Personally, I don't see a different interpretation.

Secondly, members cannot book a Points Advance Reservation for the use of a Travel package Award. They must be ordered and/or attached to the reservation at the time of booking."

In the first sentence, Lurker II says that a travel package award cannot be used for a Points Advance Reservation. Full Stop.

In the second sentence, Lurker II says "they." In continuity, "they" should mean Travel Package Award(s). The "s" is parenthetical as the first sentence uses Award singularly, while in the second sentence, "they" is referring to the plural. Nonetheless, They must be ordered (purchased) and/or attached (already purchased) to the reservation at the time of booking.

There is no mention of matching categories! Of course there would not be a need to mention it because a PA is excluded from using a TP (sentence 1) and only the category of TP which you have just purchased or had purchased (not attached, including conversions) can be attached to a reservation of the same category at the time of booking. (sentence 2)

How are you interpreting those two sentences? I read them as two well defined contiguous statements without ambiguity or contradiction.

If the Lurker has created a disconnect between "Travel Package award" and "they," that is not immediately apparent, then there is no continuity and any interpretation is lost.

Perhaps a Lurker can elaborate further and confirm or rephrase the statements for clarification.

James

My situation is that I made a PA booking prior to the category change (night before). I had an OC cert that I couldn't attach, and hadn't had it converted to an NC (TBH, Marriott should have done this automatically). I had it converted at a later date and then tried to attach it to my PA reservation that changed categories, and was denied.

I get that a TP needs to be attached at time of booking, but am also disappointed that Marriott won't allow in this scenario since they put the onus on us to convert the certificates before they could be used. Yes, I chose to wait longer to convert to extend the expiry date - that's on me. I didn't expect they would allow it, and was wondering if anyone was successful with it or not.

An agent just converted an old 5 night cat 8 to a 5 night cat 5 for me on the phone (a few weeks after expiration of the old one).

However, the refund in points came out to 30k. This seems incorrect to me... has anyone had success getting the point refund corrected?

Nevermind. After reading more I think I misunderstood the "refund value" from the previous thread.

Data Point: I had an OC 1-5 that was converted to a NC 1-4 by the UK CS phone number last September. At the time, the CS rep promised me the NCs could be upgraded and extended like the OCs. I called last week to extend my NC as I'd been promised, having followed the discussion on this thread and the original thread. I was told they couldn't extend it as the conversion was considered an extension. I explained my previous conversation and what I'd been told. I even asked if they could cancel my old partial certificate and give me a new one. They said no - all they could do was open a "case". I felt this was far more 'will not because it's against policy' than 'the system doesn't allow us to'.

About 10 days later and after me chasing them again, they have extended my partial certificate to 1 year ahead from today. They reiterated that this was a special concession because they had listened to my original conversation where I'd been misinformed, and that the conversion of OC to NC was considered an extension and that no further extensions were allowed. In fairness to the person I originally spoke to, it was last September when it seemed like Bonvoy Central hadn't fully worked out how to handle the OCs and their converted NC equivalents.

So I got what I wanted and was originally promised, but it took a fair amount of effort on my part to convince them to do it.

This was what I suspected and it was disputed greatly. I just hope or wish we all get some "exceptions" and get another 12-month new life.

Still need more DPs to see if this is mis-informed info, or the real policy now.

Enjoy your travel.

Clearly the new Marriott Lurker needs to take a class on doing his/her homework and stating facts.

Just got off a call < 15 mins ago to attach a NC6 package (converted from an OC9 in early Aug) to a points advance reservation I had made back in Feb. FWIW, the hotel jumped to a Cat 7 on March 5th and after hearing reports of not being able to attach certificates to hotels where the categories had changed, I was prepared to either pay points and keep the TP for another time or change my reservation to a different Cat 6 location. Recently, the property came back down to a Cat 6.and since I now have more clarity on my schedule, I went ahead and got the cert attached so I can buy my airfare.

So yes, TP Certs can indeed be attached to points advance reservations. They do not have to be ordered and attached at the same time.

Is it the same confirmation number from before? (Assuming you received an email confirmation from the points advance reservation or you took a screenshot of it)

Since the competence of the agent, the knowledge of the customer, the status of the customer, and the attitude of the customer and the agent could influence whether or not an extension is granted, we may not get a clear answer regarding Marriott's policy regarding them from sharing our results on FT. Still, some information is usually better than no information. Although I doubt Marriott will explain its policy regarding adding life to one's travel awards on the company's website, I am hopeful that one of the Lurker's may one day resolve this issue for us.

