OK thanks! Good to know..

I have a cat 1-5 cert. My next stay will need 160 points at a Cat 9 for 5 nights. Am I right in thinking that it would be a waste to upgrade a cat 1-5 cert for 120k to use for 5 nights and loose two nights. The cert will be more valuable in the coming months right?

Silly question - when y'all say there has to be standard award availability - does that mean if a room is available for award redemption on their website, that is a standard award and a certificate can be applied? I just assumed if a room was available when I queried a hotel I wish to stay for 7 days, that it is the hotel's 'standard' room. In other words - how can I tell it's the 'standard' room that's available? Thanks!

Not sure if I am answering your question as asked, but if you attempt to make an awards reservations, and it comes back with the number of points for that category of hotel and does not ask for extra cash or upgrades, then the "standard" room is available.

For example, if the only thing you see is a points plus upgrade certs or points plus $, then standard upgrade nights are not available. If I encounter such a thing (rare), I call the hotel directly and talk to their in house reservation group (if that exists). I explain that I would get an upgrade anyway (for free as a plat) so would they let me book my room for the standard award rate? I've only encountered this a few times, mostly trying to get three rooms for a couple of weeks at a time and a few nights were not available at the low redemption rate. This is not to say that I never encounter no reward availability at all; this can happen if the hotel is sold out or nearly full. That happens during a peak season or special event.

Billy

Thanks, Billy. That's very helpful.

If I have a reservation under my name can my partner buy a travel package and use it for this reservation? There are no more rooms so we can't book a new room. I know there is a longer way to make this work by transferring it to me through SPG but just trying to avoid the hassle.

I had been told NO by a couple phone agents in the past (12+ months ago) as it does required a cancel and rebook under the cert owner's account. What I end up did is randomly book something in advance under the cert owner's account, then call the hotel and explain that I would like to do "xyz" and they override on their end and process the cancellation at the same time. On top of that, they pre-upgrade me to a M Club room at that time over the phone (about 3 months before I check-in)

Hope this help.

It did. Thanks.

I was reading that Cat 9 won't be there from Aug to Dec this year. So what happens if you use a cat 9 cert? Do you get the 30k points back?

Cat 9 is under the current categories, not under the new one. Category 9 currently requires 45k/night and is likely to map into the new Cat 6 (50k/night)

I am confused. So will my voucher be worth less under the new scheme? I am thinking of redeeming a voucher that I have against a 5 night stay. Don't want to waste the two extra nights but if its gonna be worth less then might as well burn it now.

A 7-night e-certificate for a Rewards category will become a 7-night e-certificate for a comparable number of points per night.

New redemption levels for Marriott's 6500 hotels (29 brands) will be published before August 1, based on the new loyalty program categories (which will replace Marriott Rewards categories, SPG categories, and Ritz-Carlton Rewards tiers, and do not map directly to any of them). Some hotels will go up; some will go down; and some will remain the same. In 2019, there will be additional charges to redemption.

I would also expect to see detailed terms and conditions before August, including more details about existing e-certifcates.

It seems to me that you could book something now using the existing e-certificate. The reservation could be before or after August, as long as the e-certifcate is valid and there is availability at the hotel. Then, once the new levels are published, you could see if it would be better to cancel and rebook (or book someplace else) under the new redemption numbers.

Any source about mapping?

Its for June. Seems like its better to use for now as I have 3 of these. Just did not want to waste a 7 nighter on a 5 night stay. Can't stay any longer.

There is not a direct mapping between old categories and new categories.

An entirely new category chart has been announced. There will be fewer categories in the new (August 2018) loyalty program -- just 7 categories in August, with 8th to be added in 2019 (along with off-peak and peak in 2019).

The Marriott Rewards categories (9 catgories), SPG categories (7 categories, but with a point range in most of them), and Ritz-Carlton Rewards tiers (5 tiers) will go away,

That's what I thought but Willbur suggested a possible cat 9 to cat 6 mapping. Just wondering if there is any inside info.