RedSun

I see the "changes" must be made before 4/30/2020. The trip can be for later dates.

But I do not see that things will be clear by end of April.

Happy

The original policy for Greater China members says Members do not need to call. System will handle the extension automatically, to be finished by Apr 30, 2020. They NEED to update the language from specific regions to ALL members.

You can find this thru the link inbedded in the CEO's letter. It is appended at the end of the paragraph under this heading
FOR OUR MARRIOTT BONVOY MEMBERS
https://help.marriott.com/s/article/Article-24119

BTW we have not received said email to either account.

GundamWing01

doesnt the excerpt below via your marriott link address "all regions" outside of china? was this part only added recently? maybe im not understanding what you mean. im just glad that all certs and TPs will get extended until 1/31/21 without wasting BS HUCA time. pretty sure thats the "final" extension for everyone with old OC to NC TPs with expiration dates in 2020.

What benefits are being extended for Members outside of mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan?
For all Marriott Bonvoy™ Members except for those who reside in mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan:

• We have paused Points expiration for those scheduled to expire between now and August 31, 2020. No changes will be made to the Points expiration date and Points will remain in the Member’s Account through the end of August 2020.
• Free Night Awards (as part of a credit card benefit, Annual Choice Benefit, Promotion or Travel Package) with an expiration starting March 1, 2020 will be extended through January 31, 2021. The system will automatically complete the updates by the end of April 2020.
• Suite Night Awards with an expiration date of December 31, 2020 will be extended to December 31, 2021. The system will automatically complete the updates by the end of June 2020.
• Members do not need to take any action as the system will automatically complete the updates.

pazza2000

So we can request an extension of our Trav Pkgs (& FNC) at any point before they expire this year through to Jan 31st, ‘21? As long as the result is made before their current expiry?

Pleased to see Marriott included these Travel Packages in this new policy! I would have assumed there is so few now left that they would have excluded or ignored them.

Counsellor

Note the line in the announcement: So, as I read it we need not take action ourselves to have the free nights validity extended to January 2021.

I also presume that if the coronavirus situation is not clarified by then, Marriott is likely to add another extension. That's an inference on my part, not a guarantee on their part.

GundamWing01

its important to note a few things:

1) we should never trust the marriott customer service virus. IMHO more lethal than the corona virus.
2) print and screenshot everything.

"Members do not need to take any action as the system will automatically complete the updates."

yea right. we will have to HUCA to get the 1/21 extension. i guarantee you. nothing is ever automatic at marriott except for their ratchet customer service which is on tap.

3) this update so new, very few agents will even acknowledged this policy until much later and will say something stupid like "sorry, we cant extend anything" or "we dont see your expired cert or TP anymore. its expired. its gone. nothing we can do. can i help you with anything else?"

im documenting everything and letting my certs and TP expire. i will not use them until after the global crisis is over. but if i need a stay, just go look at the falling room rates at various properties. many deals.

jtp1947

If and when Marriott extends the TP to January 2021 will that count as our one allowable extension? I have two TP's expiring this June and was going to wait until closer to expiration to request the extension.

GundamWing01

nobody can give you a definitive answer. however, its very clear from all the DPs that reissuing the TP for another 1 year extension is ultra YMMV, even today. so dont get your hopes up of another extension after 1/21. after the auto ext, just try to use it.

HIFlya

My concern is whether the extensions will be applied to certificates and TPs that are already attached to reservations. To make things even worse for the TP, as we all know, the TP doesn't actually show up on the reservation itself online after it is attached.

nacho

We are in the same situation and we can't use the reservation we made in the US - no flight to and from Denmark until late April.

allset2travel

Glad that Marriott extended the credit card free night deadline.

UsernameChuck

Has anyone tried calling to change a property that has increased in category? Their statement seems to think of existing reservations as being in a different bucket from not-yet-used certificates (which will allegedly get extended). They say: "Generally speaking, for guests with existing individual reservations, including reservations with pre-paid rates that are typically more restrictive, we will allow changes or cancellation without a charge up to 24 hours prior to arrival as long as the change or cancellation is made by April 30, 2020." I imagine that TPs are usually restrictive to a category, and they say that even with typically restrictive rules, we'll be able to change dates. I wouldn't necessarily mind paying some extra points in order to be able to rebook. (We were planning to be in Kauai and Maui in April, which is super unlikely to happen.) It would be great to be back to the old days when you could pay to upgrade a TP.

I'm hesitant to touch it right now, since it's fairly likely that they would botch it up. I can't decide whether they would be likely to do something generous in the coming days, or whether they're more likely to clarify that they don't want to be generous.

beagleflyer1977

I'm in the same boat, used a Cat 5 cert to book Sheraton Kauai. Now it's a Cat 6, and my travel is in April - no idea what to do and how they would go about this.

RedSun

This is exactly what I say Marriott's virus update is just half-hearted effort. Hyatt froze the annual category changes, so guests can just move the dates and can still stay at the same properties with the same rates. But Marriott has already implemented the peak/off-peak and annual category changes and it only rolled back the changes at APAC region. I guess Marriott may secretly roll back the changes in other region (Europe and US) if the situation is even worse than in APAC. This is how Marriott does things, always passive and speculative.

Some still say Marriott's change is better than Hyatt's.

Anyhow, Marriott should seriously consider rolling back the annual category changes. This travel year is pretty much lost. Just roll back, rewind and start over again. Or, I'm going to transfer my points to airlines, cut my Bonv*y credit cards and dump my FN and TP. I'm sure Bonv*y will continue to lose value.

UsernameChuck

Yeah - and given how Marriott works, it hardly seems wise to just reach out and see what happens. On reddit, someone suggested that if we contacted the hotel directly, they might possibly help... I have not tried this. I expect that it wouldn't work, and that if they moved it, the system would treat it as a new reservation, such that we'd owe 210K in points or whatever it would add up to.