Points Poppa

That's all I was saying. Don't conflate knowledge with notice.

Flying for Fun

Who is pretending? If the head of Loyalty at Marriott is suggesting I should be attaching my certificate I think I would put some weight in that. Attached certificates will be honoured, the floaters are unique because the existing program is ending and they don't fit into the new program easily. Pretending your certificate should give you a better redemptive value in the new program is just silly.

From Onemileatatime: OMAAT July 25th

Asking a few important questions:

I had the chance to speak to David Flueck, the head of loyalty at Marriott, regarding this transition. While Marriott has answered a lot of questions, there are still some pressing questions that many of us have, given that the new program is just weeks away. Here’s my takeaway (these aren’t direct quotes):

Will members who redeem points for hotels prior to August 18 receive a points refund if the price drops?

No, and this matches what I was told in the past. If you book a hotel before August 18 that goes down in price you can cancel and rebook (assuming it’s outside the cancelation period), but points won’t automatically be refunded.

How will existing certificates issued for Marriott Travel Packages will be handled?

This is the million dollar question for those of us who are looking to maximize our points.

Frustratingly the answer to this is that they still don’t have any information to share about how existing certificates will be handled, other than encouraging members to redeem them before the program changes.


In this instance "THEY" is David Flueck, the head of loyalty at Marriott. While not "verbatim" and Lucky has paraphrased his conversation, I don't see that it would have benefited Lucky to "misconstrue" the dialogue especially when he, despite the numbers, continues to believe he too will be showered with generosity. Maybe David Flueck and the Lurker are one and the same.

OMG Seriously???? Go back and read a few thousand posts. If that doesn't work, look at the value of your "floater" certificate! Still don't believe it? Cancel it! The Cat 1-5 floater certificate is a partial redemption with a value of 45K MR points. YES, you can redeem that certificate for a 7 night stay at a Cat 1-5. NO, it is not worth 150K MR. The debate here is not the value of the certificate, it is how they are going to shave off the corners of a square peg to make it fit into a round hole in the new program!

James

rny321

Flying for Fun

You can still make redemptions under the existing Terms and Conditions of the current program. There is NOTHING in the current T&C's to deal with outstanding "floater" certificates in the event of a program "wind-down that I know of." Just realize that the T&C's of the existing program are moot after August 17th. The T&C's of the transition will determine what they choose to do, if anything, with the "floater" certificates during the transition. Once that decision is made and there is, in fact, a transition to the new program, the T&C's of the new program will be binding. I am sure Marriott will advise when they have finally determined what they are going to do. That may be before August 18th, but it could also be after August 18th. I don't see anywhere where it states that "floater" certificates can be redeemed in the new program as at August 18th. Maybe they will lay dormant and dealt with at a later time?

James

onlysuites

Have we been advised by Marriott directly? I don't remember getting any email to say this. Yes if they emailed me and said that I needed to use it by a certain date then the clock starts to tick but I have not been advised. I don't read blogs and will be carrying my 3 certs forward.

dsquared37

Putting aside Chicken Little's doomsday scenario, the cancellation of a cert involuntarily with the return of 45K pts base (+30K per Cat increase) just wreaks of a post purchase price increase. And short of Marriott emailing everyone in possession of a TP cert notifying them of the need to use ASAP I just don't see how a policy of the like could be justified strategically or legally.

But, we'll see soon enough (as I pick up the phone to order another TP).

littlevoices

Just because it hasn't been posted yet I thought I would link to these two posts from a respected UK travel blogger (focused on Avios collection) who spoke directly to David Flueck:

Original article with some quotes that are above here around what will happen after August 17th:
https://www.headforpoints.com/2018/0...-reward-chart/

A more 'doomsday' scenario, from the people on this forum's perspective, where your travel packages are redeemed (but you get a 1:1 conversion from Marriott points to Avios which is very beneficial from a FFP perspective):
https://www.headforpoints.com/2018/0...age-arbitrage/
This repeats the points made here from someone who has discussed it directly with Marriott, as much as it may not be a good result for many here.

lexdevil

Whether it is a "good result" depends entirely on the rate of the refund. 45K points for a category 1-5 would be a poor result. 150K would be a good result.

rny321

OssianBlue

Indeed. And in fact my travel certificate explicitly states:

• Rewards Certificate 7 Night Travel Package Category 1-5 Hotels - 270,000 Points
  
  Expires 07/21/2019

dsquared37

The blog doesn't argue a doomsday scenario at all. In fact his argument is that while it's likely the cert will be voided entirely the chances of getting points in actual value are also likely and what is entirely unlikely is being refunded only 45K for the base cert; in other words there is no Chicken Little scenario. The blog suggests, but won't guarantee, that there's an arbitrage potential outcome.

NJKen

newdaybegin

I redeem 1 set of travel package for 5 night 3 month ago, but I forget which package do i use. I mean i has 2 set of 5 night package, and the last time I use it I forget to check which one they use. Do your guys know once the certificate attached to the reservation does it become inactive? I check with 4 different Rep 3 of them say I use the once expired in Feb, and the other rep say I use the once expired in Jan? so now I am not sure how to check this? I just don't want they use the same set of certificate then later charge me money since it already been use. Anyone of your guys in the same situation with me? thank you!

tth6133

Search your email inbox. When you ordered your TP, a confirmation email should be sent from [email protected] with the title "New Reward Order Confirmation". The email should contain the expiration date and the last 4 digits of the certificate. Check this information against what has been attached and what is still in your account.

Counsellor

I've been looking in the T&C and on the Marriott site for a breakdown similar to this, and I haven't found one. There is no itemization that I've seen so that the "buyer" knows that the portions of the package are priced in such a manner. Please show me where this information is available to the person redeeming the award when he redeems it.

What I see is that that 7 nights can be "purchased" separately by redeeming 210K points if the hotel is a Cat 7. Looks as though that's how they value those seven nights. So that part of the package could be said to be worth 210K points and the miles worth the balance. Please show me where the T&C say differently. It seems to me that what the "buyer" sees is the package is the package. If they don't itemize (which seems more likely) I would argue the certificate stands on its own and is worth 7 nights in the (hypothetical) Cat 7 property.