BKKLEE

really...... besides the 3 props in Finland (1 of which is at the arpt), 1 prop in Sweden, 1 airport prop in Denmark and none in Norway, where are all these "good" Scandinavian props as Scandic is no longer part of HH????

rajuabju

I've never been heavily invested with Marriott, but after this, I'll use up my few remaining points and also move on. Hyatt and SPG for me, and Hilton as my #3.

One of the few reasons anyone would stay with Marriott at this point would be business requirements. So for that, I'd understand. But otherwise, I just dont see many situations in which Marriott is the best option over other available options.

Even if Hyatt has 2 or 3 separate devaluations; even if Hyatt adds new categories or increases redemption costs, etc, their program would STILL be by far more rewarding than Marriott at this point. The argument for Marriott and Hilton being roughly equal is one thing... but Hyatt (and IMO, SPG) are far more rewarding to loyal customers. Of course, Hyatt also has a much smaller presence, so there is a trade off.

ElmhurstNick

I guess being new to Marriott, I don't have any particular expectation that a MegaBonus should obviously be able to be redeemed for a full-service property costing $150-$200/night. To me Cat4 means "below average" and thus I assume that it's either weaker full service properties or Residence/SpringHill/Courtyard in smaller and thus less expensive cities.

The overall class creep is annoying, but I've been doing miles and points for 20+ years and I expect that my entire portfolio across chains will depreciate each year. I can't get upset about it, it just is an attribute of overall inflation and currency fluctuation. I usually redeem 16-20 free nights a year for leisure stays across chains, in fact I already have 9 2013 free nights reserved.

What I get upset about are structural changes, such as Hilton getting rid of their Diamond Force, or Priority Club changing which points qualify for status-earning. In that regard, the new Cat 9 is extremely annoying, but I don't earn enough with Marriott for it to register outrage the way a new Hilton 60k category would.

PaulInTheSky

Already 75 nights to keep the PLT status, already ridiculous and low-valued point earning ratio, no BOGOs, no breakfast even on the weekends. This is a very bad change for Marriott, especially increasing the category to make the eCerts completely worthless. In some areas of the world, you simply couldn't drive or take public transportation to get to the Cat4 hotels easily. CY Hong Kong is gone.

jr1202sr

So I stay 25+ nights at an average spend of 200-300 per nights which is a MIN. of $6250 before incidentals, food, etc.... as part of the megas bonus offer

For that loyalty I get 50K bonus miles from Marriott which barely gets me 1 night at the same hotel I stayed to earn the free night. So basically I have to stay 25 Nights to get 1 free one? So If I can find a hotel 10 dollars cheaper I save 250 and can buy my own night. Imagine if I can find one 20 dollar cheaper....
Now I Just look at Marriotts. Soon I will look at others and I bet I can find the savings.

northwest_buckeye

This is just flat-out insulting. I'm under 30 with nearly 600 lifetime nights so far... Basically, as soon as I get to the 1.6mm point threshold (should be by 2014, at the absolute latest) for LT Gold, I'm probably on the way out. Is this a poor rationale? Can anyone list a benefit to stay past LT Gold?

It's a sad day... For the most part, Marriott has been great - locations, service, etc. But if the loyalty program is becoming a one-way street, is it worth supporting?

Treat me like your girlfriend - not your wife - Marriott.

Happy

Yup. It is already hard to find a FS at Cat 5... let alone now even CY is mostly a Cat 6!

It is also ridiculous that the cert expires in 6 months. Useless card at $85 annual fee for very little benefit.

Today I booked the IC Amstel using the PC Visa annual cert - the hotel best available advance purchase rate is 420 euro for my date. The PC Visa annual fee is $49 and it also offers 10% unlimited rebate on award redemption.

I wonder how many would still keep the Marriott Visa.

As much as PC also devalues its program recently, at least outside big cities many properties also came down by 5K so PC claimed that what went up was roughly balanced by what came down "in numbers" - so they could play the statistic game.

In Marriott's case, the picture is completely skewed to a degree that no one could even come out to defend the program devaluation from any twisted angle.

It is worse than HHonor's 2009 devaluation and Marriott has outdone itself for its previous devaluation.

Good thing we have not done any Spring Megabonus stay yet and would not do so now after this.

PaulInTheSky

I have been planning to get the redemption package after accumulating 350k points for seven RC nights and AVIO points. Are they gonna increase the redemption package level as well?

valor155

In response, Marriott has just announced that due to all the MR Plats leaving and subsequent "lack of demand", the lounge benefit and suite upgrade for the remaining Plats is canceled.

Happy

I believe this feature is not available to the no fee version which has $20K spend to earn Gold. The $40K spend to earn Diamond is on the Surpass card from AMEX or the Reserve card from Citi.

HHonor is actually a better program even before this Marriott's massive devaluation because it is much easier to earn HHonor pts from spend then to earn Marriott points when the redemption side is more or less the same.

Happy

This is wrong also regarding the no fee version.

$20K spend gets you HHonor Gold - I just looked at the docs that came with mine to make sure. May be yours not the same offer but mine does give Gold status after $20K spend.

HHonor Gold certainly is nothing.

For Diamond, only Surpass or Reserve could make you Diamond after spend $40K.

Santander

Yep, CY Hong Kong was a pretty good value at Cat 4 (and a pretty good hotel overall) and I'll miss it.

Happy

That is not my idea to stay so far away from city center when you travel to a great city...

You should look at IHG's Priority Club program if you visit Sydney often. They have a number of Holiday Inns in Sydney and of course the IC. HI Old Sydney at The Rock was an excellent value at 25K before the recent devaluation. Even after recent devaluation it is still far better than the CY at North Ryde. Not to mention there are also other Holiday Inns that are much closer to the action such as Holiday Inn Darling Harbour and Crowne Plaza Darling Harbour (and a few other Holiday Inns in town.)

BKKLEE

and I got my HH Gold with "no spend"........all it took was a phone call......and, I only did that cause I wanted HH Gold in connection with 8-stays/17-nights in Germany/Finland/France this June/July

Happy

You forget Marriott has only 1 CY in Stockholm and 0 property in either Finland or Norway.

For the places we go, Hilton definitely have more properties than Marriott. SPG Stockholm and Helsinki (Hotel Kamp) both made the Gold List published by Conde Nast fyi.