https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3b9395da7c.png

Thanks, Marriott - for keeping us on our toes.
Hope I can finally put these to use, unless we are in total lockdown for months at an end again - do not expect another extension.

My travel package certs were to expire on January 31, 2001, and they are all now showing with an expiration date of August 1, 2021.

A 6 month extension helps, but this extension -- with a scheduled expiration even before the summer of 2021 is over -- may come across as being miserly in light of the probability that travel is going to be disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic until a good bit into the summer of 2021 (if not even into Q4 2021).

I take it that Marriott's doing this 6 month extension thing is a sign that it is: a) very reluctant to extend the certs; and b) wants to try to cause as much spoilage in customer accounts as possible, but without becoming the industry poster boy for going Defcon 1 against the customers at a time when alienating historically loyal customers is exactly what a company in the industry should not be doing.

Sounds like a fair assessment for to me!

Mine got extended, even the old converted ones. A fair outcome I'd say. Should be able to use them by August 1st.

If I’m forced to use mine in Canada, I’d much rather it be in July than January. ;)

tell me about it ;) well, I am hoping to use mine in July :) wherever I can be then :)

Perhaps the category changes in March, if they happen, will give you more options, or maybe less.

Could someone advise please. I had the old travel package Cat 1-5 which I then converted to the new one and my understanding was that it could be used on Cat 5 if the booking was made before the change. I made a booking at a Cat 5 hotel in Abu Dhabi and all went well. My expiry has now been extended to August 2021 BUT the account is saying I don't have enough points for my booking as it is now showing 30,000 points per night instead of the original 25,000 when I had booked. How do I get around this? If I change my booking from this resort, can I only book a maximum Cat 4 hotel?

I noticed that they extended mine till Jan 31st 2021. I just looked up a cat 5 hotel and they just booked them for me. The agent didnt know how to book it , so she added a whole lot of points on my account at first - about 200K points and then booked the hotel using the points and then took out all the remaining points. Unfortunately I need to cancel this trip . I will have to call or email and ask if they will extend my certificate again .

Not sure I follow your sequence of transactions. You had an old cat 1-5 package but got converted to a new cat 1-5? Did you pay the package difference? I thought old cat 1-5 converted to a new cat 1-4 unless you applied the old cat 1-5 but that was 2+ years ago. The rest I’m not sure what is going on because it’s not clear in your post on if your Abu Dhabi reservation was made with a cert or made with points or made on points advance. What is clear is that any changes are repriced at the current point requirement.

No I didnt pay any difference. I think they forgot to change the cat or something. They did change all the marriott categories anyways . so the old marriott Category at colorado used to cat 5 and they changed that to 6 . So I guess thats how it worked.

My reservation is for Destin, Florida, which I need to cancel . I will update once I cancel it and see what they do with my certificate.

So what is the question again and what are you doing again? Super curious now.

So I had the old Cat1-5 and I booked the W in Abu Dhabi. Then the old one had to be converted to the new Cat 1-4 but since I'd booked the Cat 5 before, there was no issue for a year. Recently, when the expiry got extended to Aug 2021, my account is suddenly saying that I haven't got enough points for the existing booking. It has somehow picked up that it is a Cat 5 hotel. So I wanted to know what my position was.

Second question was that when I bought it, it was valid for Cat 1-5 so if I change my booking to some other resort (as don't fancy going there in summer 2021), should Marriott be obliged to let me book it for a Cat 5 hotel?

Old Cat 1 to 5 is the same as new Cat 1 to 4 based on the POINTS needed. The designation of the Category LEVEL means nothing. The equivalent of points matter. You are getting the SAME point cost certificate.

The only categories being short changed in the conversion from old levels to new levels, are the Cat 6 and may be Cat 8. Those got DOWNGRADED but Marriott eventually made everyone who contacted them whole by either refunded the extra pts charged or some other forms. Details in the Old thread.