I assume they show expiration dates of a year from now?

Like a lot of other people, I am hoping to cash in Marriott points on a travel package before the big change over in August. I've never done it before and I'd like to be as prepared as possible as I'm sure phone lines will be jammed very soon.

The points I need are spread across three accounts:
Me: 42,000 (actually currently 14,000 SPG points)
husband: 131,000 points
sister (different address): 110,000 (not yet posted)

What would be the most efficient way to combine these? I am seriously hoping you can still transfer more than 50,000 if making a specific redemption??? Hoping this is actually doable in the first place!! As am I the one who manages travel I'd prefer to retain ownership of all the points so I can make the bookings easier, but would help if I transferred my point to my husband's account in advance? Timing will be tight as my sister's points haven't posted yet, are there any delays in the process that I should know about in advance or is it simply call, transfer points and book the travel package in one fell swoop?

Thanks for bearing with my noob questions!

Excellent idea, but my husband doesn't have an SPG account (I know, for shame!) and I think you have to have had one open for 30 days at same address to transfer SPG? correct me if I'm wrong on that.

Yes, must have the same address for at least 30 days.

No, a Category 6 is worth 75K! 45K residual plus 30K for the Category upgrade. Simple!

James

My guess is that the cat-9 cert shows an extended expiration date a year from now but the cat-6 cert shows the original expiration date.

You can look at it this way too. You can use your MR points to redeem for just FF Miles. The current rate is 2.8 to 5 MR points per FF Mile. Why would you think they would be only 1 MR point per FF Mile if you redeemed for a travel package?

For 120K FF miles you would need 340,000 MR points for the redemption! Logically, in a travel package, it doesn't make sense to value the certificate at 150K MR points and the FF Miles at 120K MR points

I see a travel package as 245K MR points for 120K FF Miles (a 28% discount to FF Miles ONLY redemptions) and 45K MR points for a certificate for a 7 night stay at up to a Category 5.

Marriott may just leave the certificates intact with many restrictions but ultimately the surrender value is 45K.

James

I believe it is called devaluation! Indeed it can book now. That opportunity is now. No guarantees next month. Besides, who said it would convert into a new certificate at all? A category 8 is worth 135K.

Again, you are confusing the value of the certificate in MR points to the potential redemptive value of the certificate in dollars. Just don't be upset if the potential redemptive value is not what you think it should be in the New Program. Who is being irrational? Facts don't support a windfall!

We know attached certificates will be honoured.

James

I'm wondering if there are two different scenarios being discussed. :)

First, when the "merge" occurs, I'm guessing existing TP hotel certs will be converted to a new style, "max points-based" cert. For example, if someone has a Cat. 6, 7-night hotel cert, that cert will become a "max 30K per night" 7 night award or something similar to that. Second, if someone today wants to return the TP hotel cert for points, they will NOT get the points matching a 7 night Cat 6 hotel (i.e. 180K points.). From the discussion it looks like someone would get 75K points. Again, my guess is if someone after the "merge" wants to return their new "max 30K per night" 7 night award, they will probably only get 75K points deposited into their account. IOW, just like today, they can use the cert for up to 7 nights at a certain cat level of hotel or they can return the cert for a reduced points value.

But I would doubt that at the "merge" Marriott will liquidate all existing unlinked TP certs into that reduced points value and deposit the points into your account. If you want that today (or after the "merge") you have to ask for it.

Now when this happens, will Marriott extend the life of those TP certs out for a year (since it will essentially be a new cert) or will they transfer the existing end-date to the new certs? I can't answer that question, though I might guess the answer depends on how easy it is for their systems to grab that old expiration date and transfer it to the new cert. If it is very simple and easy, the new certs may well keep the old expirations. If it is a pain to deal with that, Marriott will probably just extend the expiration dates out.

I really don't care about the value of MR points or certificate. I don't even care about the form of the conversion. They can do either points, restrict points, cat based cert or point based cert. I'm ok with anything as long as I can book a seven night stay in the hotels with similar quality.