Many of us prefer off peak to avoid the crowds! The first week in Feb is the best time to go to Disney or Europe.

Vegas properties seems to have mostly gone down, including SHS by the Convention Center. This is also notable because earlier this year it was priced out of the Category 5 certs, but will now be eligible for the 35k ones, as will the LV Marriott.

Historically, Marriott award room availability has been so-so, Starwood has been great. I expect it all to be crappy at anything that isn't overpriced on points.

Domes of Elounda haven't loaded any 2019 dates into the booking system and told me they wouldn't be doing so before August.

I've been to Europe in February, there are definitely less crowds but it's also bone chillingly cold!

Can't say I'm happy on the whole, but the changes at least seem rational and Marriott has made it easy to determine where they are upping the charge. I usually use MR Points for resort stays, and using the search tool for hotels with Ocean or Beach in their names, it looks, broadly speaking, like mainline Marriotts and JW's in resort areas are moving up 5-10K points, while the Courtyard/Residence Inn/Fairfield class hotels are often moving down 5-10K points. Unfortunately, two exceptions to this are at the Maryland/Delaware beaches we like to visit. But even there, the changes seem rational -- Courtyard Ocean City and Bethany Beach Ocean Suites [Residence Inn], both of which are right on the beach, are moving up from 45K to 50K while Fairfield Inn Ocean City and Residence Inn Ocean City, both of which are a couple of blocks off the beach, moved down 45K-35K. The 45K price point seemed irrational to me for both of those given their location.

Worse for me, WDW Swan/Dolphin went up almost 40% -- 36K to 50K. Dolphin was effectively 30K as of last year, so that's a 67% increase over the last 18 months. But the truth is it was a bit of a bargain in terms of points before and I wouldn't be surprised if they had a lot more demand on the points side since the Marriott/SPG merger.

The search tool is about as open as Marriott has been about changes following the merger, and is pretty useful.

Even if the changes seems rational on the whole, they may well negatively affect how many of stays are with Marriott in the long run. For instance, at the WDW Dolphin rate, I'd have to consider just paying cash at the Disney-owned resorts in the Epcot area (which are more expensive but in some instances offer a better value in terms of total experience than the Dolphin, which in the end is just a Sheraton within walking distance of Epcot). Or I might target the Hilton hotels that offer Extra Magic Hour benefits, and move more stays to Hilton.. Everyone has a different way of evaluating point values among the various programs, but Marriott resort properties have generally, in my experience, been relatively cheaper in terms of points than analogous Hilton properties. This kind of uniform shift might change that.

While some of these definitely hurt (e.g., Essex House to 60k), there is also plenty to like here.

I see for example there are now decent properties in NYC for under 40k (RI Manhattan/Central Park at 35k). Ren Republique in Paris drops to 35k.

It could have been much worse. This is not a massive devaluation.

Also appreciate the great search tool Marriott has provided - really easy to check a brand or a city.

I'm with you on a lot of the changes...but we are getting more points per stay if we have status and the credit card points have doubled on the low end.. If you have status and a credit card you should be able to minimize the change.

Four Points at 12,500 isn't a bad deal either, same category as CY. (I've only stayed once at each property and didn't find much difference between the two other than location.)

So if we have a reservation booked for January that will be going down in points. What would be the procedure? Rebook in August IF it is still available to book?

That would be what I would do.....I think you need to wait and hope the room(s) are still available....

There are some head scratchers, definitely.

Cash rates at M57, MM, Ren, and Surawong are usually quite similar. So why M57 is 17.5k while others are 25k? And why JW also 25k given that it's usually more expensive?

Aloft equal to M57 is ridiculous, Aloft should be the lowest points required in all of Bangkok. Why 4P below Aloft? Even ROS is below Aloft and equal to 4P. ROS becomes a good deal.

Athenee going down and SGS going up, why?

Not complaining, just observing. This simply changes where I will use cash and where I will use points.

Typical CSR approach, say something, it doesn't need to be right.

The FB posting may very well have been correct at the time of posting. One thing I've found with the internet a lot of things get posted, very little gets corrected.

Location and the decent CL both make the CY my preference between the two. Not that this is a rub against the Four Points, but the staff at the CY has gone above and beyond for me at least three times, including when the airline lost my luggage and the staff basically took care of everything when we realized someone who spoke Thai was going to have more success on this.

Marriott bases redemption rates on the number of redemptions at the property. not the cash rate for the night. Because Aloft was by far the least expensive redemption in BKK many people redeemed there. The CY was almost as much as the FS/Marquis/Ren so people would pay the extra points for the nicer hotel. When people did no redeem much at the CY it went down and when people redeemed frequently at the Aloft it went up. My guess is there won't be as many redemptions at the Aloft now so next year it will go down. This has happened frequently over the years at various Marriott properties.

BTW, the Surawong does not have a history yet so redemption is likely based on expectations. My guess is it will go down next year given the location and expense compared to other better located properties.