Who should I call to attach a TP 7-night certificate to a reservation I made?
The general reservation number or Marriott Reward?

AFAIK there is no "in the system" advantage for attaching a cert to a reservation and then taking it off. You either have a cert or don't, in Marriott IT's view.

That said, one question I have is when you bought your cert? Would you have to extend it to book if nothing changed between now and Nov 2018?

Since I am a betting man (everyone currently in this thread is), I would assume that there is no devaluation of a Tier 4-5 cert possible that would keep me from being able to book any hotel in the system that had availability on those dates. Since hotel availability is not reliant on anything I could do, no choice I make will affect getting in. So I would just sit pat and book the hotel in November with whatever my cert was converted to post-8/18.

I'd pay cash on a 4-night stay and ask for a late checkout.

Thanks. That is what I was leaning toward. However, I have an unattached travel certificate that I could use for this 4 night stay. And, I was planning to buy two more travel certs prior to August 18. At least one of those would be left unattached. Would that change your thinking? It has me wobbling.

What do you value Marriott points at using the new system?

Keep the existing Cat 6 booking which we need for stay in Oct and float the 2 Cat 5. I am sick of trying to find a property to book that I have no idea when and if. we would actually use it.

Same number you order the TP.

General reservation can not do it.

Done... Thank you.
It took 3 minutes, once I got an agent to answer.

Marriott is not going to convert legacy certificates to points nor cancel the certificates. Instead, Marriott is going to attempt to convert the floating certificates to new certificates that roughly match the new categories based on the legacy category point values. So, a legacy cat 1-5 certificate will be good at a hotel that, come Aug 18, accepts 25K per night. They still have not figured out what they are going to do about the old category point prices that do not match up to new categories. They will suddenly make a declaration of the new policy when they come up with one, leaving loyal members completely at the mercy of whatever Marriott declares from on high, and they were expecting that the members would just get on board with it because it was such a small percentage of Marriott members . . . until recently. Any certificates that were attached pre-August 18 (that match up in point values [25K per night, 35K per night, etc.]) to the award reservation of the desired hotel will be honored at that category throughout the one year that the certificate is good unless changes are made to the reservation (in which case the certificate gets converted to a new certificate and the member is charged the difference in points-based pricing to use the certificate). If one now desires to visit a property that we know will become more expensive in the nightly point rate August 18, and if said person has not attached a certificate by August 18 to a reservation that was booked as an award (i.e. points) stay, then that person may (read: will) lose the ability use the certificate for that property.

There are two problems:

a) Marriott continues to use the word "category" for these new classifications when what they mean is some other classification. If, instead of calling them "categories," they referred to them as classes or brackets or some similar word, they would not have the problem that they have. However, as it stands now, if I hold a category 6 certificate that is good for any bookable Marriott property that is in "category 6," I should be able to use it on any property that is know as "category 6," pre-or-post August 18. Where, in the terms and conditions of these certificates, does it state "may be used on legacy category 6 properties but not the new category 6 properties?" It does not. If Marriott had termed the new categories as classes and kept the old chart up for legacy certificate holders (hotels would simultaneously be in a class and the old category for the next year), there would not be the confusion because there would not be any new categories, and therefore, a category 6 property is still a category 6 property, so the holder of the certificate is not entitled to anything other than what Marriott intends to be a category 6 property.

b) The Marriott associates, even at the elite services (a.k.a. platinum) desk, still do not know about the changes to travel packages, and many of them, at least until a few days ago, did not even know that there were changes in hotel categories or changes to the price structure of the travel packages . Therefore, they are advising members all sorts of different things. When a member is repeatedly advised incorrectly by the Marriott representatives, and the member moves forward on purchasing based on that incorrect information, Marriott is going to have a big guest satisfaction issue on their hands. Yes, as has been stated here many times, the associates do not know. We all know this. The point is that they should know and the fact that their lack of knowledge has been demonstrated time and again, yet they continue to advise and sell, is bad business. To have the ambassador for a brand tell a member one thing on August 17, or August 6, or August 1, or even July 25, and then the member find out on August 18 that the information they have been advised is wrong, and the member will now take the hit because Marriott suddenly made a declaration that now we are supposed to somehow just know that the way they are looking at the certificates is now based on the nightly point value of the category of the certificate when agents have been advising members otherwise, does not garner favor in the very members they hope to continue business with (sorry - long sentence). Marriott should have had their act together much earlier and put out the information instead of letting everyone guess and gamble, but they could not because they still have not completely figured out how they will handle all of it. Now, because they did not think this through earlier and because they were not anticipating this kind of travel package response, they are in a situation where I believe that they are going to have end up taking a hit and honoring those certificates for the categories listed, or absorb the anger of many loyal members which may take form in losing business.

They will not be extending legacy certificates anymore without converting the legacy certificate to the new certificate. They want the legacy certificates off the books as soon as that can legally happen.

If a person did overpurchase the category (e.g. he/she purchased a category 8 certificate and the hotel he/she desires will be moving down to category 4), Marriott will refund a points difference; however, the points difference will not be based on the old travel package price structure and it will be a small nightly sum of points since the majority of the value of these packages in the airline miles anyway.

How will you use all of these in one year? This is my biggest problem - finding the time to use them all in one year! I want to purchase a fourth (category 9) but alas, my life does not allow me that much time. . . . Would that I had a job that I could work from the Domes!

By using for vacations? I personally receive 10 weeks. Clearly ymmv on your career .

Right here:

https://www.marriott.com/rewards/terms.mi

Note what isn't specified: changing existing instruments once issued. That's not to say they have to treat old cat 6 as new cat 6. But they probably can't do something like force cancel all certificates and deposit 45K back into accounts either.

Thanks for posting. Do you see a travel package as a benefit or reward? Or do you see it as something more tangible? We receive points for staying, but when we have actually made a purchase with those points, I see them as something more tangible which is now a product, no longer a benefit. My reading of it, anyway. I do not see Marriott changing hotel categories or how they award points the same as changing the rules to an already purchased product.

Ha! Yeah, I guess so.