RedSun

I do not think that is true. Most of the SPG new Cat-6 and Cat-7 hotels have stayed flat or gone up with the point values.

Only the new SPG Cat-8 properties are worth booking during the lock-down period. Such as the St. Regis Bora Bora and Set. Regis Maldives etc. We can't use the TPs since the TPs are locked for a month.

If you are aiming to book those Cat-8 SPG stays during the lockdown month, sure you should get plenty points in hand. Marriott sure would have known this well. So I do not know how many Cat-8 rooms they would release right away. They may only release some room during the off-peak season to earl 2019 and try to figure out what to do with those all suite resorts.

onlysuites

We were there in the last week of May this year. Resort was almost full and only had a couple of base rooms empty. No refurbs going on.

Yeah I did. They passed the feedback onto the hotel and we got a normal thanks for your feedback email after 4 weeks and 4 reminder emails to Marriott.

Happy

I might be the only one here that do NOT look for "aspirational" properties. All I care are properties that we would actually use during our trips in cities we generally would visit or plan to visit - none of them are the 30K and up properties. We could not care less on those Cat 8 properties.

Bora Bora does not interest us, been there 20 years ago. Not impressed by French Polynesia at all. I would just caution those who intend to book properties in French Polynesia or the Maldives and the like - think about the OTHER costs that would incur - just the transportation alone would cost you $1K or more for 2 between PPT to Bora Bora on a 50min flight, and that has NO point redemption you can do. Ditto the float plane between MLE to the atoll usually is $650 per person R/T Mandatory and can only be confirmed a day before arrival.
Finally once you are on the islands, your meal cost can be very substantial, unless you plan to bring your own foods (actually this has been done by one blogger and wrote this up in his blog).
Lodging with points is only a small part of the whole equation. There are other unavoidable, completely out of pocket CASH outlays that can make your "free room" ended up very expensive.

If you want the over the water bungalow experience, check out Sandals new resort in Bahamas. The extra Cash you need to spend, may be enough to get you a nice, All-Inclusive Sandals vacation much closer to home, with equally nice or even better (in the case of Bora Bora) water quality.

RedSun

For the precise reasons, I have my eyes elsewhere. Vacation should not be dictated by the points. Tropical vacations are nice. But it is going to be boring after a while. It may be a good change to explore National Park and other places....

We are all different.

lax2010

Happy

When is your FN cert issued?

I have a cert that expires in Feb 2019, so it is issued in Feb 2018 - I do not receive any paper letter or email to that effect but I assume it can be used on any property as that is how it behaves online, as that cert is already in my account before the new restriction is announced.
My husband's current IHG card was applied last Sept so his FN cert should be issued sometime around Sept 2018 but he also does not receive any letter either.
Finally my current IHG card was applied just a few days before April 1st when the news broke. I do not receive any letter about the yet to be issued FN cert (right before April 2019).

Just asked a friend whose cert was issued in May this year. He said his cert could book any hotel online. He never receives any letter to confirm / honor that. It is from the card he has held 4 or more years.

sinfonia

I'm really not certain whether it is worth mentioning this or not, so take this with the huge grain of salt that as we all know, the Marriott agents really know very little about the changes . . . and the only reason I am posting it is I guess for data purposes and because it is not what Mr. Marriott's office had said. I was up in the middle of the night calling Marriott about that pesky July reservation that I need (to no avail) and the agent, when she heard me mention a travel package, perked up and said that she just received new information on changes to travel packages. She read me verbiage that all travel packages booked on or before March 5 will be honored at that points value, but the travel packages booked March 6 or later will be subjected to the new travel package structure and category levels. She went on to say that for the packages that were not booked by March, the hotel portion would revert back to points. I asked her about August 18 and she said that they are giving TP holders until March 2019 to book the packages. I asked her to re-read all of it to ensure I heard it all correctly. I asked her how many points the hotel portion would revert to and she said that it depended on which package. Just for an example, I asked about a category 1-5 travel package with 132K United miles. She placed me on hold to get the answer and then the phone disconnected and I never got her back. I searched if there was a new Marriott document out that I had not seen but the only thing that I could come up with mentioning March 5/6 was an old page on the site referring to the last category change mentioning March 5/6, 2018, not 2019.

So was she just confused and reading something from March 2018 in error? Maybe. It is contrary to what Mr. Marriott's office said last week . . . but that does not mean things will not change since it was clear that even at the corporate level, they still did not have solid plans as to how handle the travel packages.

For what it's worth (which may not be much) . . .

nexusCFX

If the hotel still has award space just make a new booking which you can attach to in Sept, and cancel your current one which will send the cat6 back to your account. The more work you delegate to Marriott phone reps, the more chance of a mistake.

RedSun

Also, for the new Cat-8 hotels, some upgrade certificates may be required to book all suite properties. When I tried to attached my TP to a MR 2-bedroom suite, it requires the base certificate (old Cat-6) and 2 upgrade certificates to a 10,000/day total. This makes it a Cat-8 stay.

See the one from hhoope01from another Marriott thread.

I know that Starwood Lurker replied (in another thread) that he doesn't know of any other "extra" charges that might be tacked on, but I will add a caution to the award costs for those incoming all-suite SPG properties. Marriott already has some of those (Go look at the MVCI awards.) In those, Marriott has them listed at a specific category level, but to actually make an award reservation, you would also be charged a specific number of "upgrade" awards depending on the room you are booking. For example, the Imperial Palms in Orlando only has 3 bedroom units, but it is now a Cat. 7 property. To make an award resevation, you will will be charged for the Cat. 7 award plus 3 upgrade certs per night (an extra 15K per night.)

It may be that Marriott will allow these incoming all-suite properties to require some number of "upgrade" certs, on top of the category level it is in, to make an award reservation. I don't know this for sure, but it matches what Marriott has allowed historically within their program.

kgkg

What is the chance of current cat 8 certificate being able to redeem the new cat 8 hotels after September 18?

RedSun

0%. None.

Old Cat-8 is 40,000 MR. New Cat-7 and Cat-8 are 60,000+. There are only 4 MR Vacation Club hotels that you can use your Cat-8 certificate. But MR has no rooms available for those.

DaveInLA

I have already booked a category 1-5 travel package, but given recent updates, I want to upgrade to a category 8 in hopes if it converting to new category 6 (crossing fingers). I'm 12K points short of the number of points needed for that upgrade. Since Marriott allows you to book properties without the required points, will they allow me to make this upgrade if I'm short 12K? I'd hate to transfer them over from Chase UR right now. I have some points coming via the way of the SPG card when statement closes later this month.

kgkg

Based on the logic, the old certificate will be convert to the certificate that is similar to the Chase free night certificate. For example, a 7-night cat 5 certificate will be converted into a certificate that can be redeemed up to 25,000 per night. Is this the best guess now?

spgplat21

I guess it's possible, but I think this is highly unlikely (less than 1%).

tonywush

0 chance. Why ppl still think new mapping will be based on Category number? Marriott already said it will be mapped based on similar point value. The discussion here is how 'similar' it will be.




Possible mapping?