Greetings all. I am astonished to have learned today on the phone - from a rep who seemed to know what she was talking about, she told me it was a QP91 partial - that my travel package certificate is considered to have been converted from the old 8 to the new 5 on October 18 2018. I have no memory of doing this and no reason to have done it. I note that an earlier poster in the thread said that a "conversation" with a rep had been considered a "conversion," and managed to get the expiration date extended because of that misunderstanding. May I ask this knowledgeable and helpful crowd about the best way to try to get a similar extension? For example, does one get any kind of email notification when a certificate is "converted" and since I didn't get one, can I argue that "I didn't get the email so you couldn't/shouldn't have converted it last October 18"? I only made a reservation with it this past February, for St. Kitts Marriott this month, but now I can't go. And I'm horrified to think that the certificate expires October 18 2019 and I've wasted it. I am not sure but it seems if I cancel the reservation I don't get any points back, or not more than 5000? I'd love to get it extended to February 2020! Thanks for any advice, Judy PS I am Platinum level, in case that matters.

@JudyBlueEyes,
You should have received some email from Marriott ([email protected]) for something like below:

Cancelled Award Order Confirmation

• XXXXxxxx
• 7 Nights, Partial Package Category 9 Hotels
John Doe,
As requested, we have cancelled your reward order. Below is a summary of your cancellation information.
Sincerely,
• 7 Nights, Partial Package Category 9 Hotels
• XXXXxxxx
• Tuesday, xxxx, xxxx, 2018
• P990

If you previously had a TP attached to a reservation before 8/18/2018 and changed that reservation, then the TP was automatically cancelled and rep re-issued you the NC TP. This is considered "conversion" or "extension".

Some people have had success in persuading the Marriott Rep to "extend" it again in your case. I think you get a better chance since this TP was "converted" very early and people did not know what was going on. I think it is much harder to do the trick next year and still pretend not knowing the rules.

Good luck with it. Just call and be honest with the Marriott rep and tell them what you told us.

There should have been a refund of 30K in points since a NC5 is between categories. Some members were able to pay 30K to get a NC6. You should have received an email for the cancelled OC8 and another one for the NC5. If you didn't receive any points back or emails about the conversion it should help your argument that you should be allowed an extension. On the other hand, all old certificates that weren't converted would have expired on or about 8/17/19. Regardless of the reason that your certificate was converted early, if you display the same courtesy that you showed here, I wouldn't be surprised if someone lets you extend your certificate although it may be considered a one time courtesy.

Thanks so much for these responses. Searching for emails from [email protected], it seems I did get emails both last July 24 (when I got the travel package in the first place) and last October 18. It seems the former was a category 7 and the latter a category 5. I have no idea what happened in October but I didn't make a reservation then and I would have had no reason to change the category proactively.

Would my having made a reservation in February at a category 5 hotel have counted as "converting" the certificate and starting the final one year period on it? I'd AT LEAST like to get an extension to the anniversary of that February reservation date, but ideally longer if that's not being greedy.

If anyone has further advice on what arguments I can make, I'd love to hear them. I always say that I love this community! By the way, if anyone who posts to help me will be at the Chicago Seminar this year, I'll buy you a drink in person! :) Judy

JULY EMAIL

Reward Details

Description: 7 Night Partial Package Category 7 Hotels

Reward code: P910

Valid through: Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Total points redeemed: 105,000

Confirmed on: Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Description: Total points redeemed:

7 Night Partial Package Category 7 Hotels

Reward certificate number: XXXX2676

Total points redeemed: 105,000

OCTOBER EMAIL
Reward Details

• Description: PARTIAL PACKAGE - 7 NIGHTS CATEGORY 5
• Reward code: QP91
• Valid through: Friday, October 18, 2019
• Total points redeemed: 105,000
• Confirmed on: Thursday, October 18, 2018

Description:Total points redeemed:PARTIAL PACKAGE - 7 NIGHTS CATEGORY 5
Reward certificate number: XXXX9834Total points redeemed:105,000

@JudyBlueEyes

Something happened on 10/18/2018. The OC-7 TP was "converted" to the NC-5 TP. Both have point value of 105,000 points.

As to what triggered the "conversion", I highly doubt that Marriott would auto convert it, possible but less likely. Maybe something you forgot, just like your forgetting the two emails Marriott sent to you.

The Feb reservation would not back trigger the conversion. It happened prior to that.

You just have to call Marriott and hope to find a more sympathetic rep to help you. Otherwise, you get just more than one month to use it.