Following Hyatt's adoption of cash & points, Marriott is now the only major brand with no cash and points offering. If it makes sense for everyone else why not Marriott?

Marriott has C&P for nearly a year....only their version of it.....

The only similarity is the name. Marriott effectively doesn't have cash and points in the form that the other chains do which offer cash and points for a single night, typically limited to low occupancy periods.

deleted - put in its own heading

as I stated above, Marriott has their own version of C&P and I would think that they had the option of copying the Starwood/Hilton & soon Hyatt method but for whatever reason's chose not to........
many complaints regarding the Marriott version, but to date nothing looks like they'll be changing their system to that of others to appease the masses.....

and, are the C&Ps of SPG, HH and Hyatt really the same that you want Marriott to opt for - I note that Hyatt will give you points on the cash portion - do SPG & HH also do this ?? No, as each brand opts for their own version......

They already have cash and points... oh wait!

SPG doesn't give points on the cash portion of C&P but you do get nights and stay credits, although not for most promos. Hyatt also counts cash and points for nights and stay credits toward elite status.

I won't disagree that Marriott thinks it has had C&P for nearly a year.

But it doesn't. When 99 out of 100 people call something C&P, then that is what C&P is. Not whatever Marriott wants to call it.

I'm not arguing that Marriott's C&P program is misleading inasmuch as most of us consider C&P as what SPG first introduced (and then copied by HH and now Hyatt), but only saying that Marriott does have its own version....

And I would guess that given Marriott has created their own "version" of C&Ps, this is probably all we are going to get from them.

And note that SPG recently "devalued" their version so that it is very rarely worth using any longer. I have just recently used the Hilton version and it is may have some value. IHG Rewards version can sometimes be worth a look. I can't speak to the Hyatt's version though as I don't stay nearly as much with them.

you may not know much about it as it doesn't even start until 7 Jan 2014........

I agree the Starwood version is devalued now, the Hilton one is rarely offered but sometimes allows good value when it is.

I've also found that the cash portion is often more than the going rate on opaque sites like Priceline. But sometimes you need to be in a specific location or want a specific room type and either can't or don't want to pay the inflated rack rate or only get .6 cents per point using an award. The other chains C&P still have some value here, whereas the Marriott version has none. Marriott is mostly fooling themselves if they think they offer C&P and I'm guessing the number of customers who actually use the Marriott C&P is very small.

As I see it they have very little choice but to offer C&P, because if a customer is looking to stay in a particular area and has the constraints outlined above, they will choose the competitor.

I know it may not seem like it, relative to the cost of the hotel without it, but the IHG Rewards version is simply a slightly discounted way of buying points, nothing more. And thus works the same whether it seems to be a good value or not, if you want to use less points.

It is a good value if the points alone are a good value, it is a bad value if the points alone are a bad value, but it's the same cash component for a certain number of reduced points every single time, so the value of moving between points only and points + cash in the IHG Rewards program never changes.

(As opposed to the HH program, where it's not as simple as that.)

True, and that is why I have used it in the past. But I do believe that IHG increased the price for their C&Ps a year or so ago. It used to be worth "purchasing" those points quite often. Now it depends. If a particular rate is high enough, but I don't have enough points (or just don't want to use up all my points) for a particular stay, I will still use the C&P as that initial use of points covers the bulk of the paid rate, but still allowing me to use awards for all nights.

And it doesn't work.. when you click the button you get... NADA LOL!

First it's useless and then it's broken. I am still booking cash rooms and then points rooms. Luckily the hotels are smarter then IT.