TMOliver

I have a little business to do in Galveston, Texas, a Summer beach resort a bit blue-ish of collar. On previous visits, I had used the local Springhill Suites, a Marriott property far from the beach (actually located in a reclaimed salt marsh at the island end of the causeway).

Oh, I marveled, I have a certificate for a "Freebie", my annual payback for giving Marriott an obscene fee for a credit card with the Marriott logo. That's when I discovered that the property in question is, humble and modest though it may be, barely more upscale than a Motel 6, is now by virtue of its location withing smelling distance of the sea (No, that's the petroleum sheen on the bay i smell!) a CATEGORY 7.

Fie Marriott. A pox upon you! ...And you'll soon be getting my CC back to preserve among the relics of the past, the memories of loyal patrons cozened and scammed. If the Springhill Suites, Galveston can be classified as a Cat 7, I'm a reincarnation of Cary Grant.

hhoope01

Given the number of cruises that begin in Galveston, I suspect that there are quite a few folks trying to use points to stay there. I've gone out of a couple of cruises there and always am looking for a hotel to stay in the night before. And if you don't plan early enough, they will all be filled.

So in reality I could see any hotel on the island having a higher than normal category level. Now whether Cat 7 is "too high" could be questioned, but I could easily see it as a Cat. 5 or 6 given the traffic it probably has.

NJUPINTHEAIR

I'm sure that the bungalow that Robert Durst hung out in with Morris Black is available.

flown-the-coop

I spend 20-30 nights a year on the island for business. I used to put all my stays to Hilton, no mostly Marriott. The Hilton on Galveston Island will go from $89 in the off season to $399 during the summer. I think they have done some renovations, but at $89/nt I was still disappointed.

I haven't stayed at the Springhill, instead I have always opted for the newer Courtyard / TownPlace combo pack on the west end of the seawall. Again, you can go from $79/nt to over $300/nt.

Unfortunately for many in Texas who have never seen a beach with white sand, pure salt air and clear water, the beaches of Galveston offer a sad interpretation of island paradise. As such, enough demand for Marriott in the high season to put it at a high category.

leeky

I guess you overlook the fact that Marriott gave their members 4-6 weeks advance notice to book their properties at the old rates.

you paid Marriott an obscene fee for your credit card - I'd like to know when Chase Visa was bought by Marriott ? (BTW, last night I used my Chase cert at a Marriott prop and if I had paid for the room night it would have been close to $400 so the $75 fee is well worth it, at least to some of us)

as to your useless cert, the cert is issued by Chase, NOT Marriott, and is valid for a Cat 1-5 or are you one who exposes the ability to add 5-10k points to use it at a Cat 6/7?

so, I guess you're not now, nor will ever be, Cary Grant ...... bye bye

jr1202sr

With this thought process any and all properties that have "some" demand during peak seasons should be a cat 7 or higher. IMHO FFI, SHS, RI should never be over a cat 6 in ANY CITY. Marriott can keep playing games, but eventually they are going to piss off too many loyal customers and it will hurt them. Many I know have already shifted large number of stays elsewhere for their idiotic policy of calling "hotels" resorts. This is especially true for Florida/Caribbean business travellers.

leeky

is it really Marriott demanding that individual properties be considered "resorts" or is it the individual properties who desire this classification?

Often1

All silly. It's about supply & demand. No different than cash prices. If a property charges $500/night and people will pay it, kvetching that it's charging too much is silly. If it charges $500/night and people won't pay it, it will go under sooner or later, so the property drops its rates.

Same with categories. If its category is too high, people won't use it and the property won't earn through reimbursements from Chase via Marriott corporate.

Someone down in Galveston has done the marketing analysis and believes they are doing it right. If someone here has better, post them.

jr1202sr

Pretty certain Marriott makes that call or at least has certain guidelines that are required. If not any hotel who didn't want to give benefits would just add "resort" to their name.

A perfect example: Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld

Nowhere in the name does it say it is a resort. Only place it is shown as a resort on the their website is in small letters where it says "our resort" instead of "our hotel" on the home page.

This hotel is not a "resort" just because it has a slide at the pool. So Marriott is playing games here just so they don't have to have a lounge or Free breakfast for a "tourist" and non-business hotel.

CPRich

How does that change the fact that the OP feels the property is overpriced as a Cat 7? Because that's what it is.

TMOliver

Thanks,,,

No Springhill Suites (except perhaps on Nob Hill or the Upper East Side) deserves Cat 7 classification.

During much of the year, outside the Spring Break and Summer Seasons, I' ve rented rooms there for as little as $69 + tax.

It's not as bad hotel, better than many Fairfields, but at best, even during the season certainly no better than a cat 5.

My choice to use a Marriott card was dictated by (a) those 50,000 points long ago and the annual certificate to offset the card fee. I could care less about the issuing bank. For many years I've stayed in Marriotts for a variety of reasons, but it was the points that brought me to their doors.

The "best" hotels in Galveston (which honestly, even though my mother's family has lived there since 1849, ain't the Hamptons), are the ancient Galvez and Tremont and Moody Gardens. To ask a comparable rate at the abysmally located Springhill may not harm Marriott, but someone besides me may notice and react negatively.

Moriens

Marriott Rewards categories are based on redemption frequency, not (directly) on rates.

Here's an example. On April 20, both the Category 1 RDUAP (an airport Residence Inn in a city where nobody spends their vacation) and the Category 9 PSMWW (a seaside Marriott in a city with very little industry) offer the same $179 rate (before taxes and special offers).

As an award night, one costs six times as many MR points as the other.

leeky

If the OP considers this propertry overpriced as a Catagory 7 the OP can always pay the going cash or just choose a totally different property.

And if others do the same, then theoretically the lack of redemptions at this (alleged) overpriced property will next year see a decrease in the Catagory that it currently is, perhaps even to a Catagory 1 (provided you buy into the "story" that redemptions are the sole factor in driving Cat changes up/down - and I also believe in the Easter bunny and Santa Claus).

GoPhils

I think the differences in rates during the seasons basically does prove that the category levels are based on redemptions. It's just that unlike rates, the categories don't change within the year. Sounds like there are probably a lot of redemptions during the peak season, so because of that, the category level is going to be high for the whole year.

leeky

totally agree on cash rates being influenced by expected inflows but as to catagory adjustments if I recall MR instituted seasonal adjustment offers (discounted Cat rates during slow periods) and any property can always offer point savers to drop a Cat if they so choose during anytime of the year.
At least it's not as bad as HH instituted with their point changes at over 100% differentials from day-to-day during the year (and catagory adjustments without notice).