or super anger !

Wow, this is sleazy. I sincerely hope they backpedal on this.

Despicable
 

So you knew this was going to be the conversion and didn't tell us when you could? I spent $350 dollars to buy enough points to upgrade my certificate from Cat 7 to Cat 8. I essentially flushed $350 down the toilet. I'm done with Marriott. I'll try to get this refunded or something, transfer to airline points and go to a better program. You really screwed up on this one. I can't book *any* of the hotels I was looking at which were Cat 8 before since you've now given me a Cat 5. So disappointed in the way this was handled. I'll take my business to another hotel with a rewards program.

I would like a refund on the 30,000 points I bought at the very least.

I would not make a bet on Marriott being generous at this point. My last bet on Marriott being generous was a loss. If they do decide to refund it will only be because of PR backlash from their disappointed customers.

I paid $350 to get enough points to upgrade my Cat 7 to a Cat 8 a few days after purchasing a travel package. The rep I spoke with said I would get a higher points-based certificate in return. It turns out you knew that this wasn't the case and took my money and points anyway. Marriott you lost my business. You need to upgrade Cat 8s to the new Cat 6s otherwise this is deeply unfair. Bad.

From TPG:

“Also, keep in mind that Category 8 pricing doesn’t go into effect until 2019, and a Marriott spokesperson confirmed that old Tier 4-5 certificates (which are now new Category 7 certificates) can be used at any top-tier property in the combined program until Category 8 pricing goes live. Since this gives you a window of at least four months to lock in these stays, I think this is a fair compromise.

Finally, it’s worth noting that this new rates will not cross over to other categories when peak/off-peak pricing goes into effect in 2019. Marriott has confirmed that a certificate valid at a Category 6 property will only be valid at Category 6 properties, even though peak pricing for those hotels (60,000 points per night) is the same as standard pricing for Category 7 hotels.”

That is not true. I wouldn't have picked a cat 9. Not everyone bases their vacation plans on the best "deal."

Old Cat 8 -> New Cat 5 is totally not a "similar" mapping.

I had made plans to stay at a New Cat 6 (SPG) hotel.

Giving me the same deal as someone who redeemed 30000 points less is messed up too!

At the very least, Marriott should refund me the 30000 points that I overpaid due to their bungled communication. Even then, I feel this is just throwing a crumb to me - a poor little thing.

This is what happens when a company starts monopolizing.

Making Cat 8 into Cat 5 is absolutely not similar mapping. I'm screwed. But I'm cancelling all my Marriott cards, going to open a Hyatt one and move all my spending and stays to Hyatt.

Who is this happy lady? :p

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d5034a52c3.png

Any word on the single night cat 1-5 certificates?

Just tell me now when off-peak is for Cat.5 (30k) and I won't be as furious about being hosed out of 30k points for upgrading.

The hotel I am interested in is the new category 5 in Hong Kong. Before the system went down, I checked the "new " points. Every day of the week and every month showed 35k point. No off peak and no peak even into 2019.

A little sooner than I expected.

That'll just make you angrier... the accompanying text makes clear that the new Certificates are Category based, not points based. I.e. if you have a new Cat 4 certificate then you can use it for a new Cat 4 at any time (off peak/standard/peak) but not for a Cat 5. That's why the accompanying "max points value" in the table is rather misleading.

Overall, this is not what I predicted/expected and I think Marriott have scored an own goal here. I actually think that the mappings are not wholly unreasonable (or at least, within the realm of fairness) but what completely flummoxes me is the treatment of Cat 6, Cat 8 and Tier 1-3 certificate holders. I have no skin in that particular game but it's pretty underhand unless they're planning 30k point rebates.

Attached certificates
 

Any news on what will be happening to attached certificates if you want to detach them? Same treatment as above or are they receiving different treatment?

There goes my Hawaii vacation in November...Cat 8 certificate down to 5.

Anyone have the complete list of new categories? That website provided before seems not to work today.
An alternate source/webpage, or spreadsheet would be fine.
thx.

Works for me

https://points-redemption.marriott.com/category-change

She booked a cat 7, 9, and T5! :)

Well, I am one of the victims who upgraded to old Cat 8 hoping to get new Cat 6. I blame Marriott as most of you do...

