I predict we will see some really great “success stories” on points saved from people going to Bakersfield California in the Summer.

Not so much for bucket list vacations to places people actually want to go...on purpose.

TD

Funny, I have tons of award bookings at Cat 6, 7, and 8 properties for the coming year...and not a single award has gone from standard to peak. Not one. But one did drop to off-peak.

The same seems to be true for most of my Ambassador colleagues in our Facebook group.

I predict that the prognostications of aspirational property peak pricing will be revealed as the typical fearmongering that we’ve had with every change that Marriott has instituted since acquiring Starwood.

I predict all this will be much ado about nothing. As usual.

I got almost all my PA who go up.

W Verbier December 400K
W Maldives February 400K
Santa Marina Mykonos LC Mid August 400K
Caresse Bodrum Turkey LC End August 240K

I booked a reward room at the TownPlace Suites in Times Square for 5 nights in May before the Sept 14. It was 140,000 points. On Sept 15, I got online and looked at the same 5 nights again, and it was 155,000 points. 3 of the nights were 40,000 point peak awards, and 2 nights were 35,000 point standard awards. One of the 35,000 point nights was the free night in the redeem 4 get one free policy. That is so weird to have 2 different rates for different award nights in the same stay during the same calendar month.

Interesting about Caresse - I thought maybe peak/ off peak hadn’t been introduced there yet as dates I was finding in October were still standard (I mean, it could be worse so I’m not complaining per se).

9 hours later, it still shows that I need an e cert ( two days ago it correctly showed e certs were attached)

My reservation is one week from today at the Gritti Palace for 5 nights. Luckily , I can cancel a speculative reservation if absolutely needed to get the points; also have my confirmation showing points deducted.

im in Rome now, calling with what I expect are terrible hold times would be a PITA and blow my phone plan.

I have just checked one of my reservations where I had deducted points, which is now on peak pricing. I am still seeing the e-certificate in place and the original points price.

So given the urgency, I recommend taking action. I would start though with the hotel to see if they can fix it on their end. This will spare you the call center gauntlet. The email in the master thread is [email protected].

Thanks!

Question for the experts. We reserved a hotel in China for next year, the guest relations manager was kind enough to upgrade our room to a suite (5 nights 100k points).

Now after 9-14, it takes 95k for the same five nights. Can I just call Marriott and get the 5k back? I don't want to modify my reservation and rebook and lose the suite upgrade (we booked a deluxe room).

Aspirational is in the eye of the beholder. While many here might save for those category 8 hotels, others want to go to a major city, or just their annual vacation when they need to which will not include category 8.

All of my upcoming reservations for next year are now more expensive (even if marginally so). While they are not category 8 aspirational, they are also in high-end hotels, in places I need to be in, at the times I need to be in them.

So yes, the sky is not falling, but it is a devaluation and the monthly change makes it even more unpredictable. While not purely dynamic pricing, it is very close to that. It is clear it is not really about "high season" or "location in demand" but based on the specifics of a particular hotel - although usually high demand in one will be high demand in another in the same location. I do see amazing differences for the same time in somewhat similar locations (i.e., 5 nights that would have cost 200K prior to 9/14, are now varied between 170K to 220K in the same city - interestingly enough the 170K is for "better" hotel with less elite benefits at worse location and the 220K is for a worse hotel with better benefits and better location), so there are deals to be had if one have flexibility - but again not everyone has that ability to be flexibility.

Honestly, I think this is the biggest issue. For people planning a trip months out and who were planning to use future 35/50 certs for some of the nights it's really easy for those rooms to bump to 40/60 and to be stuck. It's not the marginal gain or loss of 5-10K points. Its moving FN certificates from useful to worthless.

This is just a wake-up call for the folks who hold the Marriott credit cards.

The people who get hurt most are the mid income families who hold two or more Bonv*y credit cards for the FNs. They try to earn some points and use the FNs for the typical two family vacations each year. Not only all those properties go to peak pricing, but the FNs can't be used as before. They have to drop the entire vacations to one category lower.

For the folks who earn tons of easy points from business travels and go to Category 8 resorts many times a year, I do not think they need to make much noise....

Unfortunately, I often have to travel on the US school schedule for kids, so I figured this would be pretty rough. Luckily, I'm mostly booked up through next summer, but I re-checked those trips out of curiousity. It's not great, but only 2 out of 5 nights for an early January trip were peak, 3 out of 5 nights for a February ski trip were peak, and all nights for a spring break Miami trip were peak. This doesn't sound good, but I 99% expected those to be all peak nights. I haven't found any off-peak days of interest yet, but I only spent a half hour or so checking some of my usual destinations.

Yes, we all knew what Marriott is doing and we have been fore-warned. Devaluation? sure yes. But where to find those off-peak vacation sweet spots? Probably none for most people. Maybe some of the retirees can deep up those off-peak resorts and enjoy the time there. Working families sure can't. Most families go over summer, winter and spring breaks...

Don't forget that the free night will be the cheapest, so that means that 2 out 4 nights in Jan will be peak, and 3 out of 4 nights in Feb will be peak. :(

Rather clever of Marriott don't you think? :td: