I did (two in May, one last week) and I will (waiting for next month CC points). Just like craigthemif said:

If the plan is the low end value (45K), then it would make sense for them to have announced that fact sooner rather than later. This would warn folks from making additional redemptions without attaching the cert to a reservation, and also give notice to those who already have floater certificates to attach them to a reservation before the cutover. In both cases, this would result in a lower number of disgruntled customers.

If the plan is the lower end value, what possible reason or advantage would they have to keep that conversion point rate a secret?

Totally agree. It's very possible that the conversion is too sweet and they want to keep low-risk-taking people away from the arbitrage game.

If they wanted to eliminate any possibility of arbitrage, they'd just convert the floater certs directly to the equivalent points-per-night in the new system. For the categories that don't have an exact 1:1, convert them down a half-category and refund a small amount of points. Members can always call back later to upgrade a cert if they like.

Do you mean converting them to 180K MR points (6 nights @ 30k pts for new Cat 4)? That would mean getting as much as 480k value out of a 270k Cat 1-5 + 120k miles package.

How would that eliminate any arbitrage?

Even the "worst-case" scenario descibed by [MENTION=432843]craigthemif[/MENTION] constitutes a decent enough arbitrage.

No.

I'm suggesting that if you have a Cat 5 floater on Aug 1, it becomes a new Cat 4 certificate. Zero change to what you get. A 25,000 point per night hotel.
If you have a current Cat 6 floater, then it also becomes a new Cat 4 and you get 30,000 points back in your account. Since the new program does not have a 30,000 point level, you effectively get bumped down to half a rung and you get the difference back in your account. Still no arbitrage.

This is clearly a one-time thing, on August 1, 2018. If you call an extend the certificate into the future peak/off-peak model, then you could be on the hook for more points to get your desired hotel.

If they did this, there would be no real way to exploit it.

Of course, it sounds like Marriott *isn't* going to do this - I'm not really sure what they're going to do - so perhaps a moot point.

If anyone here is thinking of redeeming points for a Travel Package I recommend you not wait and do it asap.
I just called and something has sure changed at Marriott Rewards.
Takes a long time on hold ..... then transferred between reservations and customer service and rewards program back and forth.
Finally get to rewards program rep and they have to research to find the codes for the specific travel package you want.
Takes a long time to find.
Then computer goes down then program goes down so have to continually input your info again and again.
If there is an announcement and it is good there is no way the system can handle it.
Good luck, do it now.

Just got another set for AS. Here is the code.
Description: 7 Night Travel Package Category 1-5 Hotels
Reward code: 830T
Valid through: Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Total points redeemed: 270,000
Confirmed on: Tuesday, June 19, 2018

I had a cat 1-5 travel pkg and upgraded to a cat 7. The code for that in case anyone wants to upgrade is P910 PARTIAL PKG-CAT 7 - 105,000 Points. We are rolling the dice and leaving 3 floaters in our accounts. 2 cat 7 certs and 1 cat 1-5. We are happy with the United miles we got so whatever happens we are ok with it. I am hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.

If you read the past 2 months' posts, what you described is nothing new. It has been like this since the final merger has been announced. There were no less than 1/2 doz posts about long hold, reps, including supervisors, had no clue on the travel package redemption. or in one call the rep insisted the only package available is to United....

The Marriott system has crashed many times during the past 2 months, literally every other day if not every day. All reported in multiple threads.

Though I agree that if one wants to redeem, do not wait till last week of July to do so.

New post from Greg on the subject. Summary: he's in the same place as most of us here.

https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.c...before-august/

Like a summary of this thread :)

Ditto. I was ready to call in and ask for my 45K points. Now I'll just let it ride. If I get 45K, oh well, that's what I expected. If I get more, bonus to me.

Just cancel the reservation, then make a new reservation without attaching the certificate. You can then decide to attach the certificate or not, once things become more clear.