flyerwife

Cindi,
Check this recent thread which discusses an issue similar to yours:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...change+ihilani

Best bet is to contact the hotel directly and confirm that you are all set. Remember to get the name of the person you speak to just in case.

jasonpbyu

someone posted an email from Marriott that said the properties are re-evaluated between January and February. Best thing to do to find out if you'll be grandfathered in is call the Marriott Rewards phone #, they're always very helpful for things like this.
801.468.4000
800.450.4442

Happy

The MR Customer Service will tell you if your reward redemption was made before Feb, and you had points or certificates in your possession already, then they would honor the Cat 6 redemption level for the Cat 7 properties.

However, they also might tell you to contact the hotel directly in case you dont feel comfortable ... sounds real assuring, right ?

From what I have read :

In redemption with points, they did some accounting to put the point differences in your account and re-issued a Cat 7 e-cert, but they also reversed the extra points out from your account - the net result is you have a Cat 7 e-cert being sent to the Cat 7 property, but you are kept whole on the point front.

In our cases we are using the 32A Visa bonus certificates - they cannot re-issue the certificates as there is no Cat 7 Visa cert (paper cert). After several go-round of e-mails with MR, I decided to contact the hotel General Manager directly via e-mail. Luckily when I booked the rewards I specified in the comments we will be using the Cat 6 cert and even give the cert numbers.
I received e-mail response from the Director of Sales, Reservation, to confirm that she went over our reservations and the hotel would honor them. (2 x one free night Cat 6 paper cert.)

In my opinion, MR took the crown jewel of their Hawaiian properties out from this award and it greatly reduces the value of this package.

Ryantek

I have used this award and it works great. Just try not to spend too much time in the airports!!!

fenger

I can't find HI Island Hopper deal on marriott.com, is this pkg still going? Thanks!

jasonpbyu

No, as far as I know all hopper packages like this died when Marriott "enhanced" the program with the changes this past fall. However since all nights redeem for the same amount (no lower rates for 7 days vs 2 days) you don't need this... except you get the 5th day free when you reserve 4 nights... so you can get 10 nights for the price of 8 and do 5 nights each at 2 properties... nothing as convenient as what this used to be.

Marriott Concierge

Hello,

The Hawaiian Hopper reward was discontinued after 1/15/09.

If you had made a reservation prior to 1/15/09 and wanted to use the Hawaiian Hopper then Marriott Guest Services can still order the reward for that stay. Because the Hawaiian Hopper was a reward that was not category specific, you could still use the reward at any of the participating Hawaiian properties regardless of category changes to the property.


If you have an unused Hawaiian Hopper reward on your account then you can use the reward for a reservation made after 1/15/09, as long as the reward is used prior to the expiration date. Again it will not matter what category the hotel has changed to as long as it is a participating proprety on the reward.

Regards,

Kate

jerseygirl

sorry to hear the hawaiian island hopper has been discontinued, another loss for people loyal to marriott

jetlagjunkie

IMHO, the JW should not be a category 7. Just got back on Monday and although it was a nice place, it does not rank with many of the other JW's. It is outdated and needs a little rejuvenation.