As of Feb. 17 I still was unable to register for the Spring MegaBonus promotion by clicking on the home page (I was redirected to "you're not eligible"). Nothing appeared in Promotion Central in my account. Not a nice way to treat the Elites, one might argue. Pre-registration would have been the right thing to do, but whatever.

I had to write to Marriott CS and received a prompt reply that they had enrolled me and "selected" for me 25K points after 15 paid nights during Spring MegaBonus period. That's the Fall '12 MegaBonus for which I qualified last year, so I had been expecting the usual Spring MegaBonus of 2 separate stays = 1 Cert.

Anyhow, a non-Elite friend went on-line this AM, and was able to register immediately from the Marriott home page. His promo is the 2-day = 1 Cat 4 Cert (to max. three certs).

OK, I know that Marriott may "target" the promos, but I'm not sure I would have used this target. I got to see that a non-Elite had no-hassle instant promo registration customer experience AND a superior promo opportunity (my 15 paid nights bonus points equal = 1 Cat. 5 Cert.).

MR's "selection" for me means that I'll pursue my bonuses other than at Marriott during Spring MegaBonus this year. Some promotions help to keep the loyal, loyal. Other promotions risk sending the once-loyal in the direction of the competitions' promotions.

There is no usual Fall MB of points and usual Spring MB of certs. All three seasonal promotions offer points or certs to various customers based on unknown criteria. In 4 or 5 years of tracking this my husband, who is plat and generally stays around 100 nights a year has NEVER been offered certs. One time he wasn't going to make the points target and I had him switched to certs. I really don't understand getting upset over a computer deciding you are a better candidate for points than certs. If you don't like your offer, call and politely ask to be switched. If they won't switch you, that's poor customer service. A computer not understanding how each and every customer is motivated is not.

Last time, the certs were deposited on 1/17/2013, right after the promotion ended on 1/15/2013, although they said it could take up to a couple weeks. This time, I guess it will be in the first couple weeks of May. I heard people said you can call Marriott to deposit the cert right after you earn it, so you won't have to wait till the promotion ends to use it.

Thanks, Ricky!


NEWSFLASH -- I WAS ABLE TO SIGN UP FOR THE 1 - 5 CERTS!!!

As Ricky and some others have reported, I was able to sign up for the 1-5 Cert promotion, maximum of 2 per promotion period, today, President's Day.

This has been permitted despite my being from the USA and I had not called before today for this switch.

I should add that I had thanked the agent but had voiced my displeasure over the upcoming category devaluations and hence my need for the change.

I did not need to voice that objection prior to my asking for the switch and it may have helped that I am a Platinum member.

However, the switch was permitted without any pushback, so perhaps Marriott has gotten the message that we have been none to happy campers.

As noted above, my promotion will be manually tracked and altered.

I suggest you try the same and Good Luck!!!

I was on the phone with MR for another issue and told the agent I did not have a promo showing up in my profile. After a brief hold she told me I had points. I asked nicely if I could switch. She said the best she could do was 1-4. I expressed my frustration with the new category changes and asked to speak to a supervisor. A very nice guy answered, put me on hold and said after speaking to the training department he could do it. The fall promo a strict "no 1-5 switch" order was given but for this one it has loosened up.

Thank you for the advice above. Was registered for the Cat. 1-4 (with maximum of three certs) promotion and called in and requested a change to my MegaBonus. Was asked which bonus I was interested in and said the Cat. 1-5 (with maximum of two certs) promotion. Was changed without a problem! No supervisor needed and no explanation needed.

Glad it worked out for both of you!

Marriott would be really smart to offer choices, maybe once as a test. For example, to the average MR member, they could offer a choice between 3x-Cat 4 certs, 2x-Cat 5 certs, and a points option, and I bet they would be surprised how many people would be happy, and how much time they would save in customer service calls from members trying to switch.

If for the spring promo period, they coupled the above choice with an announcement such as "for the first time in many years, we will not be changing the program in a way that could be interpreted as a devaluation" could you imagine the good will that Marriott would engender?

As others have reported, the 2 stays= 1 night @ Cat 1-4 promo "magically" appeared in my promo list after a short email to MR.

I am glad that others find the Cat 1-5 useful, but it is virtually worthless to me as most of the leisure properties of interest will soon be Cat 6-9. I will be cancelling my MR visa and transferring the credit line to Chase Hyatt. May also start transferring bookings to Hyatt. Bonus points are far more useful than free nights at Fairfield Fresno. :mad:

Then why not call MR and ask for one of the points promos, instead of burning the bridges of your MR account?

