wethereyet

I travel on my own dime too. Better to stay at a lower rate Holiday Inn express or similar for that one or two night stay than to use points IMO.

Even with oodles of points, I'd rather save them for nice places.

wethereyet

Many Marriotts in China (and we're talking full service hotels) can be had for <100 USD or right at 100. Some of them are Cat 2 or 3 and very nice. But at that rate it makes more sense to use points elsewhere and pay the low rate.....

slocouple

Sorry, but there are good values to be had. For instance, last week we went to Carlsbad Caverns. In the town of Carlsbad, NM, the lodging options are pretty grim but very expensive. The Fairfield Inn where we stayed was $240 per night for our two nights, so I thought that a great use of 2 certs.

slocouple

We used one of our certs at the RI Pentagon City, too, midweek when DC prices are really high. It was a great redemption, and my husband, who retired after 24 years in the Navy, loved the Pentagon view room they gave us. He really likes being outside of that building, looking in, rather than the other way around!

jlb3

I can see how some people can feel this way, but not all of us are road warriors. I do not travel for work at all, so my megabonus points for this summer promo will be about 12,000 -- not even enough for 1 night at a cat 3. I'd rather have 2 free night certs for a cat 5!

Marriott could eliminate this fight if they just gave people the option of bonus points vs. certs.

wethereyet

There is no fight as I have a coworker who called and switched. He's PP so not sure if that mattered.

Even without work travel, the two certs for me have no value because I'm just not going to stay at 99% of the places where Cat 4/5 places are.

It would just be dumb luck to be near an airport and burn a cert on a 2nd or 3rd tier location. For those who spend more time traveling, at least the people I know, the points are the no brainer option.

If I had so few nights or points with a hotel chain, I would dump the whole idea and shop for best price/value. Chasing certs to stay at a hotel in podunk is false economy IMO. Many times you can find places cheaper than a Marriott to more than offset any "value" with a cert

AA Novice

I had 10 stays booked and cancelled 6 of them when the promo was announced finding cheaper rooms at other brands. Of those 10 stays 4 were in my account and 4 in my wife's to take advantage of the certificates. The 4 stays I kept Marriott had the cheapest room rate for where I was staying or I probably would have cancelled them too. I probably won't even keep my platinum status for next year. Really getting disappointed with all the cutbacks. Depending on the Fall Promotion I might seriously consider switching brands.

CJKatl

Your switching nights because you're not getting four nights free out of it may actually be behavior that makes Marriott come out ahead. Marriott may not have been covering the four nights of free stays plus the six nights of paid stays with the revenue from the six paid nights. When hotel occupancy was lower, it might have made sense for Marriott to convert more unused inventory to reward stays, but with occupancy higher, driving some business away might make sense.

It's like a bathtub. When the drain is wide open, you turn the facet on high to fill the tub. When the drain is closed, you slow down the flow of water when the tub is full. Those that huff and puff about the business they've taken elsewhere fail to see they are doing so because Marriott has turned the faucet down. Marriott isn't shaking because some customers have done exactly what Marriott encouraged them to do.

wethereyet

I'd love to see the metric of how many of the certs are given out that never even get used. I would not be surprised if it wasn't over 80%....

TrojanHorse

For those whining why MR shouldn't do the 2:1 because someone can stay at a $49 CY in Fargo in December four times and get 2 certs that they will redeem at some hidden 4* gem or resort that goes for $400 a night on one special event per year.. odds are that is so infrequent that it doesn't belong in the conversation.

unless that $400 room where that cert is being redeemed is at a place that is 100% sold out.. its not a $400 loss

the cost of that room is likely to be way less than that $400 room. Heck if it sells at $150 most of the time then your true cost or loss to the hotel is below $150

djohannw

I only have a small sample of about ten travelers with Marriott acquiring these certificates when they were available (all are probably what you would call "road warriors" working in the consultancy-industry), but from that sample I see that the spoilage-rate of these certs is pretty close to zero. And while I agree that this sample may be a non-representative one (these guys are drilled to get the best deal out of their stays), I assume the number of certs going unused is far less than 80% - as many others have mentioned people are making a staycation out of them or use them around airports they frequent.

I am also with nacho on the Dulles Marriott valuation: At Cat. 4 this hotel features $200+ rates on weekdays - this really is a decent deal when you can use certs for a stay. And there are quite a few of these properties - going to the airport the evening before embarking on a vacation-trip has become customary in my family for convenience reasons, so I can tell from experience that these properties do exist.

I personally used my last certs for a stay a block away from the beach in Florida in April - rates at the RI Delray Beach were >>$300 per night when we were there, so again this was a great use in my eyes. And I definitely do prefer a Residence Inn over a Marriott any day when traveling with my family - the added space and the additional amenities afforded by that chain like kitchen-facilities and full-size fridge definitely beats any itzy-bitzy luxury beach resort on Marco Island.

So each to his own, I guess, but I think there are quite a few people around who think like I do as well...I do see value in these certificates, and when my travel-pattern matches the earning pattern for those certs, I gladly will get them as I certainly will be able to use these.

Greetings - Dirk

nacho

Exactly - not everyone here is based in the US. The Marriotts close to CPH are running at around $200/night. I don't pay $49 2 times to get a free night - for me it's more like a spending of around EUR 150-200 for 3 nights (2 stays + 1 free cert).

Somehow I also feel that Marriott's room rate is around 20% higher than other chains, so the 'actual' value of the room is inflated IMO. IHG hotels are usually cheaper and I haven't even paid close attention to SPG/Hilton. So their $400/night room might actually have a $300 in value.

Long Distance

BINGO!

Tomorrow night, in Northwestern Massachusetts, I had two options, a Courtyard where I could get double points for $175 a night or a Hampton Inn & Suites where I could get double points for $129.

Hampton wins!

wethereyet

I have a sampling of 5 coworkers who have my nearly identical travel set-up. None of us are able to use the MR card Cat 1-5 certs.

CJKatl

You have misinterpreted my early post. The $400 was based on a two night stay, redeeming 2 certs, at $200/night. I don't think that's an unrealistic dollar amount per night. It's my average, staying at both full service and limited service brands. (Oddly, in the past few weeks, I've done lower than that at an RC and higher than that at an FI!) Many hotels where you can redeem certs go for more than that a night. Since Marriott does not limit what nights the certs can be used, and many hotels are currently running at capacity many nights a week, there is a $200 per night opportunity cost lost at many hotels when certs are used. It's hardly unusual.

The higher the Cat #, the more likely a guest using a cert will bump a paying guest. There is likely a gap between 4, 5 and 6 that makes a difference, and as occupancy rates increase, which means even the less desirable hotels are full while more people could potentially earn certs, Marriott must have to control the number or certs issued and the level of hotel eligible for redemption even more carefully. In other words, when hotels are already filling up, do you really want to force the owners to accept even more free stays?