more rounds of adjustments (although hopefully not 2+ times a year!), until we're basically at SPG levels. I don't like what they're doing, but I understand it.

These changes sting especially for NC1-4 certificate redemptions. I remember occasionally having OC1-5 certs in the past, and for the most part, the Marriott properties these could be used at sucked. The summer 2018 adjustment (along with the ability to redeem certs at Starwood properties) brought some real redemption values for NC1-4, including CY HK Sheung Wan, Skycity Marriott, 4P SIN, Mar/Sher Taipei, a handful of NYC properties, Westin PVR, Plaza Seoul, Athenee -- which are now going away (and some others with occasional $200-300 rates which miraculously seem to have escaped the cull for now).

We haven't seen how the "peak" periods will play out (and SPG was no saint here, allowing properties to designate up to 1/3 of the year as "high season," although only at Cat 5 and up), but it's likely that this will further reduce points redemption values. Not a great start for Bonvoy (but it's not like most people obsess over this stuff like FTers do), so maybe dangling shiny Titanium will make people forget the pain from these devaluations.

No you dont, but when you need to order the e-certs with the points, you need to call CS to get that done. In the past the CS would deposit the additional pts into your account, then redeem the points at the new level for the already advance-booked reservation.

I doubt this part of process would change, i.e. the IT part would be programmed to be able to distinguish the advance bookings point levels and not charge more pts if you do it yourself online.

95+% of properties are unchanged.

The net impact of points needed across all properties went up 1.56%. So yes, the value dropped about 1.5%. That's about, or less than, CPI.

Yes, for those that changed, the direction was heavily weighted (89%) to increases.

But I find it hard to call it a massacre when 95+% had no change.

Are you double counting programs? Yes, when they were two different companies there were "2 changes per year", but that's not really an accurate reflection. And you can always say "2 changes in 13 months" if you just overlap annual changes.

Last Spring's annual increase, this Spring's annual increase, and one consolidation (which, as I pointed out at the time, actually resulted in a net decrease in points needs program-wide). What other one?

Worse.

We have an increase last Summer at a minimum. August 18th to be exact.

I always find Hawaii to be an interesting proxy. I find it hard to believe that of 34 properties, many of us find two Sheratons, one Residence Inn, one Courtyard, and one Autograph to be what everyone is striving for, and devastated that they are going up. No one wants to stay in RC, Westins, LC's, and Marriotts? ?

Australia - clamoring for the Courtyard North Ryde over everything else?

57% overall are RI, CY, Aloft, FI, 4P, SHS, Sheraton - aren't those usually the middle of nowhere brands?

I'm pretty sure that if 7,000 properties went down and one went up, folks would complain that it was obviously the one everyone wanted to visit and MR was obviously &%&&#&^@members yet again.

fwiw, of all the properties I redeemed at in Peru, Spain, Greece, France, Australia and Hawaii on vacations over the last 4 years, not a single one was impacted.

(Aloft Cleveland airport?)

Is that not the "one consolidation" that I specifically itemized?