Originally Posted by Happy (Post 29864445)

We DO redeem pts directly for hotel stays. Plenty of them. Hotel points to us are primarily for hotel stays. I believe we redeemed roughly 700K Marriott pts, except 1 Cat 5 TP which was NOT to AS, the rest was all for hotel stays in 4 Continents. TP is a niche redemption when one needs long stays the TP makes more sense then just redeeming for the nights, especially with the SPG ratio. Even the SPG pts we always used for hotel stays. We have never redeemed them for miles which we have more than we can use them but we always are short in hotel points.

Really, what one redeems should always based on one's own travel needs. For us who have month long trips several times a year, the need for hotel nights is far greater than the need for having miles sitting idly in various FFP accounts.

Originally Posted by washeelers747 (Post 29865480)

Thank y'all for sharing advices on how to contact MR. I did press 0 like crazy, and finally linked to an agent who claims that she handle matters for Platinum members.

About 15 minutes on hold, she finally bump my Cat 1-5 certificate to Cat 8 for my potential stay at one of those Cat 8 Phuket properties. I'll wait till mid-July after learning details on status of floating TPs after 8/1 (ideally, hoping I am able to book at lower category / or SPG property after 8/1 but not holding my breath).

Originally Posted by azepine00 (Post 29871020)

what were your reasons to upgrade today vs waiting till closer to 8/1 or possibly after?

Originally Posted by azepine00 (Post 29871020)

what were your reasons to upgrade today vs waiting till closer to 8/1 or possibly after?

Originally Posted by Happy (Post 29871673)

He did not want to take the risk of involuntarily conversion.
This write up by a blogger may give you some insight why Cat 8 is preferred.
https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.c...age-arbitrage/

Originally Posted by tth6133 (Post 29872614)

This is actually not as complicated. If you know your travel plan, book the hotel now using the certificate. If the new category announced later this month increases the number of points, you've already locked in the lower price. If the new category lowers the number of points required, cancel the reservation and your certificate will then be converted to points based on the old category on August 1 (and should be more than enough points to make a new reservation).

Originally Posted by Willbur (Post 29872786)

You seem to be making assumptions that the above is how the process would work ( for example, that you'll be able to downgrade or upgrade certificates). You're also assuming that people are holding certificates in the category of hotel they want to use and that they want to book a current Marriott property.

Originally Posted by azepine00 (Post 29871020)

what were your reasons to upgrade today vs waiting till closer to 8/1 or possibly after?

Originally Posted by tth6133 (Post 29873001)

You ARE able to upgrade/downgrade your certificate prior to Aug 1 to book any hotel, if your travel plan is already set. After Aug 1, your certificate will be converted to points so it really doesn't matter what category of certificate you hold. I believe cat 1-5 certificate will be converted to 150K points so it can be used to book 7-nights at a 25K/night hotel post Aug 1. There might be restrictions on these converted points (e.g. they may have expiration date or be usable only for 7-night or longer reservation, etc.)

Originally Posted by Willbur (Post 29873417)

Yes, obviously you can upgrade before Aug 1. The after Aug 1 is very unclear and SPG Lurker has been unable to provide any additional guidance beyond his first confirmation regarding floating certificates. You were making the case that the decision is easy yet post-Aug 1 seems anything but certain at this point. What happens if certificates are converted to point-equivalent certs (as originally expected but potentially disputed by SPG Lurker's vague comments) and these carts are not allowed to be upgraded/downgraded? Then you're stuck with what you got. Those of us without specific plans for our certificates are all sitting in this limbo.