Old Jul 30, 2016, 4:21 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: Slickw
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Legacy to New Travel Package Conversion (effective August 2019)
A Marriott supervisor can currently convert your legacy travel package into the new category mapping. If you hold a Category 6, 8, or Tier 1-3 legacy certificate, it's ideal to downgrade your certificate before converting so that points don't potentially get lost in the process.

The codes for the new partial packages are:
New Cat 1-4: QP83
New Cat 5: QP91
New Cat 6: QP99
New Cat 7:

Originally Posted by Marriott Rewards Insider
Members who purchased a Category 6, Category 8 or Tier 1-3 certificate prior to 8/18 are able to request a one-time exchange for a Travel Package one category lower. This process will cancel your current Travel Package, reissue a Travel Package one category lower and result in a refund of 30,000 points to your account. To submit a request, follow these steps:
  • Select Packages - Deals from the Topic drop down menu
  • Submit your request
As a reminder, status.marriott.com will periodically have additional updates.
Source: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...es-update.html

The legacy certificates map to the new certificates as such:
Cat 1-5 => Cat 1-4
Cat 6 => Cat 1-4
Cat 7 => Cat 5
Cat 8 => Cat 5
Cat 9 => Cat 6
Tier 1-3 => Cat 6
Tier 4-5 => Cat 7
==================================================

If you are unsure where you will use your 7 night stay, when you request the package, just ask for a category 1-5 hotel. That way you are out of the least number of points. If later, you decide to book for a higher level category, then you can do so and pay the difference the travel package points. If you can't use your certificate within the year, then as close to the one year anniversary (without going over!) call to extend the certificate for one more year. That's as long as they will typically allow, one extension. There is an option to expedite the mileage delivery to within three business days (sometimes faster) for $15. There are reports that this fee may be waived for platinum members.

Effective April 1 2017 re: Southwest & the companion pass:

"Purchased points, points converted from hotel and car loyalty programs, and e-Rewards, e-Miles, Valued Opinions and Diners Club, points earned from Rapid Rewards program enrollment, tier bonuses, flight bonuses, and partner bonuses (excluding points bonuses earned on the Rapid Rewards Credit Cards from Chase) do not count toward Companion Pass."
************
Can I book SPG properties with my Marriott Travel Package? As of 9/1/2018 apparently not. see https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30155836-post6529.html
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Marriott Travel Packages

 
Old Aug 11, 2018, 3:15 pm
  #4996  
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 24
Originally Posted by sinfonia
Yeah, I ended up buying a fourth package for this just because I could not pass up the amazing deal for the opportunity to stay at this property that I likely would not stay at otherwise. We chose the premium suite instead of family suite because it was the same square footage and there will only be two of us. Other than that, they looked the same to me - do you know if there is any other difference?
I didn't see any difference between the premium and the family, other than the cost + extra sofa bed. Definitely book the Sea View, though; I consider that a HUGE upgrade over Garden View. That said, I try to always book the most expensive room available. Not only does it give me extra flexibility to invite additional guests down the road (my reservation is pretty far away...), I feel it also gives me a better opportunity at an upgrade to a "higher class" (whereas "Family Suite" would be the next class up for Premium).

Originally Posted by PumpkinSmasher
This was the one property that I thought about booking but ultimately decided not to. It was the difference between paying 540K for two Cat 1-5 TPs at the 120K mile marker vs the 390K for that package and I ultimately went with the two TPs. No regrets because I still value the airline miles more than the room points but it looks like an incredible property.
Airline miles are definitely worth more, so a good decision here. I only had 150k SPG miles to play with, so I opted for one big package. That being said, I do think you tend to get more value out of the higher tier hotels. Not that you can find value in cat 1-5, but I think its easier to get value for points at a higher tier...plus I'd never pay $800/night for a premium hotel. $100/night for a cat 5 in southeast Asia, I'm much more likely to pay out-of-pocket.
FlightBOS is offline  
Old Aug 11, 2018, 3:48 pm
  #4997  
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 469
Family member has a Cat 1-5 7 night certificate. They were planning a trip to a Category 8 (40K points) Marriott timeshare for January/February 2019 and were planning to upgrade the certificate and attach once rooms were released. Not surprisingly, the timeshare stopped opening up nights for points bookings when the new categories were announced and the timeshare is moving to 50K points per night (from 40K). However, in the past, the timeshare has regularly released nights for January/February. My guess is that rooms will be released for Jan/Feb fairly close to August 18, just at the new 50K level.

