1353513636

JW Marriott Tomorrow's Square magically increased to Cat 6 this morning (was still Cat 5 last night...was going to make a booking with a cat 1-5 cert and fell asleep and woke up to discover it can't be done anymore).

GoSh4rks

I saw a similar post the other week saying that it was already a Cat 6. Saw it with my own eyes then too... If you saw it as Cat 5 last night, maybe there is a bug in the website?

1353513636

I was looking on the category change website, where it still shows at Cat 5. I called in to complain and they shamelessly told me that they can move properties whenever they want with no notice.

exploreaswego

Wow, maybe it worth keeping those screenshots.That way you will have evidence if you want to take the complain public.
Then again, many insiders are hinting that the new category chart is coming out next month.
So maybe the system is already internally testing and updating on some properties without the announcement.. sneaky...

3Cforme

That's covered in the T&Cs.

Marriott Rewards Terms & Conditions Overview

Marriott Rewards membership and its benefits are offered at the discretion of Marriott. Marriott and its travel partners have the right, without limitation, to change, limit, modify or cancel Program Rules, regulations, rewards, and reward levels at any time, with or without notice, even though such changes may affect the value of points or miles already accumulated, the ability to use accumulated points or miles, or the ability to obtain certain rewards. Marriott and its travel partners may, among other things:

• increase or decrease the number of points or miles received for a stay or required for a reward;

The shamelessness is your lack of command of T&Cs, or willingness to refer to them before starting this thread.

1353513636

Wow, that was a rude post.

I have absolutely read the T&C which also say that they could end the program and take all your points at any time without notice. Does it mean I expect them to do that? No, or else I wouldn't collect points with them.

CPRich

This happens several times a year with both Marriott and SPG. The answer you'll get from the official channels will be the same.

GoSh4rks

Ah. I was referring to the actual property page, not the category change page.

BrightlyBob

JW Tomorrow Sq reduced to a cat 5 in February’s annual rejig. Curiously the nearly next door Marriott increased to Cat4 and I’d imagine the reduced redemption difference between the two adversely effected the balance of redemptions, hence JW has now returned to cat6 overnight.

The reality is that all programs reserve the right to change redemption costs at any time and IHG, Marriott and SPG have been known to do this in respect of isolated properties at isolated times. This happened to me when I booked the Cat2 Hamilton RI in April last year and it became an unannounced Cat3 overnight in May! They did honor my 10k redemption though. And talking of Honors, with Hilton unannounced overnight changes in redemption costs are virtually stitched into the program!

Im afraid this does happen, rarely at Marriott, SPG and IHG, and more commonly at Hilton.

mahasamatman

But 100% accurate.

Pretzelsandpeanuts

Every terms and conditions of any program allows the provider to change aspects of the program unilaterally or abolish the program, but is that something you really expect?

clarkef

Nevertheless, still unnecessarily rude.

mncnc

If you are talking Shanghai Tomorrow Square JW, in Los Angeles near me it would be......cat 8, it's a great place. Especially if you have status to get you into the EL it's worth the money to just pay for it. Or was earlier this year when I went, I suppose the prices could have gone up, but it was less than my local Courtyard, Santa Barbara..

craigthemif

Perhaps the OP should re-consider their participation in internet forums if offended by people pointing out the rules.

Yes, it is annoying when any hotel chain changes hotel categories overnight, but the alternative we're heading to is dynamic pricing Delta and Hilton-style, where you will never have any clue how many points you need. It would also be worse if the hotel started gaming standard room availability to not provide rooms on points.

So I would complain less about the rare hotel changing category, and accept that it is usually the least worst way a hotel / chain can deal with it .

TrojanHorse

These are the kind of comments that will come back to haunt you on a future question that you pose - just sayin