Marriott Air and Hotel Package- Redeem now or later?
Apr 26, 2018, 10:42 am
#16
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 176
Nights and Flights
If I decide to get one of these packages,how long does it take until I have a usable hotel certificate? And how do I check that the hotel I've got my eye on is available using the cert.? I plan to use it for only 5 nights (not 7) but I've read that that's allowed...do I need to find 7 night award availability in that case,or just the 5?
Apr 26, 2018, 1:16 pm
#17
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: SFO/YYZ
Programs: AC 25K, AS MVP Gold, BA Bronze, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,467
If I decide to get one of these packages,how long does it take until I have a usable hotel certificate? And how do I check that the hotel I've got my eye on is available using the cert.? I plan to use it for only 5 nights (not 7) but I've read that that's allowed...do I need to find 7 night award availability in that case,or just the 5?
Apr 26, 2018, 1:28 pm
#18
Join Date: Jan 2011
Programs: Alaska mvp G, AA Exec Plat, Marriott/SPG platinum, United Silver, Delta Silver, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 165
Apr 26, 2018, 2:52 pm
#19
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NY Metro
Programs: SPG Titanium, United Premier 1K
Posts: 1,601
Apr 26, 2018, 3:07 pm
#20
Join Date: Apr 2016
Programs: BAEC, Flying Club, HHonors, Gold Passport, IHG Rewards, Le Club Accor, Club Carlson
Posts: 323
As a hypothetical if they do go down the route of transferring the vouchers to points equivelent, what category voucher in pre-Aug value woulf give biggest bang for buck in post-Aug?
Apr 26, 2018, 3:15 pm
#21
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,400
No, it's discounted to something like 45K when acquired as part of a travel package. You can see the values if you call in to upgrade or downgrade a cert.
Apr 26, 2018, 4:06 pm
#22
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: SFO/YYZ
Programs: AC 25K, AS MVP Gold, BA Bronze, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,467
The discounted value of the cert is relevant as far as the value for refunding to points, but Marriott is surely not going to suddenly turn certs that you can redeem for 7 nights at a Cat5 into 45k points in August.
Apr 26, 2018, 7:24 pm
#23
Join Date: Jan 2011
Programs: Alaska mvp G, AA Exec Plat, Marriott/SPG platinum, United Silver, Delta Silver, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 165
I agree .. because i called in to upgrade my Cat5 to a Cat 6.. they were only going to charge me 30,000 points... so no way the cat 5 is only worth 45,000
Apr 26, 2018, 7:39 pm
#24
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 48
When I rang up to redeem a travel package I asked what will happen to the hotel cert post merger. The agent advised I will still be able to redeem it beyond August, exactly what that means - is anyone's guess.
Apr 26, 2018, 7:44 pm
#25
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: OGG
Programs: AA Plat, A List Pref, Marriott Ambassador
Posts: 356
It's been a while since I had to consider this but the certs are worth less because you already received the airline miles. Otherwise everyone would be turning their marriott points into airline miles at a 1 to 1 ratio (doing a package and then redepositing the 7 night certs). I suspect it ends up being something like the new conversion where 60k marriott points = 25k airline miles... so if you got 100k airline miles they give you the balance of the original cost minus 240K. I'm probably off by a small amount of points but redepositing is a very bad deal.
Apr 26, 2018, 11:47 pm
#26
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: SFO/YYZ
Programs: AC 25K, AS MVP Gold, BA Bronze, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,467
It's been a while since I had to consider this but the certs are worth less because you already received the airline miles. Otherwise everyone would be turning their marriott points into airline miles at a 1 to 1 ratio (doing a package and then redepositing the 7 night certs). I suspect it ends up being something like the new conversion where 60k marriott points = 25k airline miles... so if you got 100k airline miles they give you the balance of the original cost minus 240K. I'm probably off by a small amount of points but redepositing is a very bad deal.
Apr 27, 2018, 12:15 am
#27
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 48
Could they not just convert the certificates category from the old tiers to the new tiers?
E.g. an existing Cat 6 certificate is now a Cat 5 certificate and an old Cat 1-5 certificate is a Category 1-4 certificate if redeemed after August 2018.
Of course, I don't know if their systems will be able to support this so it may be too difficult for them.
E.g. an existing Cat 6 certificate is now a Cat 5 certificate and an old Cat 1-5 certificate is a Category 1-4 certificate if redeemed after August 2018.
Of course, I don't know if their systems will be able to support this so it may be too difficult for them.
Apr 27, 2018, 2:01 am
#28
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 298
There will be a conversion table for certificates (eg. old style cat 1-5 cert will become new style cat 1-4 cert, ...). However, there is no word on how the conversion table will turn out, so there is some degree of uncertainty for the time being.
Apr 28, 2018, 2:47 pm
#29
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NY Metro
Programs: SPG Titanium, United Premier 1K
Posts: 1,601
I agree.. for the sake of goodwill I think (hope) this may be a one time opportunity to get a good conversion ratio on those "floater" certificates. Otherwise I can see a lot of pissed off people who thought they had a Cat 1-5 7 night certificate in their account suddenly disappear and only get 45K points in return.
Apr 28, 2018, 6:07 pm
#30
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2013
Programs: Aeroplan, Amex AeroPlat
Posts: 977
Does the new cat 4 require the same amount of points as current a cat 5 hotel?