alc

I think in Marriott, all Categories get 5th night free while I think with SPG, only some do. So, I woul think going forward all will get 5th night free.

iluvdoco

According to Frequent Miler's interview with the Marriott VP, it appears that if you have Marriott Gold matched from SPG Gold as of Aug. 1, you will have Marriott Platinum under the new system until Dec. 31, 2018.

https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.c...-announcement/

Best credit card option going forward seems to be to get the Ritz Carlton credit card, put $10k spend on it which gives you old Marriott Gold/new Marriott Platinum.

jeanie

Overall, this is a better outcome than I expected.

Several posts up, there was an opinion about the NYC hotels that are currently 45K going to 70K with the new valuation. Well, right now the Ritz in Central Park is listed at 70K per night already. Remember, Ritz, Edition and St. Regis hotels are included in the combined program as well, and those hotels usually cost more points to redeem. There will probably be a difference in points between the Renaissance and the Ritz in NYC.

It's hard to tell at this point how bad the devaluation is going to be.

Horace

Ambassador Service requires 100 nights (which you've already exceeded due to your rollover nights) + $20k qualifying spend (which you probably don't have yet with 37 nights, because there's no such thing as rollover spend).

Once you've achieved the $20k qualifying spend, you should have Ambassador Service through the end of 2019.

Boraxo

Umm, read it again. I take my family to Cat 9 Marriotts and resort locations. But... no free breakfast because Marriott can fleece well-heeled elites. No I won't be staying at Fairfield. I will be at Hyatt Maui, Hyatt Beaver Creek, Hyatt Grand Champions, Hyatt Incline Village, Park Hyatt Tokyo, Andaz 5th.... or maybe just book visa infinite rates which usually include free breakfast and upgrades. Why prefer a company that can't throw me a cheap bone?

sillysailor

Did anyone see how they will treat multiple room stays? SPG rewarded Nights for multiple rooms booked at the same
time but Marriott does not.

bhrubin

swintec

Yet how would your posts be if they ended the ambassador program? I think any frequent visitor to FT can just imagine how that would go down.

Most of us higher level elites make out pretty decent but i can see how the lower levels have some gripes. Breakfast at resorts is a big one for me (not to mention less in the lounges). Part of me sort of hopes there is still a hidden tier available like Plat. Premier used to be before it just got devalued.

Horace

Until the hotels are assigned to the new category structure, there's no telling how it will be.

With just seven categories in the August 2018 structure -- and the need to reassign hotels from all the current Marriott categories, SPG categories, and RC tiers -- some will go up and some will down in points required. And, yes, it will be an opportunity to nudge some hotels upward, especially some Marriott category 9 properties.

My guess is that most hotels that are now 35,000 Rewards points (or 12,000 SPG points) will still be 35,000 points, but will have a different category assignment. After all, Rewards and SPG just did a category adjustment last month.

The people on this board who are predicting a massive devaluation are probably panicking needlessly.

Joy2018

Have the same question with you.

deac83

Background - I was PP for 8 years, then switched to SPG to get an ambassador because the PP 'benefits' were suspect, inconsistent and not tangible.

- Marriott's insistence of using the term 'Platinum' is annoying as the biggest issue I found was the front desk just read 'Platinum' and stopped there
- The your 24 is very useful, since you can get a morning check in approved in advance and still check out at 4pm. Or if you travel to South America, with 8-9 am check in.I traveled to LA for 3 year straight and I usually had my hotel room before 10 am. Conversely, need a late checkout, you can do that and still check in at the regular time. This is not actually a check in at 9 check out at 9 program.
- The ambassador 'service' is only as good as the person on the other end of the phone. My current ambassador makes sure the hotel knows of any special requests and gets me upgraded to suite in advance with out using 'suite night awards'. I went through 3 different ambassador's until I was assigned one that was proactive, wouldn't give them up for anything.

bhrubin

Willbur

I imagine that the categories will first funnel into something like the below. Obviously within each category some likely won't move with their grouping, but I think this would be a good average and the points generally play out with the current points. The biggest question mark is at the top level for the period of Aug-Dec before category 8 is live. I imagine some games will be played to keep many of the current SPG category 7 hotels from being booked at combined 60,000 pt rate.




Another big unknown is the travel certificates. Since they have to convert those into something, I imagine they end up being converted up somewhat. For example, you couldn't take a category 8 and a category 9 certificate and assign them both at category 6 certificates. My thinking is that since the outstanding certs are likely limited in number compared to other outstanding awards these probably end up being valued up so as not to piss off a bunch of their largest customers.

JW6130

I don't see any way that this won't be a devaluation. The only question is how bad it will be. I hope the free toast and juice will compensate for that.

The popular Caribbean properties that are sitting at 40-45k for a dumpster/limited dumpster view currently will go to 50k minimum. That is a devaluation. That's on top of the cash and points fees implemented in the past few years if you want a partial ocean view, and resort fees at some locations.

The other group of properties that will likely get jacked up are the nice downtown properties that have no trouble selling rooms. NYC, LA, Miami, Charleston, San Diego, etc. are likely not going down in points. Those will go to 50k, and then eventually higher with peak pricing.

I'm glad I already booked my early 2019 travel. I will need to get the rest of my travel booked before August, to avoid devaluation.

c502cid

United has a version of this too, It's called Global Premier Upgrades, and it's also on a space availability basis.... which means never. As a whole though I like the new program!