Now let's just look back all these bloggers, I think the closest guess would be Greg @ FM. One of his estimation based on "PEAK VALUE" is almost correct, except for Old Cat 8.

Combining the fact we know today, I think the Marriott's argument would be that the new 7N TP Cert is wholly established on "PEAK VALUE" concept. That means the new TP only cares about Category # (meaning you can redeem TP regardless of Peak season or not. This is in contrast to Single Night FN which only cares about "up to certain amount of points")

With this in mind, look at the cut off lines here - none of the conversion will exceed the PEAK SEASON value. That's what they called "similar value". None of us would be sad if we were aware of the methodology, and I know Marriott is facing a big PR issues right now.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...affc81f87e.png

Marriott Travel Package Arbitrage

Greg nailed it, even worst-case scenario. This is the sole reason I booked a cat 9. New cat 6 gives many nice flexible options without a need to rush and book now. In the meantime, my old cat 9 certificate is tied to a property that just went up to 60k per night that I would be happy to stay at. Bases were covered.

Some folks got greedy, but I wanted the closest thing to a “sure win”. I can understand being annoyed with old cat 6 and 8 losing 30k and the peak redemption value assignment. Not the same with Tier 1-3, as 50k points is the same for old Tier 1-3 and new category 6.

I'll never understand why people gamble that can't afford to lose or can't grasp that concept that they may lose. Enormous heads up time to book and attach, clearly stated that terms wouldn't be released until merger. Still people think they have a right to always win.

Here's some tips: 1) Life is not fair. 2) Fair is not equal. 3) Don't play the game unless you're willing to lose; because you're not always going to win in life, sports, gambling, or Marriott travel packages.

That's what I want to know too.

Says the guy who won! Self-righteous posts like these after you "lucked" into a good situation aren't useful.

Sorry dude, but if you're going to take risks, it's best that they're calculated ones. We all had the same information to work with.

I'm also sorry if you lost 30k MR, or got stuck in a category that is not what you desired, or didn't attach to a reservation you'd be happy to stay in as Marriott suggested.

Hopefully they make you "whole".

The biggest complaint is people spending 30k points more than needed. So 80 percent of the complaints can resolved by returning 30k points to anybody who holds cat 6, 8 or tier 3? Hopefully that's what they do

I bought two category 1-5 packages and have them attached to actual stays. I would have loved if these converted to equivalent points based on what the SPG lurker first stated, but I got exactly what I paid for so there is no complaint there. However, the lack of transparency, communication, and false information from Marriott and it's representatives on these travel packages that has dragged on for months has been frustrating and disappointing. All the speculation and confusion and now anger could have been easily prevented if Marriott just communicated honestly about the changes before it was too late for people to make changes. Seeing as how they weren't generous, I don't know why they didn't just publish the chart in advance when they announced the rest of the changes. I think it's terrible to allow people to pay more for travel packages then they had to and I don't believe they just screwed over people trying to "game" the system but loyal customers who were just trying to plan a vacation and didn't have travel plans confirmed yet or might have wanted to stay at an SPG property.

This is 100% valid, a big problem was blog hype train that likely got many people to buy them for the airline miles hoping for a windfall without a plan on how to use the actual hotel stay. Whipped a lot of people into a frenzy and now the party's over.

I've read every page of this thread, usually right before bed each night. A lot of people, even on here, were buying things they didn't need or understand because they were told they should.

That's why I gave Greg a kudos in my post above.

Well F that then, I want my 30k back, and will happily find a cat 1-4.:mad:

Ritz Carlton credit card holders all get upgraded to from Gold to Marriott Platinum....

This all could have been avoided if they had just published the information that they already had in their pocket. Now they have tons of angry customers because they thought withholding information was the right way to go. What kind of morons ever thought this was a good idea? "Let's make sure our best customers who are obviously loyal to the brand due to their large point balances have no way to anticipate it when we pull the rug out..."

Either they are extremly stupid or deliberately set out to screw over their best, most loyal customers. Either way, unless they backtrack fast on this I'm done with Marriott.