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I've got a bunch of 7-night and 5-night floater certificates positionned and ready to bite ;)
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Originally Posted by GoPhils
(Post 30056962)
Congrats to you for getting that, but of course just because they settled doesn't necessarily mean they wouldn't have won in court.
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Originally Posted by zzrayzz
(Post 30056943)
Am I able to attach the 7nt cert myself when booking online or do I have to call a rep to attach it?
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I redeemed on 7/31 for a 120k AA miles TP with Cat 7 unattached. Miles posted today. Is there any more recent thought on whether we should keep certs unattached or attached? I honestly don't know where I would use it yet.
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Originally Posted by upsidedown
(Post 30057703)
I redeemed on 7/31 for a 120k AA miles TP with Cat 7 unattached. Miles posted today. Is there any more recent thought on whether we should keep certs unattached or attached? I honestly don't know where I would use it yet.
I don't agree with this theory. Marriott has a long, consistent history of returning e-certificates for canceled reservations to member accounts as though they had never been attached in the first place. They don't go up or down in value, even when a hotel's redemption point level changed. On the other hand, if you can come up with a vacation destination in the next few days where you wound actually want to use the e-certificate, by all means reserve the hotel now, attach the e-certificate, and you're good to go under the current redemption chart. |
Just want to post a transfer time data point. Ordered a Cat 1-5 package on Saturday 7/28, with miles being sent to Virgin Atlantic. The miles just showed up in my VS account this afternoon, 8/7. So be patient if yours seems to be taking longer than expected. Transfer times seem to be all over the place.
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Originally Posted by dan9124
(Post 30058239)
Just want to post a transfer time data point. Ordered a Cat 1-5 package on Saturday 7/28, with miles being sent to Virgin Atlantic. The miles just showed up in my VS account this afternoon, 8/7. So be patient if yours seems to be taking longer than expected. Transfer times seem to be all over the place.
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Originally Posted by Horace
(Post 30058082)
There are some folks on this forum who have advocated immediately attaching your e-certificate to a reservation for a hotel whose points-per-night rate is going up August 18, even though you have no intention of staying there. This theory says that when you cancel, you'll somehow be better off than if you had simply left the e-certificate in your account.
I don't agree with this theory. Marriott has a long, consistent history of returning e-certificates for canceled reservations to member accounts as though they had never been attached in the first place. They don't go up or down in value, even when a hotel's redemption point level changed. On the other hand, if you can come up with a vacation destination in the next few days where you wound actually want to use the e-certificate, by all means reserve the hotel now, attach the e-certificate, and you're good to go under the current redemption chart. Some folks are *speculatively* attaching certificates to hotels, *some of which plan on staying at*, with the theory the cert will be returned to the new category at the time of change. These folks are well aware how Marriott, and any other frequent flier program, has handled refunds after an award price change, by refunding the original amount. These folks also realize this will not be physically possible, as the old category instrument will not exist, such that they will have a niche case that Marriott *may* treat as a cert that was attached after Aug18, thus *upgrading* their cert. The basis for this artbitrage is that Marriott errors in the side of simple IT/CS solution for a small population in the midst of a major merger with a deadline. Some may also read tea levels of no communicating anything officially in advance, others may find no tea leaves at all. There is a possibility Marriott does a point equivalent cert conversion, such that the detached cert could be treated the same, thus not providing any incremental value over leaving it floating in the first place. There is also a possibility Marriott handles floaters differently than detachers, such that they may well indeed be better off than attaching than floating. Lurker has echo’ed vague comments from MR to this end, but that is left up to the user to interpret. There is also a possibility that Marriott force refunds floaters and/or detachers at the surrender rate. Most reasonable people would agree that won’t happen. Marriott is not going to crucify someone for having a change in travel plans well in advance of the stated cancelation policy, which is only an issue because Marriott changes the category architecture. So the downside risk is presumed to be small. In the end, some people are making educated bets, where they deduce the risk, reward, and probabilities thereof. To each their own. Other people don’t understand and/or agree, and for whatever reason like to be vocal about it in an inaccurate or non-objective manner. |
Originally Posted by Horace
(Post 30058082)
There are some folks on this forum who have advocated immediately attaching your e-certificate to a reservation for a hotel whose points-per-night rate is going up August 18, even though you have no intention of staying there. This theory says that when you cancel, you'll somehow be better off than if you had simply left the e-certificate in your account.