So, with the new information that the certificates will be mapped to the new certificates, we are left with a dilemma. Should we go ahead and upgrade the certificate now to category 8 (40K points) and then hope that the certificate is matched to a new certificate at the 50K level? Any thoughts?

One additional question pertains to how much the timeshares will charge to upgrade from studios to 1 bedrooms and 2 bedrooms. The current “cost” for an upgrade of one level is only $5K per night. I can’t find any information about new point costs for upgrades at timeshares. The planned timeshare property previously routinely made upgraded rooms available using points. Not sure whether they will now or at what cost. What do do . . . . . .?

Thanks for your thoughts.
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Old Aug 11, 2018, 5:18 pm
  #4998  
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 700
Originally Posted by rny321
Changing the category should extend the expiration of the hotel partial package to one year from the date of change. If you were thinking of staying in a current Category 6 and have 30K in points in your account, it might make sense if the option is still available to upgrade your current package. I was told yesterday that the system is blocking category changes, but on a later call I made the desired revisions.
Can you confirm by upgrading your package, the expiry date moved another year?

in my case, mid Oct is my expiry date, and I just dont see myself using it by then.....so if upgrading changes the expiration date that is worth the insurance...plus it may possibly fare better in the hotel category mapping after next week.
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Old Aug 11, 2018, 5:31 pm
  #4999  
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: SFO/YYZ
Programs: AC 25K, AS MVP Gold, BA Bronze, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,431
Originally Posted by dominick
Can you confirm by upgrading your package, the expiry date moved another year?

in my case, mid Oct is my expiry date, and I just dont see myself using it by then.....so if upgrading changes the expiration date that is worth the insurance...plus it may possibly fare better in the hotel category mapping after next week.
I can confirm this to be the case.
nexusCFX is online now  
Old Aug 11, 2018, 6:09 pm
  #5000  
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Originally Posted by dominick
Can you confirm by upgrading your package, the expiry date moved another year?

in my case, mid Oct is my expiry date, and I just dont see myself using it by then.....so if upgrading changes the expiration date that is worth the insurance...plus it may possibly fare better in the hotel category mapping after next week.
Originally Posted by nexusCFX
I can confirm this to be the case.
I'll second that.
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Old Aug 11, 2018, 6:16 pm
  #5001  
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Originally Posted by cfischer
Looks like Marriott IT at its best again with all of these bogus 'certificate not attached' Emails. They already have enough call wait time right now ... oh what a joy.
The wording is horrible and belies the meat of the message which is:
Please note that whichever option you choose, from August 18 through September 18, you will not be able to modify your certificate for an existing reservation or attach it to a new one. Please plan accordingly.
And that is the crux which effects attached and unattached certs. I'd be freaked out if holding a cert reservation during that period because if plans didn't hold exactly there'd be no way to modify/cancel.
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Old Aug 11, 2018, 7:40 pm
  #5002  
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: NYC
Programs: United 1P
Posts: 688
Originally Posted by sinfonia
I definitely think you can upgrade by paying more points after Sep 18. I just think it will be converted to a new certificate and then you upgrade from cat 4 to whatever cat you want based on their new travel package pricing structure.
Thanks! The thing that I am worried is that if I change category after Sep 18, Marriott will ask me to pay the difference between the old TP and the new TP for the same amount of airline miles that I get. In that way, I have to pay a lot more points for upgrade the 7-night certificate.
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Old Aug 11, 2018, 8:33 pm
  #5003  
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Originally Posted by kgkg
Thanks! The thing that I am worried is that if I change category after Sep 18, Marriott will ask me to pay the difference between the old TP and the new TP for the same amount of airline miles that I get. In that way, I have to pay a lot more points for upgrade the 7-night certificate.
If you want to change the category, change it now. Do not wait until the new system is on. So many uncertainties.
sinfonia likes this.
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Old Aug 11, 2018, 8:59 pm
  #5004  
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: NYC
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Originally Posted by RedSun
If you want to change the category, change it now. Do not wait until the new system is on. So many uncertainties.
I know. The issue is that I do not even know which hotel to stay at. Also, I do not know how the old category certificate will be applied to the new category.
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Old Aug 11, 2018, 9:13 pm
  #5005  
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 308
Originally Posted by FlightBOS
Airline miles are definitely worth more, so a good decision here. I only had 150k SPG miles to play with, so I opted for one big package. That being said, I do think you tend to get more value out of the higher tier hotels. Not that you can find value in cat 1-5, but I think its easier to get value for points at a higher tier...plus I'd never pay $800/night for a premium hotel. $100/night for a cat 5 in southeast Asia, I'm much more likely to pay out-of-pocket.
That Crete property is one where it makes sense to actually stay all of the nights while not worrying about visiting other places, though I imagine you can comfortably do at least an island hop or two. For me personally, there aren't too many places where I care too much about the room. I generally like to go to Europe and with a few exceptions, you can find rooms almost anywhere for $100-120 a night that are 4 stars or better and in a fairly central location. I tend to usually have a decent number of Radisson points as well and they almost always have properties that meet that bill as well that I can pay with points. But again, Crete would be somewhere that I would want an extravagant room. Hawaii of course too. The Caribbean and other tropical places as well.

