they checked to us. some bet. they check raised. now go all in wussy cowards!

Nights and flights or wait and see?
 

My wife is SPG gold and has about 140k SPG points at the moment, that vast majority of which we earned from credit card spend. Due to the changes in points earning on the SPG card, we don't expect to earn many SPG/Marriott points moving forward and likely won't have status again in the future. I'm trying to decide between redeeming points now through Marriott for a nights/flights package or maybe trying to book a five-night stay at a 2018 Category 7 property that would either be Cat 7 peak or Cat 8 in 2019. Our travel schedule isn't super flexible, and we likely won't do any traveling until next summer due to a baby on the way, so I'm not optimistic about our chances at snagging prime award space that works for us. If I knew what Marriott was going to do with floating 7-night certificates when the programs merge, this would probably be an easy decision, but we still don't know.

What would you do? Book a Cat 1-5 package and have 120k Marriott points left over, book a Cat 9 package and hope that the conversion nets us at least 120k Marriott points more than a Cat 1-5, or wait and try to book a nice property during the August-December 2018 period where everyone and their mom is going to be angling for the same award space?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Marriott already gave us a huge hint, TP devaluation is coming up! So, get your travel packages and and make sure you attach them to specific properties (don't leave them floating):

OLD CHART
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...32c9bb03ae.png

NEW CHART
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d857ce29cf.png


Marriott will handle these certificates generously after August. Announcing that they will do so would create a massive amount of demand for the current certificates. By lack of info, they will keep demand down until it’s too late to buy the current certificates. I don’t think they would keep selling packages today if they planned on pulling the rug out from underneath everyone. I also believe Marriott will continue to allow people to upgrade and downgrade categories after August 1st.

I'm so conflicted on snagging one of these. I'm sitting right at 255k (with the easy ability to add the last 15k from UR / AMEX if truly worth it) and can't decide whether to hold the points and go after the "Category 8 available temporarily as Category 7" play or cash in the 255k (or supplement up to 270k) for a Cat 1-5 + UA/AS.

I tend to think airline miles are more valuable (access to my company corporate rates for personal travel means I can usually find reasonable rates) but there are some hotels that are very attractive in the "8 as 7 space"

Decisions decisions

It is worth it, believe me! Let's crunch the numbers:

You need 270K Marriott points which would convert into 132K UA miles or 120K AS miles and 7 nights in a category 1-5 hotel. If you cancel the travel certificate today they will give a refund of just 45K points. If Marriott refunds 45K points that will mean you’ll pay 225K Marriott points for 132K United miles (or 1.36 cents per UA mile or 1.5 cents per AS mile ).

I just upgraded a cat 5 to a cat 8 and this is what the transaction looked like:

07/18/2018

Rewards

5 Night Travel Package Category 1-5 Hotels

07/18/2018, Cancelled 10,000 Rewards

+10,000 Points

07/18/2018

Rewards

5 Night Partial Package Category 8 Hotels

07/18/2018, Ordered -75,000 Rewards

-75,000 Points

07/18/2018



5 Night Travel Package Category 1-5 Hotels

07/18/2018, Cancelled 10,000 Rewards

+10,000 Points

Another DP: called in to get our final Cat 1-5 package. Called the line on the TP page; on hold maybe 3 minutes, transferred to rewards for another hold of 15 or so. CSR fully understood what I wanted, and was done in less than 5 minutes.

It's been a while since I redeemed a travel package. How long does it take to get the airline miles? The phone agent says it will take 3 business days, but I have read reports saying it posted instantly. I request United miles. Also can you use the 7 day certificate to book a reservation online or do you need to call the phone line to apply it? I am assuming it should work online.

My United miles took somewhere from 24-30 hours to post, I just redeemed a TP 3 days ago.

Transfer is not instant and transfer time varies by airlines. Takes about 1 business day for miles to show up in your UA account. You need to call to attach your certificate to a reservation.

Thanks for the info. I will wait a few days to check my United account. I tried to book a 7-day stay online and the certificate didn't show up. So as you mentioned, I will have to call in to make a reservation.

IIRC, a transfer can be expedited for $15, which I believe can be waived for a Platinum member. Although I wasn't in a rush, one agent expedited a transfer to Alaska Airlines without asking. When I called to request a refund, the Rep that answered was willing to refund the $15 charge regardless of who requested expedited processing because of my status. YMMV.

Marriot Travel Package Novice questions
 

Good day all


Im planning to redeem for the 200K travel package and just had some novice questions.

How long does it take to get the hotel certificate after contacting Marriott to swap my points for one of these travel packages?

After I get the hotel certificate, do I need to ring the same Marriot number to book the 7 night stay?

Im overseas in mid August and wondering if I have enough time to do this, that is if I was to ring them on the 27th July when I will get my full 200K points in my Marriot account

I would like to have this transaction completely prior to August 1st if possible - as Im bit lost with how the new system will work in terms of the travel packages.

In addition which airline is considered the most beneficial in terms of the travel package options? I'm in Australia so will travel via Qantas or other airlines that travel from Australia.

I assume I need to make a account to that respective airline prior to ringing Marriot to obtain my 55K points?


Thanks for your help

1) Once you contact Marriott to redeem your travel package the hotel e-certificate portion will be loaded into your account immediately. The airline points will take longer depending on which airline you choose.
2) You can call or visit Marriott website to book your 7 night stay. Best to check award availability on the website and complete reservation which will give you the opportunity to attach the e-certificate that was deposited into your Marriott account.
3) Yes, if you contact Marriott on July 27 the travel package will be processed that day.
4) Since you are located in Australia I would assume Qantas would probably be a good option but figure out where you'd like to travel and the redemption rates as you'd only have 55K points.
5) Correct you will need to sign up an airline FF account where you want the points to be transferred.

Hope this helps.... Good Luck :)

Clearly Marriott knows people are wondering if there is an opportunity for positive arbitrage with these travel packages and they likely want to avoid such a windfall opportunity for obvious reasons. They also dont want the negative PR of forcefully canceling these certs for 45K points either. So my guess will be that these floater certificates will remain in people's accounts and be attachable up to the expiration date based on the legacy category (pre Aug 1 category). So it will be manual process wherein you call customer service and say I have a Cat 1-5 cert I want to use, the rep will say 'Ok, this is based on the old Cat 1 - 5 categories, which hotel are you looking to apply this to?" and then based on the response, they'll look at the legacy categories and apply the cert. After Aug 1 2019, all the legacy certs will have expired and then Marriott can do a across the board devaluation for all the properties which we expect anyways.

Even if the above doesnt happen, I dont really see the windfall option happening either. Because if its such a great opportunity, whats stopping us from canceling a reservation with a cert already attached and making it a floater and taking advantage of the arbitrage opportunity at that point?