Mr. Vker

I admit I don't have a dog in this fight, as no trip I had scheduled was affected. But reading some other forums and social media, many people are canceling trips booked on Bonvoy points. Attempts to reschedule are being hit with new categories and increased points needed. Interesting thought as the travel bans hit nearly at the same time as the Category bumps, I think I'd be pretty irritated if I had a Hawaii trip booked that suddenly needed 20% more points or so to reschedule. Rolling back until next year would go miles in good will while people got things back in order.

nexusCFX

No, because they need cash and incentivizing people to use points is not helpful for that.

escapefromphl

Yeah it's not a good look, changing category levels after Covid19 started, they rolled back the March 3 changes for China...

I see they are also still getting a bunch of requests for 2019 status extensions (and soft landings). They should just restore everyone back to the status they had on Jan 31. Make like 2020 hasn't happened.

Mr. Vker

​​​​​​Future rates are never guaranteed, but paid stays can often be gotten for similar costs. The Bonvoy jump can't be avoided. They can limit the number of rooms on awards to mitigate, but they were hitting all resort spots hard with this last round.

margarita girl

Ironically, everything is almost back to normal in China with fireworks and light show celebrations while the rest of he world is falling apart thanks to Covid 19.

Intl359Widget

Leave it to China to dump it's problems off on the world and celebrate...

margarita girl

I thought this piece by Bill Maher summed it up pretty well.

exploreaswego

I'm on no-one's side, but playing devil's advocate. China did went through 3 months of complete lock down in the first quarter when the rest of the world just shrugged its shoulder and claimed it was just a common flu..

But I have to agree with Nexus here, it doesn't incentivize Marriott to promote using their points now, they need cash more than anything else now.
On the other hand, certain regions are taking initiatives to by participating in Points Saver till the end of the year to encourage stays with points due to low occupancy. They are mostly Asian properties though, the Naka Islands in Phuket off-peak + points saver only cost 35k, for once I know my FN certs are going to put in good use (redeeming a CAT 5 cert for a CAT 6 property) for a year end island vacay.

lexdevil

I wish they would. I've had a 10 night July stay booked at the Marriott London Park Lane when it was a Cat 7 and before peak pricing. I knew it would likely be my last stay there, as Cat 8 + peak pricing is just too rich for my blood. After several years staying there, I'm sad to realize that my last stay at the Park Lane is already behind me (as I think this July's stay is unlikely to happen).

writerguyfl

As nexusCFX notes, hotels are currently desperate for cash. If they can push guests to rebook with cash instead of points, they can improve their situation. Since resorts are more likely to require a deposit, it means they get that money now. In comparison, points stays are not paid by the chain until after the guest departs.

(I never worked for a Marriott. But, I did work in the accounting office of a hotel for about a year. Point stays were paid via the normal accounts receivable process. That meant it took a few weeks to get paid for points redemptions.)

It's also worth noting that unless a hotel is full, points redemptions are miniscule. Once a hotel hits a certain occupancy (which varies by hotel group but often is 90%), the hotel will get paid a much higher rate (usually the average daily rate for the date the points were deemed). As such, a cash booking can bring in multiple times more actual money than a points booking unless the hotel is full. Since no one really knows when leisure travel will return to normal levels, a smart hotel will push guests to make cash reservations.

The question a company like Marriott faces is whether the inability to rebook a reservation at the same rate for future travel going to anger people enough to get those people to switch to a different hotel group (even if they wait until they've redeemed existing points). Personally, I doubt that would happen with too many people. Although, I suppose it could be the tipping point if someone had other issues with Marriott.

miloworld

Maybe.. just maybe that was their plan all along

miloworld

Just the city of wuhan actually..

christianj

Is it time to lock this thread? Or maybe we just delete all the non-Flyertalk related banter and merge with the following thread:

Will Marriott reduce their exorbitant point redemptions in the future?

People seem to want to turn everything into a political debate these days and who is to blame for what and who reacted how. Let's get back on topic and take your comments on politics and stuff like that elsewhere please! FT is not the place for these discussions IMHO!

I see both sides of Marriott wanting people to pay for their stays since they will need cash but I also think there is an argument to rollback the increase since that will also motivate people to start traveling again. Reality is even when we use points to stay at hotels we likely will spend other money at the hotels.

arlflyer

Marriott (and every other travel / hospitality company) doesn't want people to start traveling again; it wants them to start paying again. I may not agree with everything MR has done in past years, but I also realize that at the end of the day they're not a charity.

RedSun

It is just wrong to defend Marriott for its need for cash. All people and business are short of cash now. But this is not the time to squeeze the customer base for the cash.

A hotel "loyalty" program is for the loyal customer base. Without this customer base, travelers won't stay at the hotels, and they won't open wallet to pay for the room, food and drinks. Hotels need the occupancy up. They earn nothing with the rooms empty, cash or points.

As I said before, Marriott's response to virus has been very short-sighted. It is nothing like Hilton and Hyatt. Granted, Marriott still gets its huge footprints and all the nice properties. But when travel starts again, we all have to evaluate our loyalty again. By continuing its point devaluation during this Covid, Marriott may be able to squeeze a few $ here and there. But I figure it will lose more when traveling is back. Hotels are empty and there are good deals everywhere. Now we get more choices....