After reading this I called th platinum desk multiple times. After 2 straight nos the 3rd agent called her supervisor who approved a 1x exception from the 3 cat 4 to the 2 cat 5s. It will be manual tracking She said (which has worked fine for me in the past).
Thanks to contributors here!! I would not have tried without the comments!
JR

That's exactly why I switched to Cat5, because it requires the least number of nights before I am leaving Marriott due to this recent point devaluation.

I am platinum. Called ans asked to be switched from the points. I was offered 1-4 certs. I asked for the 1-5 and was told it was not possible. I asked for a supervisor who eventually got on the phone and explained that "she would lose her job" if she switched me to 1-5 as they are targeted only. Will try again tomorrow and interested if my account will be flaggd. I was courteous but forceful in letting them know of my displeasure in the cat changes.

That would be far more useful. Has anyone done that for the current promo?

I think that some have been able to do that as I recall some have done this in the past. I don't see why they won't offer you a point promotion as that one is more geared to their guests who spend many nights with them.

Did you see my earlier post about MR offering choices? I don't understand why Marriott seems to seek out and endure constant kvetching! It is almost like when they design these promos they give little or no consideration to building truly good customer relations.

Today, Hilton announced expansion to TEN awards categories, and also seasonal differences for points redemptions (something Marriott does not yet have), as well as elites get fifth night free after four awards nights (something Marriott has had for at least two years already). Did anyone else get the e-mail from Hhonors today?

I tried 3 times to change from the 15 nights / 25k points, 20 nights / 40k points offer to the cat 1-4 or cat 1-5 offer. Was refused 3 times by MR.

Taking into account the devaluation, have decided it's just not worth the hassle and have now cancelled 14 nights at Marriott for this quarter. Shifting to SPG and / or Hilton where possible and expect this pattern to hold for the remainder of the year. MR is just not a competitive program for me anymore.

:td:

We actually do offer seasonal rewards, in addition to our PointSaver awards. For more information, please visit the following link:

https://www.marriott.com/marriott-re...sonalAwards.mi

Best Regards,

Drew

Thanks Drew.

Is Marriott upper management aware of the extreme unhappiness among many of the most loyal and frequent guests and elite members, many of whom are cancelling their Marriott reservations and credit cards and moving to other hotel programs? I am an extremely loyal Marriott Plat member (since 1994 or 1995), and have NEVER had real status with other hotel chains, and I am actually considering moving my business to Hilton or SPG. I would guess that Marriott has already lost many millions of dollars of future, previously consistent revenue, with the current changes to MR, coupled with the other devaluations to MR and the elite benefits taken away over the last few years. I am one of the most loyal people there is, and to cause me to consider other chains is really noteworthy. Just as a comparison, I was top status with US Airways for 23 years before they ran me off in 2008, and I have been with the same cellular carrier since 1990, and hate changing. For me, and for many others, the changes have to be either really huge or really insulting to get me to change, and I do not do it easily, but Marriott has accomplished this huge insult this year, finally. For me, I am actually feeling that Marriott is abusing my good will and loyalty, and I say this from an upgraded suite in a Renaissance Hotel. What reaction does Marriott upper management have to the extreme dissatisfaction among their elite membership to the current and recent changes to MR and elite programs?

I, and others I am sure, look forward to your diligent and sincere reply!

Thanks,

USirritated

Your response should be directed to Ed French, not Marriott Concierge ;)

Cheers.

The reply would be the same -- no reply.

If Marriott Concierge is monitoring this thread, and replying to postings about seasonal awards and similar, don't you think that someone will see my above posting about the devaluation and pass it on to whoever should see it? As long as it is seen by someone up the line, does it really matter who the posting is actually directed to? Also, does Ed French have a FlyerTalk handle? If he does, then I would be happy to address a complaint/question to him, but if he doesn't, then how could I direct a complaint/question to him on FlyerTalk?

Via a Private Message to the Marriott Concierge.

Wait, let me get this right. Are you saying that if I send the message that I sent, and do not include "Ed French" in the message, that it will not get to him, and not get responded to, but if I do include "Ed French" in the message that it will get to him, and make a response more likely?

Senior management is listening and aware of your input and feedback.