I don't agree with this theory.
Originally Posted by zozeppelin
(Post 30058450)
In the end, some people are making educated bets, where they deduce the risk, reward, and probabilities thereof. To each their own. Other people don’t understand and/or agree, and for whatever reason like to be vocal about it in an inaccurate or non-objective manner. We all speculate. If you attach the TP to a hotel, you can always change the dates. If you attached an old Cat-5 TP to a new Cat-5 hotel, if you cancel the reservation, very likely you can re-book a new Cat-5 hotel. It does not make sense that MR would want to downgrade you since the old Cat-5 is only worth new Cat-4 now. You get the certificate back, not the points. MR is running two systems now. They can only use the old system to book and change the TP. After the new system is fully up and running, the old system will be gone. They won't even know or care how you get the TP. |
Originally Posted by imverge
(Post 30057594)
When you make a new reservation it will give you the option of attaching the certificate.
The Megabonus earned cert or the CC FN cert yes. The TP cert always needs to call to attach, as recently as 2 nights ago when I tried a 7 days booking the site just told me not enough pts, despite I have 2x 7 nights certs unused. I dont believe your information is correct unless somehow Marriott managed to update its site in the midst of all confusions leading to Aug 18th. |
Originally Posted by zozeppelin
(Post 30058450)
In the end, some people are making educated bets, where they deduce the risk, reward, and probabilities thereof. To each their own. Other people don’t understand and/or agree, and for whatever reason like to be vocal about it in an inaccurate or non-objective manner. While he may be subjective, he doesn't denigrate the detached-certificate arbitrage theory. He states a reason why it is highly unlikely given Marriott's prior behavior. I keep seeing people post responses in this thread where they seem to have some amount of self-worth attached to how this plays out, aside from the value of certs themselves. On 8/19 this may be the most "SUCK ON THAT!" thread in the last year on FT, since so many people seem like they're just waiting to lord it over anybody who guesses/bets are "wrong." |
Originally Posted by SightseeMC
(Post 30058925)
I'm trying to understand this passive-aggressive response. The person you quoted literally says there is a theory (true) that he/she doesn't agree with (clear and respectable response), but that if you find a good place and book now you are fine (also true).
While he may be subjective, he doesn't denigrate the detached-certificate arbitrage theory. He states a reason why it is highly unlikely given Marriott's prior behavior. I keep seeing people post responses in this thread where they seem to have some amount of self-worth attached to how this plays out, aside from the value of certs themselves. On 8/19 this may be the most "SUCK ON THAT!" thread in the last year on FT, since so many people seem like they're just waiting to lord it over anybody who guesses/bets are "wrong." |
I want to book a stay in Bora Bora but the problem is only SPG has hotels there. So I can either save my remaining points for a stay there (at 60k a night/ 240k for 5 nights!) or try to book a travel package now in the hopes that I can redeem for one of those properties using a "converted cert". I know this is all speculation but any advice?
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Originally Posted by SightseeMC
(Post 30058925)
While he may be subjective, he doesn't denigrate the detached-certificate arbitrage theory. He states a reason why it is highly unlikely given Marriott's prior behavior. |
Originally Posted by Happy
(Post 30058680)
Since when the Marriott website allows you to use a 7 days TP cert online without having to call?
The Megabonus earned cert or the CC FN cert yes. The TP cert always needs to call to attach, as recently as 2 nights ago when I tried a 7 days booking the site just told me not enough pts, despite I have 2x 7 nights certs unused. I dont believe your information is correct unless somehow Marriott managed to update its site in the midst of all confusions leading to Aug 18th. |
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