Maybe Marriott will keep a hotline for the legacy TP matched to the legacy (old category) property list. Then all the TP holders will be kept whole. We will all be the legacy!

So much rumor....

I have to take issue with at least the part where you said that we have no rights to use TPs on SPG properties. After August 18, there are no SPG properties, only Marriott properties and the TPs have every right to be used at the new Marriott properties, just as they would be for any other new Marriott property that opened within the year after the package was purchased.

and .... 5 Night/Low season?

Potentially it means Tier 3 gets mapped to Cat 7 in the new system?

Just got off the phone after finally deciding to pull the trigger and order 2 category 8 packages. Tried to do it on Sunday, but they told me I couldn't transfer to my wife's account and that I could not order the package from her account without her with me, so I tried again to transfer today and had her with me to book it. They still haven't read their own terms and conditions that allow for a larger than 50K transfer for a redemption, so had to buy one in my account and one in her account. The Marriott rep on Sunday suggested that I just order it in my account and then transfer the miles to hers (no thanks, I don't want to spend $2500 to move miles that are already mine) and the rep today suggested that I just put her airline account on my Marriott account (pretty sure that is against the rules). Given the short time frames and the high likelihood that this would not work, I gave up and just ordered one each, so hers goes to her United account and mine goes to American. After asking at least 4 times on Sunday to book it for her and being refused unless she got on the phone, today's rep had no problem booking it out of her account for me.
Given the information that has been given out by Marriott to the bloggers, I figure this gives me a pretty decent chance of getting Category 6 certificates in the new program, which covers most of the hotels I have looked at and gives the best potential arbitrage opportunity.
For what it is worth, my guess is that Marriott has not shared the actual conversion for one of two reasons. I think they would like to do something that will take considerable IT resources and they really aren't sure they can do it (my guess would be mapping them to categories where they could be used during some seasons (so a category 6 cert for an 8 but one that can only be used in low season) but not others and only get back the old points if downgraded). The other possibility I see is that they are going to be generous but want to control how much it will cost them by not confirming the arbitrage opportunity. If it is the first one, I am guessing that they won't find their IT solution and will just map them across, but I could be wrong. I figure my odds of ending up with a cat 6 cert that can be used anytime are about 70/30 in my favor (50/50 under the first scenario, 90/10 under the second)
Edit: Forgot to mention that today, after calling the number that is on the travel package web page, at various times, I got to talk to reservations (3 times), corporate and group reservations, Marriott Vacation Club owners' desk, and package vacations, before they finally connected me to the right people. Took an hour, but only about or 10 minutes of that was actually with the rep who booked it for me.

It is 72,000 SPG points/day. Maybe we can book it in a few days with 60,000 MR points. :p

Just booked cat 9 TP without an attached hotel
 

The agent was very friendly but said that they could not see Starwood availability, and suggested that I call back after August 18. The consensus seems to be that having a 'floating' TP with no associated hotel reservation is risky, so probably tomorrow I will call again.

On a peripherally related topic, can anyone explain (in simple terms) the difference between booking a category 9 and category 8? It seemed to me worth a small risk to go ahead and book the highest one, but I must confess to not really understanding what is going on. Thanks in advance!

No, this is just how SPG describes upgraded award bookings at properties. It's a Category 7 SPG property, and the room that was booked is classified as a 3rd tier suite for award purposes.

Hey guys if anyone attached the 7 night certificate in the past, they should check their account. Because 2 of my reservation attached the certificate last month for some reason unattached and refund back to my account. So now i need to call to attach it back, your guys should check it in case in couple date it will be too late to attach to the reservation

Following this saga is better than watching LIVE PD on a Saturday night!

I called MR again to upgrade my cat 1-5 certificate to a category 8. This requires 90K; I only have 89K. The agent put me on hold and then came back to say the system was down, but she said she would start the process. She said she wrote a note to finish the job tonight when system is back up and would gift me the 1K I'm missing (I was prepared to buy 1K over the phone). When I look at my account now, the cat 1-5 cert actually got cancelled and I got 45K points back. An email confirms the cancellation. From an older FrequentMiler post, I see this is how upgrades work; 45K refund and then get charged 75K/105K/135K/etc. But since the rep wasn't able complete the upgrade part, if she doesn't complete the job tonight and I have to call another agent, will they be able to give me the cat 8 package (minus airline miles) when I only have 135K in my account?

