Bowgie

I got the Marriott CC almost a year ago. I had a nice stay at an AC property in Madrid, but other than that Marriott has been a real disappointment. There just aren't any properties in the cities that I visit! I'm looking at a stay in July in the Anchorage Downtown Marriott. It's going from cat 6 to cat 7. I'm booking an award stay there now, and then it's "Goodbye Chase Marriott CC" and "Goodbye Marriott"!

BTW, I'm keeping my Chase IHG hotel card. IHG has the hotels where I go, and the credit card has no silly "cat 5 and under" restriction on the annual free night cert. Much better value with the Chase IHG VISA Reserve CC.

darthbimmer

Ditto. All of the hotels I've used my annual cat 1-5 cert at for the past FIVE YEARS are at cat 6-7 now. And the handful of places I was thinking of spending the next cert at just went to cat 6, too.

My MR Visa card is coming up for renewal soon. For years I've considered the $85 fee a small bargain for the cat 1-5 cert but now I see it as a wash, at best. I may well cancel it.

JackE

If you're lucky enough to frequent the properties that went down a category, good for you. For me, this devaluation is a deal breaker.

They'll lose a lot more customers than they will gain. What were they thinking?

dsquared37

That's pretty much where I'm at as well. And with UA tossing me MR Gold status the Visa card is disposable.

NJUPINTHEAIR

Actually, no. Been a member for a very long time and I have a long memory. CJ makes some good points, but Marriott isn't any old business. It is one that you trust when you are away from hearth and home. There are not many more intimate connections than one that undertakes to make you welcome in a new environment and the rewards program is partly an extension of that in my opinion.

In addition, it should be clear that other programs don't stick it to their members or see them as disposable as does Marriott. OK, except, perhaps for HHonors!

Jasjot Sadana

Not much of a Marriott enthusiaist,though i agree with the devaluation but i do find some nice deals coming post the devaluation in China,India,Egypt and some other asian cities.
Courtyard PUXI in shanghai at 30k points for 5 nights is a nice deal.

cascade

Looks like a big devaluation to me. Tons of properties going up in category, without any renovations, changes, or improvements to the property itself. Cat 5 certificates are now useless unless they are raised to a max of Category 6 or allow us the option to use points to augment the certificates to get a higher category room.

MileageGoblin

The hits just keep coming. With the mass increase of Cat5s to Cat6. Why not just bump all Cat6-9 up one Cat as well? Seriously MR, we know you want a Cat10 for that round 50k redemption.

I'm also considering dumping the CC if they don't up the free night to Cat6 (which you know they won't).

Mr. Vker

After you cancel the dummy reservation, those points are immediately refunded. I normally will call a few weeks or months in advance to attach the points to the real reservation.

satori

Here is a link to my Loyalty Traveler post with a table of the 208 hotels in category 5 moving up to category 6. You may want to book some free night certificates before the April 8 change.

The list is organized by State and City and Country for a more user-friendly list than the Marriott pdf shows.

fireworksboy

Thanks satori. It's a shame MR couldn't/wouldn't release a list like this.

Because the credit card free night cert isn't worth squat in any resort / vacation location, we've been using mine at the local Marriott - in Redmond, WA. It was a cat 4 two years ago. Then it went to cat 5 last year. Now, cat 6. It's a location that's never more than $100 per night on the weekend.

Have to agree with an earlier poster - Marriott points are turning into Marriott pesos very quickly.

Calling Chase to cancel the card. It's worthless now.

Eujeanie

There used to be two great Cat 5s in downtown Portland, Oregon - the Courtyard Downtown (surprisingly nice) and the RI Riverplace - both gone up to 6. The airport hotels are ok for just that - when you have an early flight, but they're usually under $100/nt anyway.

Certificates quickly seeming useless for me, too. Why would anyone go out of their way to do a Megabonus promotion anymore?

elaine amj

UGH - I just started playing the megabonus game about 5-6 months ago and started really liking the cat 1-5 certs and have earned and used a bunch of them (several through megabonus). Now pretty much most of the hotels I'm interested in are moving up to Cat 6. I currently have 1 stay to go to earn another 1-5 certificate and am now pausing to wonder if it will be worth it. I can earn a night at SPG also with one more stay so I might use my upcoming stay for SPG instead.

Plus I am going to redeem a Cat 1-5 travel package in the next couple of days and had planned to upgrade it when I earn a few more points over the next 3-6 months. Not going to be possible anymore as every single hotel in the area I'm looking up is moving up to Cat 6-7. I'll be lucky to snag the Cat 6 that I didn't really want if I manage to get my Chase points transferred over in time.

Frequent Freak

They're still useful for taking road trips or if you can stay at suburban properties. But yeah, most properties in city centers are now Cat 6 or above. And wasn't the highest category only 7 a few years ago? There were definitely very, very few 8s.

cfischer

Marriott just needs to stop these certs and just give out points like any other program. They are now mostly useless and cashing them in for points is a hit/miss hassle. Nothing left in cat. 5 anymore.