Best Regards,

Drew

Hiltons devaluation was way worse! So id stay here or go to SPG.

Drew, does this mean michellel?

Drew,

Can you tell us if any response / adjustment / changes are planned as a result of the overwhelmingly negative feedback you've gotten here? So far we haven't heard anything.

Thanks.

I guess addressing it to Ed French specifically was not actually necessary after all. However, until I see a truly substantial reply, I have doubts that we will actually get any satisfaction.

In agreement with you on that one , USI

The ridiculous thing is that Marriott committed several HUGE faux pas over the last few years. Going into the recession, on a financial and growth basis, Marriott was the strongest hotel chain. Usually, in a situation like that, the strongest would do a variety of things to get more business, taking it away from the competition, and building market share. Instead, Marriott did the opposite, and instead of increasing perks and benefits and promos to gain more biz, Marriott reduced perks and benefits and promos, and as a result, reduced the percentage of elite loyalty business, which is the core of all of the large chains businesses. IMHO, serious dummy dumb dumb, and it continues today with this recently announced devaluation.

I bet that Marriott could have grown it's room occupancy and overall gross receipts by maybe 5-7% more per year, over their actual performance, every year since 2008. Marriott's real growth actually came from adding hotels and total rooms inventory worldwide, and not really from year over year growth at hotels/rooms already in inventory for at least one year.

and yet not following your advice, in 2008 MARs share price was under $14 before it rose to over $35 in 2010 and (and at times over $40) through 2013..........

Well Let them read this
 

Drew, if Senior Management is truly listening, let them hear this. Those of us who travel a lot have to spend a lot of time away from home and these rewards are often a way we are able to treat our families to nice vacations. These devaluations do nothing but make that harder for all of us!!

Marriott needs to take action on the following which I am sure can be expanded by my fellow travelers on here:

1) Improve the ability to Earn more hotel & Airline Points by making Megabonus even better so we can now achieve awards at your newer higher tier hotels
2) Lower the amount of points required to be a Gold and/or Platinum member. 75 is too many
3) Quit offering Category 4 certificates and upgrade them to higher level certificates when offered as a reward. Category 4 hotel certificates just doesnt cut it and need to be all 5 and above.
4) Continue not letting hotels "opt out" of the promotion. We all hate this.
5) Don't allow blackout nights
6) Continue lifetime status
7) Offer free breakfast all all courtyards and others who don't have free breakfast
8) Consider offering free Parking to Platinum member at those hotels where you now charge daily parking
9) Continue offering free Internet service

I will leave it there and let my fellow disgruntled Marriott Reward Members continue. Clearly we are disatisfied with the current state of Marriott Rewards.

Some of these requests are not going to be considered by such a large corporate bureaucratic entity such as Marriott and Marriott certainly is not going to rescind its devaluation -- too much egg on its face to do that.

What is reasonable is to do the following going forward:

1). M/B certs good thru Cat 5;

2). Ability to upgrade M/B certs with additional point outlay;

3). Credit Card cert good thru Cat 6 to put back some luster to the credit card;

4). Award redemption truly reflects yearly past redemptions at the property because you can't convince me that with 36% of your hotels moving up and 1% moving down, that the foregoing is a reality.

Should Marriott do this it would engender good will here and elsewhere and still retain the supposed need to increase property categorizations on a case by case basis because although I do not protest too loudly over the new Cat 9, let's face it, IHG's devaluation was long overdue with central city properties at 25,000 points, and Hilton's necessitated by their issuing credit cards to people who churn them and thus accumulate a great deal of points, but Marriott faced none of these issues and therefore its wholesale devaluation was clearly unwarranted.

The only "egg on its face" that truly matters is reduced profits, and the reaction to this devaluation might actually bring that on if enough people defect!

Well, if enough people see that chasing a M/B cert up to a Cat 4 is clearly not worth it anymore, one can only hope that will motivate them to make some changes.

Even though I almost exclusively stay with them, they are not getting my vote at the Freddies for either best program or best promotion -- how could they expect to do so, anyway? The problem is with the great mass of sheep out there who blindly think that they will remain the best program in spite of their devaluations.

I totally disagree with this point. Making everyone elite does not help the situation for those of us that travel 100+ nights should not be in the same boat for upgrades and other perks that people who travel 50 nights.

Or the FlyerTalk awards, since we are on FlyerTalk.

Unfortunately, I already voted prior to the devaluation.