The opposite is also true - nobody can see CX PEY/J/F availability on any route via either BA or QF site - that means nobody can use partner currency to book any CX premium cabins, even the PEY seats on any route.

As for Asia Miles themselves, there are much more Choice and Tailored seats than Standard seats which are drastically reduced. That is bad news for both Asia Miles members AND those who are planning to use AS/AA/Avio (for the sweet spots of intra-Asia J seats).

They have been very generous on the SPG conversion ratio for the past 2 years, initially to make SPG members happy and therefore stay with the program instead of defecting to HHonors etc. The cost I am sure has been higher than what they have expected when one can redeem Cat 9 hotels with just 15K SPG pts... Now it is time to rein that in and completely restructure the program to the level that is profitable to Marriott as it should be.

The fairest way is to just convert the floater certs to their mapped categories and that was what I voiced my reasoning together with my other concerns when adding the No.35 question in the SPG wiki - the comments had stayed there for a long time but eventually were edited out when the Wiki got some cleaned up. I gave up in checking whether William would post an update when there still remained no answer by 2nd week of June. Finally after 3rd week of June II went back to check the status , I saw my comments were edited out but the main essence remained - as to how the point refund would be calculated - and William added an update on June 19th as to "soon" we will know. This tells me at least one thing - there would NOT be a cert to cert conversion (my wishful thinking expressed in the question/comment and was edited out). Further more, there would NOT be a full point refund as to allow you to rebook the same category award - because if this is the intent, then conversion of cert would be much simpler.

The point refund may be better than the voluntary conversion, but my guess is, it would never be what the wild speculation so prevailing on this thread and in the blogger's speculation.

People totally forget the important FACT that is, this 7 night cert is a deeply discounted hotel award stay, by no means a full requirement of points on a standard award. Just how Marriott would replace a deeply discount award instrument with a standard award instrument?

That's not correct. Category-to-new-category conversion is not as simple as conversion to points (or point-based certificate), as the current cat 6, cat 8 or cat 9 doesn't have corresponding new category requiring the same number of points.

Called the number on the travel pack website, got an agent that knew how to do it, done in 5 minutes first call.

Was on hold for twenty minutes

Any idea why they are changing both SPG and MR categories? What was wrong with current MR cat 6, 8 and 9 that they don't have a corresponding new Category??

Marriott has to combine the categories because the current categories between the two are very inconsistent. For example, SPG hotels at the high end are really expensive in terms of points. They could have created more new categories, which would make category mapping easier, but they chose to "simplify", creating only 8 new categories with seasonal variations. I suspect the real reason is to eventually go to a revenue-based points system, like Hilton has done.

They can still do a "best match" mapping when they revamp the chart (essentially even out the huge disparity between Marriott and SPG, plus raise the cost on the Cat 8 and Cat 9 from the current level with the still yet to be announced new charts. Has anyone noticed that the "preview" we were given is conspicuous missing some high value redemption Cat 9 spots (when using SPG pts)? I dont think this is a coincident.

I have the same feeling - so there would not be any "high value" redemption - it will be based on how much the room is sold for at the time the reservation is made.

Of course, they are also very expensive at the high end because the hotels themselves are very expensive (and often on a different tier entirely from Marriott properties)...i.e., the base room at the Category 7 St. Regis I originally in last month (pre-SNA) was going for about 1,100 EUR.

That's what this is about? The new Marriott Honored Guest program enhancing in 2019 and beyond by devaluing redemption rates? I don't believe it but thanks for posting anyway.

I am planning a trip to Barcelona for this end of Dec/Jan. and was thinking of using one of the TP to stay at the Cotton House, which is a cat 9 hotel. I would transfer the air miles to Aeroplan.

A few questions on the Travel Package. I know I need to call in to claim the TP, then they will transfer the Air Miles, and issue a TP certs.
After the TP certs are issued, how do I go abouts in booking the hotel? Can I book it online for the dates I want as a pay stay and then apply the certs? Or do I book it by calling to book and link the certs?

Also, would burning 390,000 MR points for 120K Aeroplans the best use of MR right now? Or do a Cat. 8 cert? There is a Barcelona Renaissance that is a Cat. 8, but from what I researched in the reviews, the Cotton House is a much better hotel? Or wait till Post August to actually book the hotel, as SPG have some good BCN options as well?

I would like to point out one last time that thanks to Willbur we have the answer. This is the posted answer on the SPG forum to question # 10. Question on the "floater certificates" being canceled and points redeposited into the account on Aug 1st. Does this include outstanding Marriott Travel packages here: Flight and Hotel Packages Marriott Hotel PackagesThis was updated on June 21 implying that even on 1 night certs that actual points would deposited in the members account. It can be clearly seen on the Marriott link above that a new points-based certificate will be the replacement and not actual points. So [MENTION=538456]RafKa[/MENTION] you pointed out a couple times that the lurker said it would be points. I am interested in what you and others think now? Will it be actual points refunded for TP? Also thank you for the above post Willbur.

Is this still not clear to you?

The only thing we are not sure yet is HOW the points are being calculated. Just how is the "equivalent points meant".

Lurker's latest update on June 19th on Question 35 which is to ask further clarification to Question 10, is "soon" we will have that information.

Is there still anyone who questions William's authority when conveying the message from Marriott? He is the one and the only channel Marriott uses since the "blogger interview" fiasco in April, to answer all sorts of questions related to the upcoming final merger of 3 programs, and to release whatever information Marriott is willing to release, prior to the D-Day.

There would be no replacement of said certs which will be converted to points but Marriott remains silent on how many points it would be for each category of certs. The main question is how the Cat 1 to 5 would be converted because each added category is just an additional 30K pts.

I am not sure why there are still arguments / confusions on how the Floater Certs (non attached certs) would be handled by August 1st? :confused:

You call the same number to book. Or you can book a reward stay online WITHOUT the pts (Marriott let you do that), then call to attach your cert to the booking.

As for whether Cotton House or Ren is better - they are of totally different styles. Only you can decide which one you prefer. Nor anyone can tell you which is the better value. I am sure you know Aeroplan will no longer be associated with Air Canada / Star Alliance effective June 2020.

You can NOT book any SPG hotels with TP before Aug 1st. And any unattached TP cert will be canceled by Aug 1st and converted back to points (nobody knows how the conversion value is as Marriott has chosen NOT to reveal that info as of now). So you would need to make up your mind before August 1st.

First of all I am not saying that you are confused Happy. Second are there not a lot of people posting in this thread thinking they are actually getting points refunded? I think there are.