I agree as well on your assessment, but the good news is, while I'm not really excited about the current cat 1-5 hotels, I feel pretty good about the packages mapping to the new cat 1-4s, which when the SPG hotels are added in opens up a lot more possibilities.
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Old Aug 11, 2018, 9:40 pm
  #5006  
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Originally Posted by PumpkinSmasher
I agree as well on your assessment, but the good news is, while I'm not really excited about the current cat 1-5 hotels, I feel pretty good about the packages mapping to the new cat 1-4s, which when the SPG hotels are added in opens up a lot more possibilities.
SPG added quite many nice properties. I had resorts in Hawaii in mind, but did not like the Marriott property that well. Waiting for SPG resorts to get added.
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Old Aug 11, 2018, 10:18 pm
  #5007  
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
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Originally Posted by kgkg
Thanks! The thing that I am worried is that if I change category after Sep 18, Marriott will ask me to pay the difference between the old TP and the new TP for the same amount of airline miles that I get. In that way, I have to pay a lot more points for upgrade the 7-night certificate.
You bought the package; the miles are no longer part of the equation. Now it's the hotel category.

My expectation is that on 9/18 you'll have to pay the new price for upgrading a cert. Marriott's attitude will probably be, "hey, we told you the price was going up. There is no recourse if you wait."

So yes, you're going to pay more to upgrade. But you already bought the miles if you bought the cert prior to 8/18.
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Old Aug 11, 2018, 11:11 pm
  #5008  
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
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Originally Posted by kgkg
Thanks! The thing that I am worried is that if I change category after Sep 18, Marriott will ask me to pay the difference between the old TP and the new TP for the same amount of airline miles that I get. In that way, I have to pay a lot more points for upgrade the 7-night certificate.
I do believe that to be the case if what Mr. Marriott's office said is true - and still anything can change since I got two different answers from Mr. Marriott's office, the one I posted being from the more definitive authority there, but as I wrote, they were still figuring it out - you would end up paying more points to upgrade it. This is why it is best, if you can, to hammer out now what you want to do with it and then attach it.

Last edited by sinfonia; Aug 11, 2018 at 11:17 pm Reason: Added more info
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Old Aug 12, 2018, 12:46 am
  #5009  
 
Join Date: May 1998
Posts: 6,790
Originally Posted by dsquared37
The wording is horrible and belies the meat of the message which is:

And that is the crux which effects attached and unattached certs. I'd be freaked out if holding a cert reservation during that period because if plans didn't hold exactly there'd be no way to modify/cancel.
It would certainly seem to me that you could cancel a reservation during the 18 August - 18 September transition period. That should (my opinion, no guarantee) simply leave the certificate as floating/unattached.
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Old Aug 12, 2018, 1:27 am
  #5010  
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Originally Posted by Counsellor
It would certainly seem to me that you could cancel a reservation during the 18 August - 18 September transition period. That should (my opinion, no guarantee) simply leave the certificate as floating/unattached.
One would hope a cancellation of a TP cert reservation during that period would result in the cert returning to said account but the phrase 'you will not be able to modify your certificate for an existing reservation" without any explicit comment regarding cancellation gives me pause.
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