I used pointsavers last summer for a Ren in Paris. It was a major savings over the Stay anytime rewards offered at the same time in downtown Paris.

What MR is doing is replacing the "pointsavers"(savings of up to 30% off normal point redemption levels)with the regular points required levels-which then become the "saver-awards".And then they will make "stay anytime(If we deem you worthy)"as the regular redemptions.
We ALL saw this happen with the airlines,and Marriott's marketing geniuses are using the airlines model.

Last Summer was another time-things are different( )now.

Not that much. There are still Point Savers available stays for this month at the CY Neuilly in Paris. I believe that now that all hotels in London and most in NYC are cat.7, they should allow more Point Savers stays during off-season than before.

The funny thing is that the people on the SPG board are talking about switching to Marriott.

Bottom line is that ALL of the rewards programs are becoming less rewarding as time goes on.

I have to wonder how the proliferation of cards earning points, points with shopping purchases, bonus programs has affected the point economy so to speak. The same happens within our economy. When the money supply grows beyond the availability of goods and services produced, this leads to inflation. More people with more points leads to the inventory of awards not able to keep up with the supply of points.

With that said, I'm not a fan of non-hotel stay related bonus programs, free point giveaways and the ability of non-marriott hotel customers to acquire points by means other than hotel stays. But unless you participate in those opportunities as they come along, you end up not being able to purchase award inventory because of the increases. If there are any changes to be made it, my recommendation would be that those who accumulate points via consistent and regular purchase of Marriott goods and services be given consideration above other award recipients. But I have to think Marriott benefits from the sale of points to their non-hotel partners, and thus the current concept will not go away. Therefore loyalty rewards to those truly loyal will be watered-down. Maybe the term "loyalty program" is a misnomer these days.

Good points all Copilot.But if you look at Hyatt,which does not have a credit card or shopping mall-but does partner with other outlets(rental car co's and such)that they also have promos-and the points have been diluted(but not to the point of MR or SPG's)
I am going to try to steer my domestic buisness to a small chain(kimpton)and see how they do.I will still keep my hand in SPG(like the recognition I recieve as a Plat.-and I need an international chain)but kimpton is in most cities I plan to visit(unfortunately not LAS-where I do put in a fair number of nights)and they just might be a good fit.

Exactly my thoughts, Copilot.

There is a huge difference between someone spending a million dollars on a CC to earn a million MR points and one who spent ten years the hard way via actual stays.

It has watered down the product and we all suffer.

There's a huge difference between someone spending a million dollars of their own money on a CC to earn a million MR points and one whose company foots the bill while they pocket all the MR points for their personal travel.

It has watered down the product and we all suffer.

Respectfully disagree.

While I agree that having my Company pay for a majority of my stays is "sweet", I'm not gaining any personal benefit besides these points, such as added pay. And I suffer from lack the lack of free time to spend with family, friends, house and persue interests and hobbies during these many, many trips.

I would hope that anyone who charges a $1MM in personal expenditures would HAVE to do so ANYWAY with cash or other means. Otherwise, that's a pretty sad way to spend your hard earned money.

Using a CC given the offers and deals out there today is just smart icing on the cake. I do it too and never pay cash where a CC is taken. If we could only get our mortgage, real estate and income taxes paid (without the 2.49% surcharge), could you imagine the glut of points out there?

But like same concept with FF miles, it just dilutes the available award inventory for us all.

There's no doubt that traveling is drudgery. And I sympathize with the Road Warriers who miss out on family time. However, unless "heavy travel" wasn't disclosed to you during the job interview, it's what you voluntarily signed up for. And while you might not get added pay, I certainly hope that you are well compensated for it.

Of course, we all have dismal parts to our jobs and not everyone ends up with "sweet" bonuses at the end of the year. It's a nice perk. Good for you.

And I would hope that any business traveler who stays at a Marriott hotel would have to spend the night at a hotel anyway.

I think the fact that we all love this website is a testament that we ALL love a good bargain. So why the animosity towards others who are doing exactly as they would do or are currently doing?

As I said before, applaud people who can book a reward week at a fabulous resort because they accumulated a bunch of hotel points. I don't really care how they earned them, as long as it was honest.

I respectfully disagree with this statement.

There was a small point adjustment this year when some hotels went from 15K to 18K points etc.

Because there is no Hyatt affiliated CC out there the number of GP points one can earn and use is limited. I have not had a slightest problem of using my Hyatt GP points at destinations where I actually want to go and when.

I think the fact that we all love this website is a testament that we ALL love a good bargain. So why the animosity towards others who are doing exactly as they would do or are currently doing?

Great point, Recreation. And it just occured to me that "stay" points are earned on a 10 (or 12/13/15+) to $1 basis while credit cards are generally a 1 to $1 basis. So there is some "reward" already built in.

Good to get all view points and sides to an issue.

We are actually on the same page here Holtju2.I was citing Hyatt as an example of a chain(It might be the only biggie?)with no CC and thus able to keep its loyalty program more"pure"than others.It rewards cutomers for staying in a hotel room in its chain and not by credit card spending/shopping etc....There are promos-but these are stay/individual property based.
The small point increase was why I cited "but not to the point of MR or SPG's"
So I do not think there really is any disagreement between us just poor wording in my post perhaps.

Agreed. Hope many rewarding vacations are in your future.

-Lisa