No you haven't. But be prepared to wait on the phone.

I think this is a very smart, succinct way of describing the change. And quite possibly the internal logic on a Marriott PowerPoint slide somewhere.

All in here too - 4 TPs!

Cat 9 and Cat 5 purchased last week and Cat 6 and Cat 7 renewals leftover from prior year purchases (SWA companion passe for wife & I).

All are currently unattached. I will gladly take advice on which, if any, I should attach.

Indeed. By the way, for anyone looking to still book/upgrade packages, do yourself a favour and call the KL line to get it all done within minutes.

I booked the first TP of my life on Saturday evening, and my wait to talk with an agent was quite short -- less than one minute. The agent also congratulated me on being "one of the few" who will be grandfathered in to the Platinum Premier status in a few weeks. Experience was fast and easy. Now looking forward to the miles hitting my AA account, to act as a discount on the award tickets we booked to Amsterdam...

--woodstock

I have one cat 8 attached to a property in Hawaii that is going from old cat 8 to new cat 7 so it will be going up 20k/night. I plan to cancel this reservation post 8/18 and stay at a different new cat 7 property (a Starwood property which will be going down in points post 8/18 to 60k/night so I cannot attach a cert to it now). My guess is the cert will be usable at a new cat 7 post 8/18, either because of the way they decide to map the categories if they go with a category mapping or possibly they refund 60k night when cancelling post 8/18 if they go with a points mapping. There are of course scenarios that do not play out as well but my main bet is that Marriott is going to be generous so at a minimum I expect post 8/18 to have a credit for 7 nights of 40k either in a cert or points and either way I would be OK with that but if they decide to not be so generous as to give a full 60k/night credit then since the categories do not map exactly the closest rounding up to categories would be a 50k/night new cat 6 and my guess is that their generosity would extend that far to prevent complaints so I really cannot envision losing out on this.

I also have a cat 6 floater. Since this does not covert points wise exactly into a new category I am hoping they will either round it up to 7 nights worth of points at a new cat 5 (35k/night) or they will map the category to at least a new cat 5.

For the doomsayers who claim Marriott may give only 15k for a floater cert I say, "no way - not happening." It is not reasonable and they would have a media fiasco and a bunch of lawsuits if they tried it. I am confident that won't happen and I am comfortable keeping one of my certs as a floater. Anyone who believes they might only get 15k for a floater should attach it to a reservation but I am not worried about that. I only attached one of my certs to a property I had no plans of staying at to have a chance at increasing its value above the baseline generosity I am expecting from Marriott.

So is it confirmed? Cant book any more of these?

I'm pretty sure you still can. All the current packages are still on Marriott's website and it would be taken down if they're no longer offered when Marriott updated its system on Saturday.

Traditionally, Marriott has returned e-certificates from cancelled reservations back to the member's account at same level as it was originally, even if the hotel's redemption category moved up or down. In other words, traditionally, the e-certifcate has retained the same value as if it had never been attached to a reservation.

Also, the reservation itself traditionally has not changed categories, even if the category has changed for new reservations. Think of it just like a cash reservation, where you make a guaranteed reservation for $200 per night, but the hotel's rate subsequently goes to $300 per night for the same nights. You still have a guaranteed $200 per night reservation.

Some folks on this forum expect everything to be different August 18. However, anyone who expects to leverage category changes to transform e-certificates to have more value is likely to be disappointed.

If you were a betting person?! Any replies welcome re my TP dilemma...
 

Thank you for reading this -- I genuinely appreciate it.

Any advice from fellow FTers on the following TP dilemma would be much appreciated! (Basically, I am trying to take my 80-y-o mom away to Japan at the end of next year (Nov 2019) -- sadly, it could be "the last hurrah" for us as she, very unfortunately, has the beginnings of dementia.) I'd ideally like to book the Ritz-Carlton Kyoto for seven nights in November 2019 and I already have a Tier 4-5 Hotel certificate from having taken out a Marriott Travel Package.

But I'm just not sure what the best thing to do now (pre-August 18) is in terms of using my "Tier 4-5 hotel certificate" in order to lock in a seven-night stay at the R-C Kyoto in November 2019?

(a) Book a dummy reservation now (and also have Marriott attach my certificate to it) for a year out -- i.e. for August 2019 -- with a view to then having the certificate "in the system" and also then hoping that Marriott (or the hotel directly?) allows me to amendthe booking dates (from August 2019 to November 2019) in November this year when the booking window (for Nov 2019) opens up: my hope ultimately being that, as with the current Marriott program, I might be able to extend the life of the certificate beyond one year?

OR

(b) to hold out for a *possible* 420,000 MR points refund from an enforced, post-August 18 Marriott cancellation of my "floater" Tier 4-5 hotel certificate and, subsequently, book a 7-night stay at the R-C Kyoto (availability permitting) when the booking window for Nov 2019 opens up?

My concern with choosing option "(a)" is that Marriott won't allow me to amend the booking dates in November this year from August 2019 to November 2019; and my concern with choosing option "(b)" is that there ends up being no availability at the R-C Kyoto in November 2018 (for booking dates in November 2019) because every man and his dog at that time will be looking to book this hotel because of the cheap 60,000 points-per-night asking price.

I appreciate that each option carries a risk, but, if fellow FTers were faced with a similar choice (and not knowing now what Marriott will do in the future), which way would you lean towards in terms of either option? Any "best guess" guidance would be greatly appreciated.

All the best

(a) Traditionally, Marriott has not allowed reservations to be "amended" with entirely different dates. Traditionally, you could cancel your old reservation and make a new one, using the redemption level in effect when you make the new reservation, and based on availability for the new dates.

(b) There are all sorts of theories of what will happen to unattached e-certificates on August 18. Some theories are quite wild, ranging from amazing windfalls to disastrous, forced losses of point value. Marriott has announced that current 1-night e-certificates will remain 1-night e-certificates, but denominated with the point value corresponding to the old category. Marriott has not announced what will happen to current 7-night e-certificates. I expect these to remain 7-night e-certificates, but denominated with the point value corresponding to the old category — with functionality to add or refund points when attaching them to a 7-night reservation. This seems logical to me, but one person on the thread thinks I will "eat crow" when Marriott publishes the details.

Just curious, how do you accumulate that many points? Do you live in a hotel?

Hey Happy: Any decision yet? Me in same boat.