Marriott did not tell me when I bought the TP (two weeks ago) that if I didn't use it by 8/18 the value would decrease ...and I asked. As with all changes I know some current cat 8 properties won't be available to me post 08/18 but doing a forced downgrade does not keep me whole. At a minimum cat 5 peak is 40k points...anything less than that and I'll be less than impressed. 105 nights so far this year with Marriott and long since LTP (soon to be LTPP).



If Marriott had stated that I would agree. What they have stated is that it will be one program and free night certs and points can be freely used at any property with standard availability at the per night value (tied to point value) of the cert. They did not say "except for you sucka's who have TP's"

All that said, I put the chance of them screwing people who have cat 6+ TP's in the single digit %. They have been very fair so far and I expect that to continue through completion of the reward program merger. I guess they could disappoint me but I don't think this will be the hill they decide to go to battle on. I'll be ok with most solutions, I'm not expecting my cat 8 certs to let me stay at any property I want...just like for like...

Just as a point of reference...this is what I did yesterday and saw that it hit my account today - Upgraded my unattached Cat 1-5 to a Cat 7 in hopes that it will map to the new Cat 5 since that seems to be the most even exchange from the old to new system. It took me about an hour on the phone and two reps, but it got done. Just debating whether I should attach it today (just in case) for a possible vacation next year before the system gets updated starting tomorrow or just wait and see how it all plays out on 8/16. Also, I got a new expiration date after the upgrade yesterday (my new Cat 7 cert expires on 8/13/2019). Counting down to D-day!!

https://www.marriott.com/rewards/usepoints/morepack.mi

The old packages are listed
for 150k one can book 6 nights plus a free night
Hotel + Air Package 1 allows 50k AA miles for200k and 120k AA miles for 270k
clearly, if you book the package the value of miles is 1:1 and the 150k left is for the hotel.
Marriott may only offer you 45k back for cancels, but this is based on the direct mile transfer ratio
It also punishes those who try to game the system and cancel the awards

In the new system the difference between 50k Airmiles and 100k airmiles is 75k Marriott reward points
so 50k AA = 75k MR, so 100k AA is 150k MR

The real comparison between old and new is as follows
There are 3 devaluations going on

1
Devaluation of airline miles from 1:1 for most american airlines to 3:2
e.g., I get 120k AA now with a package for 120k MR – that becomes 100k AA for 150k MR – a 33% devaluation
UA one gets 132 now becomes 110k – about 20% loss in airline points with a 25% increase in MR cost = also 33%loss
For LH ANA etc, I get 85k for 120k MR today – that remains about the same only a 10% devaluation
– 100k for 150k

2
The devaluation in room cost for the week
The new package costs 150k for the miles and the rest is for the package
Cat 1 package is now 180k instead of 150k (keeping the 1 night free, it goes to 30k a night instead of 25k
Also room cost seems to be at Peak cost not at saver cost; so if you can book at saver rates, forget the packages,

150k MR will get about 25+25+12k = 62k Air miles directly
If you can get saver pricing in rooms that will be far better than paying the full cost for the package

3
Devaluation of Package combo benefit

Cat 1-5 Today
270k package = 120k for 120k miles ; 150k for room for 6 nights (1 night free) = 25k per night
Tomorrow Cat 1-4
330k package 150k for 100k miles; 180k for room for 6 paid nights (1 night free) = 30k per night

Cat 6 today
300k package = 120k for 120k miles ; 180k for room (1 night free) = 30k per night
Cat 7 today
330k package = 120k for 120k miles ; 210k for room (1 night free) = 35k per night
Tomorrow Cat 5
390k package 150k for 100k miles; 240k for room for 6 paid nights (1 night free = 40k per night)

Cat 8 today
360k package = 120k for 120 k miles ; 240k for room (1 night free) = 40k per night
Cat 9 today
390k package = 120k for 120k miles ; 270k for room (1 night free) = 45k per night
Tomorrow Cat 6
510k package 150k for 100k miles; 360k for room for 6 paid nights (1 night free = 60k per night)

Ritz 1-3 today
420k package = 120k for 120k miles ; 300k for room (1 night free) = 50k per night
Tomorrow Cat 7
570k package 150k for 100k miles; 420k for room for 6 paid nights (1 night free) = 70k per night

Ritz 4-5 today
540k package = 120k for 120k miles ; 420k for room (1 night free) = 70k per night
Tomorrow Cat 8
750k package 150k for 100k miles; 600k for room for 6 paid nights (1 night free) = 100k per night