2010 Hotel Category Changes
 

Good Morning, all. I just wanted to share with the FlyerTalk community an announcement made on Insiders this morning regarding hotels changing their category in 2010 - effective for all reservations made after March 8, 2010:

Approximately 350 hotels will decrease by one category and approximately 300 hotels will increase by one category. Ninety-five percent of the hotels changing categories are in categories 1-5. The positive news is that many of our most popular locations will be available for fewer points.


Below is a list of all hotels changes in categories 6-8:

Current Cat 6-8 Hotels Moving Down a Category Level

Current Cat 8 moving to Cat 7
Le Merigot, A JW Marriott® Beach Hotel & Spa, Santa Monica
Renaissance® London Chancery Court Hotel
South Beach Marriott®
Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe Hotel

Current Cat 7 moving to Cat 6
Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel
JW Marriott Ihilani Resort & Spa at Ko Olina
Marriott’s Ko Olina Beach Club
Courtyard® New York Manhattan/Midtown East
Wailea Beach Marriott Resort & Spa*

Current Cat 6 moving to Cat 5
JW Marriott Hotel Buckhead Atlanta
JW Marriott Hotel Beijing
Dalmahoy, A Marriott Hotel & Country Club
Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa
Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa
JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa
Marriott’s Grand Chateau® 1&2
Kaua’i Marriott Resort
Marriott’s Kaua’i Beach Club
Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club
Orlando World Center Marriott Resort & Convention Center
The Buttes, A Marriott Resort
Rome Marriott Park Hotel
JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort & Spa
Hanbury Manor, A Marriott Hotel & Country Club
JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa
The Rosseau, A JW Marriott Resort & Spa
Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino*
Renaissance Curacao Resort & Casino*
Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa*
* Indicates hotels that have recently lowered categories and are available to be booked at the present time.

Current Cat 5-8 Hotels Moving Up a Category Level

Current Cat 7 moving to Cat 8
No Hotels

Current Cat 6 moving to Cat 7
Frenchman's Reef & Morning Star Marriott Beach Resort
Wentworth by the Sea, A Marriott Hotel & Spa
Marriott's Frenchman's Cove

Current Cat 5 moving to Cat 6
Courtyard Key West Waterfront
Hamburg Marriott Hotel
Residence Inn® Virginia Beach Oceanfront
Berlin Marriott Hotel
Courtyard Cape Cod Hyannis
Courtyard Carolina Beach
Moscow Marriott Royal Aurora Hotel
Courtyard Virginia Beach Oceanfront/South
Courtyard Virginia Beach Oceanfront/North 37th Street
SpringHill Suites® Virginia Beach Oceanfront
Courtyard Ocean City

Please note these changes will go in to effect starting Monday, March 8, 2010. Any reservations made prior to March 8 will be honored at the current category level as long as the certificate is ordered prior to March 8. If you have an existing redemption reservation at a hotel decreasing in category, you may call Marriott Rewards® Customer Support to adjust the reservation after March 8. We thank you in advance for your patience.

Thanks!

Regards,

Andrew

Thanks for the list. Is there a link to all the property changes, and does N/A from Cat7 to 8 mean not available yet or none in that category?

Cheers.

Thanks for the question, Sharon.

We currently do not have a link listing each hotel category change, but as noted, all changes will be reflected in individual hotel websites and Marriott.com by March 8.

N/A from Cat 7 to 8 should really be "No hotels," as there are no hotels making such a category change. I have now made this edit in the original post, for the sake of clarity.

Thanks again!

-Andrew

Seeing more high category hotels moving down rather than up in 2010 is a sigh of relief.

My analyses of hotel category placement still has Marriott offering far lower category levels for comparable hotels to Hilton.

If you have a HHonors earning preference for Points & Points the programs work out similarly for earning points and redeeming for award stays. But if you go with Hilton Points & Miles, then Marriott is the better value for earning points for comparable reward stays in most cities.

I predicted in October 2008 Marriott would move categories up in a massive devaluation to better align with Hilton. Marriott proved me wrong and instead Hilton HHonors went with the systemwide points devaluation by shifting most properties to higher points reward categories in 2010.

Kudos to Marriott for retaining strong value in their Marriott Rewards program.

Agree with this; but why only two weeks notice? My recollection is that much more notice was given previously.

Well done, I like the changes!

Thanks for the heads up on the impending category changes.

Will we have a chance to see the lower category hotel changes before the changes take effect?

yes...see Post #1

It doesn't list the lower Cat. changes. It just says that 95% of the changes will be either one cat up or down in the Cat. 1-4 range. But I haven't seen where that list is?

Thanks
looks like we will be staying longer in hawaii!!

Much appreciated for the heads up Andrew! ^

I want to also thank you for posting this information.

Thanks for the heads-up.
Would be nice to have a link to the entire list.

Thanks for the info...perfect timing...I will save myself some points and book after the effective date :)

Yes, thanks for this, Andrew, it is appreciated that Marriott is involved in this forum, especially as involvement is not always a pleasant experience for you.

For me it's a bit of good news/bad news, I like the Paris and London changes, not so sure about the Moscow though. The Moscow one does seem strange since its been on permanent pointsavers for the last few months, indicating it was chasing redemption trade, yet this uprate will do nothing to encourage that. Nonetheless, I guess you guys know what you're doing, and category adjustments are a part of these programs. It is good to see that with a fair division in movement Marriott is demonstrating its commitment to the scheme.

Lastly, like everyone else, I would be grateful to see/link in the list of all the forthcoming changes, all the way from category 1-8, whenever anyone can copy and paste them over here...

