brokenwindow

EDIflyer

Nothing here - I had the original email confirmation when I redeemed and nothing at all since then, not even the one some members seemed to get a few weeks ago re unattached packages (which was irrelevant to me anyway as I wanted to use it for an SPG property).

Happy

No question in my mind that Marriott has been using test balloon tactics and closely monitor certain blogs on their outrageously fanning the fire to game for maximum windfall (Frequent Miler site came to mind) and decided to give the "Worst Case Scenario" as a big slap on the face to show who is the boss. The House always wins is exactly what happens.

FrustratedinCA

Given all the complaints, it seems like the simplest way for Marriott to eliminate people's complaints with this issue would be to allow those with Cat 6, Cat 8, or Tier 1-3 a one-time goodwill opportunity to downgrade for a 30k refund or upgrade their cert for 30k to one that maps to Cat 6 (which they likely would have done prior to the transition had they been given that information) so that they can be kept whole.

hearingdouble

If a 30k point refund is unpalatable or difficult to administer, maybe Marriott could credit Cat 6/Cat 8/Tier 1-3 certificate holders with an extra certificate worth 30k of credit towards another hotel stay?

rny321

Unlike old Cat 6, Cat 8 and Tier 4-5 certificate holders, holders of Tier 1-3 awards didn't come out worse in the conversion. Since the per night value of a Tier 1-3 was 50K and the new Cat 6 this year is also 50K, nobody was hurt during the conversion. If there had been no Cat 9, Cat 1-3 holders might have been content with a new Cat 6. I am not disputing that everyone would have preferred to have gotten the same benefits for 30K less, but that isn't the same as having something taken away. While it would be great to have the option to upgrade an old Cat 8 to a Cat 9 for 30K, I believe the more realistic hope is for the chance to upgrade to a Tier 1-3 for 60K.

zach46290

The issue for tier 1-3 is now with a Cat 6 you can only book 83% of the marriott hotels that you could have previously booked and you had no way of knowing you were going to lose access to the 17%(all of the best tier 1-3 properties) because Marriott decided it best to withhold this information. I think at least for tier 1-3 this would have been a fair convention if we had been informed and then we could have decided to book now or wait knowing what we were going to lose access to .

rny321

No question that MPG should have provided information directly to customers about the impending changes while there was time to make adjustments. I believe the company should allow adjustments to the legacy packages while we are still in the dead period where certificates can't be utilized. If the reason for the lack of notice was to prevent a mass migration to the Cat 9 certificates, perhaps that category doesn't need to be available again.

Flying for Fun

Where in the old MR program did it say you could attach your certificate to a former SPG property after migration? You bought a pre-merger TP. A month ago cancellation of unattached certificates was a real possibility. The debate then was "worth" & "value" of the certificate. Clearly, the Cat 1-5 certificate was not "worth" it's 150K "value." in the old or new MR.

Recently everyone was advised that they would be able to apply their unattached certificates post merger and that the new chart would prevail.

By not attaching to a Marriott property, which would have afforded maximum value, and maybe better flexibily, you are still getting better value than the 45K residual "worth" you would have gotten if it had been cancelled.

I purchased a Category 8 TP and attached it to Category 8 property which is now a Category 5. Would I have preferred to book at former SPG property? Yes, I would have. But it wasn't possible to at the time. I locked in a tangible $2100 USD savings for 135K Marriott Points. I wasn't going to risk that for an uncertain outcome. Having attached my certificate, I will be able to, upon request, get 30K points refunded, without a cancel/rebook, as my 40K per night reservation now only requires 35K per night. That 30K refund will provide a night in a Cat 4 with 5K MR extra or a night in a Cat 5 with an additional 5K MR. That is a nice little value added bonus.

It never added up that an old 30K per night certificate should have converted to a 35K per night new certificate.

Most of the value of the former TP was in the FF Miles. No complaints there that I have read. If you didn't have a real need for a hotel certificate under the old program then perhaps speculatively leaving a certificate unattached in anticipation it would offer better value post merger was not a good approach. Now 300K will give you 125K FF Miles. Anything extra with a certificate for a stay is a bonus.

Everyone should be happy they still have a certificate with value! Much better than 45K residual "worth" in your account and a cancelled certificate.

James

zach46290

Where are you getting this from, Marriott made it clear that you can't upgrade or downgrade certificates anymore, so why would you be entitled to a refund because you used a 40K cert on a room that now costs 35K?

Back to the do you work for marriott questions?

rny321

Using a Cat 5 certificate with a maximum value of 40K per night on a stay that would only cost you 35K is not going to get you a refund. You could detach the Cat 5 certificate and use 35K per night in points to pay for the stay which would leave you with 210K less points and one Cat 5 certificate.

farnorthtrader

It also doesn't add up that a 30K/night certificate on Friday became a 25K/night certificate on Saturday. And the people selling the certificate knew when they were selling it that they were going to renege on what they were selling.

icebox425

It's pretty simple what Marriott needs to do: refund those categories that map down 30k MR points and no one has anything much to complain about.

Either way, given the increase in TP pricing and 50% cut in AMEX MR to Marriott Reward point transfer rate (In Australia at least), there's very little chance I EVER redeem a Travel Package let alone a Marriott award stay again....which means my loyalty to SPG/Marriott is over.

EDIflyer

I received no communication from Marriott regarding my unattached cert. They said the programme was merging into one common programme, it was perfectly reasonable to expect the cert to be valid thereafter. Previously I had the option of cancelling it, upgrading or downgrading. Now I have none of those options and the validity has been reduced by a month due to a hiatus they have introduced. Marriott properties had a small footprint where I wanted to use it and with no availability, of course part of the reason why they merged with Starwood, to increase their number of properties. Call centre reps were advising like for like after 18/8 and that downgrades and upgrades would be possible. They've migrated my cat 6 cert to the same as if I'd bought a cat 1-5. There are multiple issues with how this has been handled but I'm glad you're happy and have done well out of things.

OssianBlue

I'm not sure what his deal is, but he's been a consistent source of bad information and confusion for a long time on this long thread.