WAS

MegaBonus Cat 1-4 certificates just went from potentially useful to pretty much useless.

rylan

Boston Copley going to a Cat 8? Seriously? Thats a joke... that property is NOT worth that many points. Frenchman's Reef in STT going to Cat 8 also? Come on.

Not only that, all of the hotels in the general Boston and Providence area that were 5 are now 6. Can't even use the Marriott Visa Cat5 cert anymore!

What a joke. Sorry, I'm not going to stay at a fairfield down the road just to use the cert.

dw

And the Boston Courtyard Copley is going to be a Cat 7!

kb_rembrandt

IMO, Boston was always a bit inflated with their categories. My biggest issue is that my beloved Providence Courtyard is no longer a 4 and all my free nights will have to used somewhere else!

trekwars2000

So the CY Paso Robles opened in 2008 as a Cat 3 and in 2013 is now a Cat 6. Twice as many points to get a room. wow...

rylan

Not only that, the Providence Marriott is going from 5 to 6... no more there either.

Bend over, we just got screwed.

djp98374

Received an email this morning saying on may 16 Marriott will be changing what hotels are in what categories.

They will also add a level 9= 45,000 Many of these are in London and Paris. They gave a list for these in the FAQ. No details on the others.

They said any reward reservations booked prior will be honored for stay after may 15.

36% will raise, 63% unchanged, 1% go down.

73% in category 1-4.

swag

All point increases hurt, but as evident from many of the complaints here, it's especially painful when MR does it, due to the Megabonus and Credit Card certificates, which are fixed to a specific category.

Marriott could alleviate a bit of the pain by allowing us to upgrade the certs (use a cat 4 cert + 5K points for a cat 5; or a cat 5 cert + 5K points for a cat 6). Or an even simpler solution, instead of the certs, just deposit the equivalent number of points, so the megabonus would earn 20K points, and the credit card renewal would earn 25K points; this would have the added benefit of eliminating the 6 month expiry on the certs.

I was close to cancelling my credit card with last year's category jumps. Barring a change like I've suggested, I'm definitely done after this year.

BKKLEE

already posted by others..............
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...nges-list.html

escapefromphl

With over 110 Marriott nights in '12 I was planning on maintaining Plat while exploring other programs, but I may switch entirely over to Starwood now; while Starwood has devalued their program they have simultaneously bolstered earning and benefits for their upper tiers. I see no similar changes at Marriott.

pooker

I am still shocked at all of the changes. We have lost so much.

BOGO, EEO, gift cheques, points, no more coffee in courtyards, PP's lost their 20% restaurant discount, and now this huge cat change and new category.

jtwiz

Last year I happily used my cat 1-4 certs at the PHL Renaissance following Eagles' games where I had to fly out the next day. No more of that...And my Visa 1-5 was used at the PHL CY Downtown, I can't believe that hotel (as well as the RI in PHL) have both jumped from 4 to 5 last year and to 6 this year.

I also find it hard to believe the Atlantic City CY went to a 6 as well. It's not a very nice property.

As others have said, the 1-4s are useless now. And the annual cat 5 from Visa, not much better...

rylan

Hate to say it but the Hilton card is looking pretty good... certs are usable at any hotel.

Sure glad I didn't get the cat 1-4 megabonus for the spring.

kevbat

I bought two Vacation Club timeshare weeks in 1998. I trade the weeks for 250K MR pts.(125K per week) each year to take a vacation with my family.

Since buying the weeks the following has occurred:

1. The annual maintenance fees have gone from $658.00 per week to $1,277.00 per week. An increase of nearly 100%.

2. Points have been devalued twice.

3. Now there is going to be a third adjustment (again in Marriott's favor).

4. Marriott ended its partnership with American Airlines where I am a lifetime Gold Aadvantage member.

It has gotten to the point where I am considering selling the weeks and just buying the stays and airfare. I can do a lot of damage with the $2,554.00 per year plus whatever cash I get for the weeks.

I feel sad and taken advantage of by a program I promoted as "great" until about five years ago.

pooker

Hilton also offers promos each quarter. This quarter is double points. I remember one quarter when it was 1k points per night and 5k points for a weekend stay. I racked up nearly 100,000 points in less than two weeks. I just got my hiton card last week. I wish I would of gotten it before all of my Hilton stays.