nacho

This is even more awesome, on MB FB page the official answer is this:

"members will receive a full Points refund for the hotel portion of the Travel Package Award. The refund will be based on the current Points redemption category levels and will equal the sum of the Peak Points redemption rate per each night of the Travel Package Award, at the highest category for which the award was eligible."

Can't believe it is going to be like that - think about a cat 6 hotel during peak which is 60k/night and times 7 of that it would be a total refund of 420k points. This would be the best Marriott deal out there and I feel stupid not to redeem a travel package yesterday.

ahbitheman

Yep should have redeemed for a Cat 5 + 100K miles. I have another 125K coming on Jan 21st that I was waiting for to redeem for Cat 6 + 100K miles. Given the previous history with marriott screwing over travel packages (think to when everyone redeemed prior to the category changes hoping they would be remapped favorably but weren't) I didn't take the risk. Effectively would have been converting 110K marriott points to 100K airline points which is phenomenal. I was also hesitant on which airline to transfer to given I have no international flights planned this year. Was thinking Singapore Airlines as I have some points still there. Really wish they'd let you pool the wife's miles to help get two first class award flights!

margarita girl

I couldn’t even remember how much I paid for my 7 night Cat 1-4 cert (formerly Cat 1-5) and it was 270K pts. Worst case scenario is I get 180K pts back. Best case scenario, I get 210K pts back. And I get to keep my 100K airline miles. Wish I had more than 1 cert to cash out!

With the uncertainty of travel, I’ll cash out. I totally agree with yoonny that it makes no sense to actually use the certs!

GUWonder

https://www.dansdeals.com/points-tra...hensive-guide/ still has the chart up for some of those packages issued in 2018.

If Marriott does that, that's even more customer-unfriendly than I already expected.

There never was a 6th night free on the hotel part of the 7-night travel package certs which I have yet to use. There were only two choices per category for the hotel portion when I redeemed points for the hotel+air travel packages: either 5 consecutive nights or 7 consecutive nights. Those TPs had no 5th night free; and they had no 6th night free.

musicscrip

That is true! So even though ppl are getting refunded a lot more marriott pt than they would originally, they are actually not better off with the dynamic pricing starting in march.

myperks

The 5th night free whether it’s 5 night cert or 7 night cert is calculated into the travel package discounts. Members calculated the savings for travel package already subtracting the 5th night free when initially seeing if it has value. If Marriott gives out the peak value of the X-1 on the certs based on old categories, I shoulda woulda coulda loaded up. You are essentially getting discounted mileage transfers.

Zelucifer

Maybe? It's too soon to know and it depends on what your goals are. I'd rather be able to book 4-5 nights at what's currently a category 7-8 than 7 nights at a category 6.

GUWonder

I'd rather be able to book 7 nights at a category 6 than 4-5 nights at what's currently a category 7-8. Different people calculate things differently.

"Members calculated" only means that some members calculated it the way you suggest. How Marriott calculated things at the time is also not the same thing as some "members calculated ... subtracting the 5th night free when initially seeing if it has value".

The redemption of points for TPs in 2018 and earlier was about getting discounted mileage transfers along with 5 or 7 night certificates. No free 5th or 6th night for those packages.

myperks

true… but from the reports you will get the full 7x or 5x, so a great deal if one got in for the miles… might as well refund and not attach.

nacho

That is true if you could have a chance to use them before the devaluation and decided to get the points, I know dynamic pricing usually ends up worse but I did manage to book some award stay with Hilton and IHG after they have changed to dynamic pricing.

No matter what - refunding the certs in full is the best gift ever from Marriott.

rny321

I just called Elite Services to get a Category 6 travel certificate detached. In spite of a long discussion about why I didn't want it cancelled, it got cancelled and 165K was refunded instead of the 420K I would have received in March. Last year, someone else cancelled instead of detaching it and it was extremely time consuming to get it replaced. Not looking forward to having to deal with this again.

yoyo

Maybe someone can advance you 200K and then you send him/her 420K in March? Not sure who is gonna come ahead in this exchange

HIFlya

As part of the calculus on whether to attach or redeem for points, it is my understanding from the blogs that Marriott is assuring us that "97%" of the properties are going to stay within the current category range for at least one year. What I had planned on using my cert on was a RI in Carlsbad in early June which is currently quoted at 160K points for the 7 nights with a rack rate average of $258/night. I am guessing the likelihood of the award redemption amounts increasing beyond 210K are quite slim?

Actually is the best move to attach now just in case, and then redeem for the 210K later? According to the Marriott terms, they will honor the 210K redemption if you want to make any changes after 03/01/2022?

rny321

Nobody, because I don't need a points advance.

ankomonkey

Good news on the refund value for those people with certificates left. I used my last cert last October as I thought Marriott would screw us on any unused certs at some point, but it looks like I was wrong. The move to dynamic pricing and removal of one of the few decent parts of the programme means I will probably cash out all of my Bonvoy points to airline miles before they pull the plug or heavily reduce the conversion rate so that far fewer airmiles are received. Air Sasquatch here I come!