I had not considered that possibility. That would be a pretty clean way to give everyone 100% equivalent value. Perhaps the simplest thing of all to code.

My only complaint (now) is the inability to upgrade, extend, book, attach, etc. Travel Package certs online. The fact that you have to call to upgrade a certificate is annoying. But...separate issue...

[QUOTE=pinniped;30012726]Has Marriott issued any kind of public statement about the current phone support situation? Or are they taking the time-honored approach of not acknowledging that a major systemic problem exists at all?[/QUOTE]

This. I called 3 times today. The first 2 times after listening over 30 min finally got a human but the first call was disconnected by itself., and the second call required a transfer, and more hold time, then it too, disconnected when a rep was talking to me. BTW said rep greeted me with Good Evening. You can guess he is not North America based and when I jokingly pointed this out, he sheepishly agreed. Unfortunately before I was able to finish my question, the phone went dead.

3rd call took similar 40 min hold but this time got a SLC based rep. She still needed to check with supervisor on my question - a supposedly expedited AS delivery is still a no show in my account. I just worried if the rep who did it had taken down the correct AS number, given on Jul 18, someone posted here that he paid $15 for expedite delivery at 1pm EST and when he checked his AS account at 6pm EST, the miles were there. Mine was initiated on Jul 22nd Sunday and were told 48 hours would be the max time. I dont need the expedite delivery but since it is offered and fee waived, why not? Turns out it is not expedited at all.

Apart from the phone system issues, the competence or the quality of the reps is very problematic. 2 of my friends have really horrible incidents caused by extremely incompetent reps.

2 days ago one friend had to call back 5 times to get a mistakenly redeemed package fixed and got back the points.

The friend called last night just to attach a cert to an existing reservation. He has a cert and a reservation. You would think this is the simplest task to perform ...

The rep redeemed a new 50K package instead. I think my friend was too naive when the rep asked him what airline / FFP number - none of that is needed to attach a cert. From what he described to me, myriad of alarm bells went off but he failed to catch it.
I myself have to end a few calls when very obviously the reps on the other end have no clue at all.

Called me paranoid, I only transferred just enough pts for 1 package, redeemed it then transferred another batch. Even so, when I called today, asking the rep to check on the AS package done on July 22nd, she still said, you have redeemed 2 packages, what do you need me to check on? That is AFTER I clearly told her to look at the July 22nd redemption. Reps dont listen, that is a big problem too.

Such issues also compound the phone system problems as there are so many mistakes made and people have to call back to get the mistakes fixed.

Revised program merger date of Aug 18th. Start the speculation on if TPs can still be ordered up until that point.....

Advice kindly sought — (current) Air + Travel Package
 

Firstly, many thanks for reading this — I do appreciate it.

Would anyone be able to advise me on the following? I have a Tier 4-5 Hotel certificate. I ideally would like to use this for a seven night stay in November 2019 at a R-C hotel, but appreciate that this is beyond a year out. If I booked a seven night stay at my preferred hotel NOW for just under a year out (say, for June 2019) BUT THEN TRIED TO ALTER THE BOOKING FOR NOVEMBER 2019 (WHENEVER THAT BOOKING WINDOW OPENS UP, PERHAPS IN DECEMBER 2018), would this work? I.e. If I use a certificate now, would I be able to change the booking dates in the future, especially given the impending August change to the Marriott program?

Any advice would be very gratefully received.

All the best.

Except the fact that Starwood Lurker has said on many occasions that certificates will be converted to "equivalent points", so the chance of a category conversion is 0%. Some of the people in this thread really ought to visit the SPG forum.

If you believe this, https://viewfromthewing.boardingarea...044.1523022008, Marriott still doesn't know what's happening with these certificates.

Today's Cat 5 to future Cat 4 would meet the spirit of equivalent points.
Today's Cat 6 to future Cat 5 also meets the spirit of equivalent points with a bit of a bonus for the member. It's not exactly equivalent, but it's slightly in our favor so nobody is going to complain.
Today's Cat 6 to future Cat 4 would not meet the spirit of equivalent points. People would complain, unless there's a refund of points to make the member whole.
Today's Cat 5 to 150,000 points in my account would also meet the spirit of equivalent points, but that would be so generous that I'm not really expecting it to happen.
Today's Cat 5 to 45,000 points would not meet the spirit of equivalent points. I don't think Marriott is even considering this except in conjunction with other options as a "what happens a year from now if you haven't used or extended your TP."

FTFY

Official merger date is now August 18th. DoC says TPs available at current pricing through August 17. FT Announcement here.

The quote in that article suggests they're close, that they recognize the value the certificates hold to people, and that the conversion requires a tech solution that apparently isn't straightforward.

I interpret that to mean it isn't a universal cancellation of certificates, either at 150k or 45k points. They're testing a solution that involves the certificates remaining certificates, but don't have it ready yet. If they just wanted to kill all the certs and refund points (whether miserly or generously), I could probably write that code myself in a few hours... :p

I believe it. Marriott would surely like a less costly solution. The only problem is that all the less costly solutions are complex and not easy to implement technologically. I'm sure IT is the reason Marriott has put off for 2 weeks the launch date of the new combined program.

Well, you'd need *more* points to upgrade the certs - that's sort of the reason for the refund to begin with. Your "old" cert was between two "new" categories. e.g., They'd turn your Old 6 into a New 4 and put 30,000 points in your account. But you'd need 60,000 to make your New 4 a New 5.

One more data point of phone issues....

Attempt #1 - 4:50 PM (EST) - Called 801 area code number - say "redeem rewards points" then "new reservation" then "associate" - hold for 8 minutes - get a rep in Ireland who has no idea what I'm asking her to do. Suggests I call back tomorrow to the 801 area code number.
Attempt #2 - 5:03 PM (EST) - Called 801 area code number - say "redeem rewards points" - hold 8 minutes - get a US-based rep who tells me she has to transfer me to Elite Services - transfer to Elite Services - explain request/provide info - hold another 16 minutes - comes back and says it's booked.

I was surprised to learn that the AA miles will take 1-2 weeks to post.

Gold status
 

Hi there, this is unrelated question. I have Gold status via spg match and I have a reservation on August 17th for 5 nights. My status is due for a downgrade on the 18th for obvious reasons. Do I get lounge benefits if I get upgraded at check in?