Moscow is not so bad as there are 2 other FS hotels nearby, also there is a CY very close as well that has gotten rave reviews and there is a new Rennaisance that just opened.

The Berlin Marriott has been long overdue and that is why I snagged it at the current rates --it has gotten very very good reviews and if you get lounge access, all the better. It is a steal at Cat 5 so act now.

Very commendable of Marriott that some hotels in popular places are actually dropping categories due to lower ADRs over the last year.

The Paris change will save me 10k points then on a 2nighter in a few months - thanks for the heads up Marriott Conceirge.

Overall, quite favorable.

Shows some rational thought taking place at MR--unlike the clowns running HHONORS.

I can agree with this move. Was rather disappointed with this one. Spent a week there two New Year's ago and didn't think it should have been as high in the categories as it was.

I too would like to see a list of the 286 Cat 1-5 properties moving up a level.....Marriott Concierge.

Andrew -
thank you for this list. I have upcoming travel plans which this change affects...actually in the positive :)

as others have stated, the remaining list would be most appreciated.

+1

Yup, would like to see the lower category changes as well. A list would be great, but if not, at least show the new levels on the website before the change actually occurs.

Thanks to Marriott for the favorable Hawaii changes.

:)

I much fear the up changes in the 1-5 levels as this is where I tend to burn having kids playing travel sports and little time for luxury vacations right now.

I would hate to see a run of the mill RI or SHS on the side of an interstate in Buffalo in January bump from 15k to 20k or 20k to 25k - especially when $99 rooms are plentiful in the area. And I tend to take 2 rooms at a time to comfortably accommodate everyone.

Killed me to burn through 80,000 for 2 nights and 2 rooms recently (not to mention also missing the 5th night free deal inside of the sliding point scale).

Just another way to look at it.

Has anyone tried to call to get a points reduction on an existing reservation yet? I have Hawaii reserved for this summer and by my calculation I should save 50K points! Just wondering if customer service is aware of this and not giving any problems honoring the reduction.

Thanks,

Good timing. This is going to save me 20K points on an upcoming stay.

Given that March 8th hasn't rolled around yet, I wouldn't think the new award levels will be in Marriott's system yet. Therefore I wouldn't think anyone would see any changes to their awards till after the change is in effect.

I like the changes. Very balanced and reasonable as far as I can see.

I hear ya ^

I have Ko'Olina this summer and any savings will be nice

finally I can use a true enhancement

So are these downgrades automatic credits of points back (upon a call) or is subject to availability again?

I'm not complaining as I would not book these anyway (I despise the CY product) but some of the CY increases made me shake my head in disbelief

Last year I had a reservation at Waikoloa when it moved from 7 to 6, I just called and they took care of it.

Same here. I've had to make a call, but Marriott has had no problem issuing credits where point requirements have changed.

Most of the increases from category 5 to 6 are properties in Virginia Beach (4) and two other oceanside properties in the US. I am not surprised about the bump up for the two German properties. I have not stayed at these properties, but they seem to provide good value based on the opinion of people on FT.

Call me naive, but I still find it surprising that so many people want to use points for Virginia Beach and Orlando. The award categories are so out of whack in these markets that I would not burn points for a category 4-6 CY that has a room rate under $150.

With the reduction in categories, you can now use a category 5 Visa certificate at the JW properties in Atlanta and Beijing along with the Orlando World Center Marriott.

I may be tempted to do that for the Orlando property since I can rent the golf clubs for free as a PP member (used to be $25/day when I stayed in 2008 but it was cheaper to pay a package that included the golf clubs, internet and self parking) and roam the internet for free. This would actually make it cheaper for me to pay for self parking alone.

Since it's now March 7, I guess we're not going to get the much-requested list of the cat 1-5 changes prior to them going into effect...

Changes are not posted yet on Marriott website when searching by hotel category.

March 8th Changes
 

I have spoken with 3 different individuals on the Platinum Line today March 8th, the day the category changes are to take place. NONE of these individuals nor their supervisors are aware of the changes and are NOT helpful at all. The right hand surely does NOT know what the left hand is doing here again. The down economy has really hurt Marriott in its training and communications employees. The management continues to stumble after their attempt to enhance the rewards program.

There wouldn't really be much reason for every customer service rep to be aware of the changes to hotel categories. They'll update in the system, and after that, they'll be what they are. I would doubt your average CSR is made aware of the changes ahead of time.

It's not too dissimilar from hotel rates - certainly all CSR's aren't made aware of all rate changes across the Marriott system. They are what they are, and as long as they can process them appropriately, they don't need to know when they changed or what they used to be.

It would have been nice to have a list of all of the changes made available to Marriott Rewards members, but I don't really think that's a CSR training issue.

Personally, I would want my client interfaces to know that a change just occured. The problem with your comparison is that rates change daily (possibly even hourly). A CSR would know that. Hotels don't change Category levels every day. This is usually a once a year event. I would have thought Marriott would let them know that a change was made. This would keep the CSRs from being blindsided by questions about and around those changes. And allow them to field questions a bit easier.

You would think, and if it were up to me, they would have all been furnished a list a couple of weeks ago (along with all MR members). I'm just saying it's not a matter of critical importance to booking reservations, and I don't think it warrants multiple calls and supervisors.

I did have a thought, though. Beach9bum, were you calling the reservations line, or the Marriott Rewards customer service line? I, for some reason, assumed you were talking about the reservations line, and I would expect that the agents staffing the MR customer service line would be more informed about something like this (at least I would hope).