Regardless of what the prior poster said regarding "no sane lawyer would take the case", a purchased certificate guaranteeing 7 nights in a specific category of hotel is not much different than a purchased hotel room using points. While a court would certainly allow flexibility in the movement of some hotels out or into the category, a refund of points that makes purchaser unable to book a majority of hotels that were previously guaranteed would be a clear breach of the contract between Marriott and its customer. The fact that Marriott had performed on a part of the contract by issuing FF points to the customers Airline of choice, makes that contract even more ironclad.

With all of that said, I don't see any way Marriott would be so stupid to do the above. In the grand scheme of things, certificate holders represent a de minimis cost. It would be a PR fiasco with little benefit gained. My guess is that they will refund points equal to 7 nights at a points value equal to the original category that you booked. Anything less than 6 nights at the original level (taking into account the 5th night free) and Marriott will have a real problem. For those who booked the 1-5, I wouldn't be surprised if they refunded at the cat 5 level.

If I had to bet on anything, it's that Marriott will convert existing certificates to equivalent future-state points certificates of identical value. For some categories, this is a direct 1:1 conversion. For others, you cert will get downgraded slightly with a points refund.

I don't believe people will get force-canceled, nor do I believe there will be some huge loophole. I'm going to book a Cat 5 TP in about 1 week for use in May 2019. I'm not terribly worried about it not getting honored, nor expecting that it'll somehow get used at a much-nicer hotel than today's Cat 5's.

I'll give Marriott credit for trying to be exceedingly fair throughout this merger process. It's hard to imagine them doing something crazy with the TP's, either against us or in our favor.

Well, after reading through this thread, the conversation I had with a (not particularly helpful) Marriott rep today makes a little more sense. I called in to ask for my 7-night package to be extended, as it expires this June and I want to use it in August. It was a Cat 1-5 package, worth 270k points at the time I acquired it. The rep told me I now have two "partial packages," each worth 45k points, and indeed, that's what I see in my account. So 90k total, now valid for another year. I'm not sure I understand the logic behind my TP turning into two partial packages, but I see that's what others here are trying to determine. I'm also not clear on whether I could even use these certificates for a Cat 5 stay anymore if I wanted to.

I'll keep doing my homework, but might as well ask: what would y'all do? I was hoping to apply the TP toward a 7-night stay this August in what is now a Cat 8 property. Prior to the merger, I did the math on how many points I'd need to add to the TP in order to make this happen, and it seemed doable. But now it seems like I might need an inordinate number of additional points. I'm just confused at this point. Thoughts?

​​​​​​the 45K partial package is standard when someone extend their CAT 1-5 cert.

Since they do need to issue a new cert and hence the reward code changed from the one that is miles + 7-night cert (full package) to just the 7-night (partial package). And as we had discussed already, the 7-night portion worth 45K points from that 270K of a full package.

First of all, you cannot combine 2 certs. If you choose not to use it all you get back is 45K pts not going to help you much in booking a Cat 8 property.

To use the cert for a Cat 8 property, you need to add 30K for Each level you go up - so you would need 30+30+30 from 5 to 8, then you can use for a Cat 8 property 7 nights reservation.

The 45K indicator is just a Code to identify the Cert after the extension. The old cert is canceled and the new cert is issued but no longer as part of the original TP, (no more miles) so there needs to be a different code.

To give you an example - today I upgraded an extended Cat 5 to Cat 6 and redeemed it for a 7 nights stay at a Cat 6. The old 45K cert is canceled, pts refunded back, and then 45K and additional 30K are taken from the account. A Cat 6 cert is issued but I do not see how it looks like as it is already attached to the hotel reservation I made online last week.

The Cat 6 hotel reservation shows 30K a night the first 4 nights and then a FN, plus 2 more 30L night, but the Total Pts shown 75K - the 45K + 30K used for this reservation. Online it is not showing the activities unless you choose to display more than 3 months, then the in and out show up. The Reservation email sent after the cert is attached, shows 75K pts used and the balance of my account is correctly reflected on the confirmation email, but not online. Even the old Cat 5 cert still showed as Unused. I assume after tonight's refresh, everything would be updated.

This has always been the way the TP have certs shown once extended. 45k has always the value Marriott has given you back if voluntary canceling a Cat 1-5 TP I can't see there is anyway this is the value they are going to attach when converting to points.

You still have 7 nights in a Cat 1-5, each Cat after is an extra 30,000 points so an Cat 8 property will cost an extra 90,000 MR points to upgrade each TP. This is until August and the new program after which is anyone's guess at the moment.

On the Hotel and Air package 1 if redeeming for the most amount of miles have always been calculated 7 nights hotel cost + 1 point = 1 mile. If existing certs are going to be converted to points as stated I would expect to them converted along this bases, 5=150k, 6=180, 7=210, 8=240 & 9 =270 allowing the same benefit as when redeemed.

Under the new program with the new off-peak/standard/peak pricing there is no way to issue category certs fairly which is why the new CC and TP certs will be points based which is how the current TP's could end up or there could be a new type of points issued which can only be used for hotel stays.

OK! Thank you. This was my understanding, but I was thrown off by the 45k figure in the "partial packages," I suppose because 45k x 2 = 90k, which is 1/3 of the original 270k value, so I thought it had something to do with the merger and the Starpoints:MR ratio. Like I said, confused.

I have 75k MR in my account already. Correct me if I'm wrong, but all I need to do now is transfer 5k Starpoints to MR, and I'll have the 90k needed to add to my extended certificate and book that Cat 8 property, yes?

Thanks for the insights, folks.

I think it would be bad PR unless communicated well in advance. I can't say it'd be unreasonable, if people knew about it and had a chance to attach the certificate prior to the forced refund. It's still a discount on the airline miles compared to any other conversion option in the Marriott system.

There is nothing in the contract about allowing certificates to float around unattached in the first place, nor about what their value should be if they get converted to points.

I hope that you're right, but I'll believe it when they document it. (At which point, I hope they will continue to allow me to book a new travel package, so that I can have it cancelled with these extremely favorable terms. :)

Considering that floater packages will get converted back into points, does it matter whether we book 5-night or 7-night packages?

Are any of you able to reach the Phone line? Are they open on Saturdays? I have been on hold for 20 minutes now.

I just booked 3 travel packages, it was suprisingly fast 15minutes including all wait times.

I called the US 1800 line, though I did call in at 11pm Califonia time :) seemed quite fast considering what people have been talking about wait times...

i know for sure the Marriott Rewards department used to closed at 11:30pm EST. But I was surprised the other day that I called at around 2am EST and ask the reservation agent to transfer me to the "Elite Desk" and I did get someone on the phone to change my CAT 1-5 cert to a CAT 6 cert and attached to the reservation. So, maybe they are 7x24 now??