I am pretty sure that this would be a very one sided and heavily moderated(It's the Marriott Way)coffee klatch.
As stated above MI knew what they were planning to do for the past year.They cloaked the already planned changes in the disguise of"we listened to you"PR suit spin.
I am pretty sure no one asked to have the Marriott Rewards program so thoroughly eviscerated.
I do not sit and talk with such folks-waste of my time.If I thought for one minute that any of my thoughts would be addressed or considered I would participate.But,as it has done in the past,Marriott has proven itself to feel it knows best and spends more on spin than on keeping its customers happy.

Well, I've been watching the discussion on the MR-hosted, elites-only board. While much of what is coming from the MR reps there is spin, there is little or no sign of moderation, even with the customer comments running about 90% negative.

In fact, the negative comments there are about evenly split between those upset about the inflation, and those upset with the marketing spin.

Question about hotels in the "No blackout policy"
 

Marriott Concierge-

I noticed a change in the Q/A info provided on Marriott's site regarding the new program.

The following section no longer lists specific hotels exempt from this provision:

Are all hotels in these brands now subject to the No Blackout policy? What happened to the Marriott in Rome, JW on Capri and others that were originally listed as exclusions under this section?

Posted on Tug today

Here is my response:


Quote:
Dear Mr. .......... :

We are very sorry that you are upset with our recent changes in the Marriott Rewards program. This is only the second change to this program in my l5 years with the company and it was necessary due to member feedback that included free nights and more flexibility. We believe these changes support loyalty and guest satisfaction which is critical to the success of our business.

So far we are getting rave reviews from clients who can now go on the trips that were blacked out previously and are able to coordinate more trips with the flexibility of our stays. Also, receiving a free night after purchasing four nights gives you a 5 night package. Two 5 night packages give you l0 days in Europe as an example. I believe after you have had the chance to review all the changes, you too will become a fan and in time maybe a “raving” fan.

Your Vacation Ownership Advisor, ........... , will be happy to assist you in making your dream trip come true. Rick (my salesman) has already told me he plans to help you as well. He is very good with these point trips since he utilizes the program so often.

Again we are sorry for the angst this has caused and look forward to serving you in the future as you travel with Marriott.

I responded back by giving him 2 TugBBS links, 2 Flyertalk links and a Marriott forum link, stating that the feedback is abou 90% negative on each. I also ask for a link to any feedback indicating the "rave reviews" he is speaking about.


Terry

Timing of MR program change
 

Why now when the economy will be very weak for 2009?

Simple: Given the recesion looming for 2009, hotel rooms will go unsold, so giving us a "no blackout" features, wont really cost Marriott anything for thos whom will cash their rewards before Jan 15. Most of hotels next year will not be full!

This is a good timing for Marriott to induce changes and they like memebers to use their points next year, that will help feel the hotel rooms and reduce the point balance MR has overall.

Those whom will not use their point will pay more.. simple.

MR had many changes in their program, not for our "Elite members'" benefit. Last major one has been in 2001 - anyone remember? Do you remember the 100% bonus points MR used to give you for a stay when you rented a car also from Hertz? Do you remember the 100% bonus points you got as a Platinum member? But it was never a case of devaluration of the already earned points! Certainly not presented as a "benefit" spin that MR was "listening" to guests wishes and made these changes for our benefit.

So yes, MR expects us to cash the points as many as we can and stay next year to help fill those empty hotels room during the 2009 world wide recession ...!

Good job Marriott!

TL

Vacationers probably fall into 2 groups: those that travel at low demand times, and those that travel at high demand times. For the first group, the new "no blackouts" is no big deal, since they could probably find availability anyway. For the latter (myself included), we're skeptical about the small print, limited dates when rooms will be restricted.

I think it was mentioned up-thread that the average number of nights might be 9/hotel/year, but that's just the average, right? So a property in a place like New Orleans might black out Mardi Gras, Jazzfest, Decadence, Essence Fest, Sugar Bowl, etc etc, even if that totals to 40 nights, because it's averaged with all the airport Marriotts around the country that have no high demand dates. At least, that's our fear, that we still won't be able to redeem for the popular nights; even worse, rule-buster awards are going away, so even if we wanted to pay double, that's no longer an option.

Marriott Concierge - can you alleviate my worries? Can you give some more specifics on what to expect for the limited award nights? Will Marriott publish a list of properties and nights that are limited for 2009, once it's finalized?

Its very simple, they can limit the "NUMBER" of rooms available on certain days. Which means, as long as they offer at least "ONE" room every night of the year, they are OK with the no blackout date system. Totally useless.

Check the FAQ on this here: http://www.marriott.com/rewards/lra-faq.mi

Under the current system you had a better arrangment, Stay Anytime Awards, although with double points, but you still had this option as long as a room was available. Now this option is gone - so hotels can refuse awards stay, other than having just one room per day for such on previously blackout dates, to comply with the new program.

TL

I'm another who is completely disgusted with this bend forward enhancement

If that wasn't bad enough; the deception by MR to try and spin this off with there cheesy useless email listing the bend forward enhancements insults anyone that has the IQ of a chimp

How stupid do you think members are anyway MR????

and you guys wonder why people try to get what they can out MR.. whether its thru improper corp codes, trading points, and all the other stuff that goes on here.. its not like MR deserves any respect back :mad:

Marriott Timeshare Owner
 

In the past I have purchased 4 Marriott timeshares (I still own 2 of these) from individuals, not Marriott. I had seriously considered adding a Marriott purchase so I could redeem for points. I am so glad I didn't!!!

With this new "enhanced" program and the redemption values for 7 nights stays it is a terrible situation for Marriott timeshare owners. You turn in your timeshare, 2 bedroom/2 bath villa in exchange for around 100,000 points. That 100,000 points will now get you 5 nights at a category 5 property.

Marriott timeshare salesman always claim in 2 years you can save for a travel package that will get you airfare to Europe and 7 nights at the top hotels (category 8). That package now takes 360,000 points, so most timeshare owners would have to save points for 3+ years to redeem this package.

I honestly don't know how Marriott will sell any timeshares now. Have you seen the prices on ebay? How will Marriott justify the significantly higher Marriott prices for timeshares?

I'll admit that only joined the Marriott program in the mid-90s, but I don't remember 100% bonuses. In fact, I don't think "Platinum" became an elite level until the late 90's. And I'm pretty sure the 30% Plat bonus was implemented at that time. I remember a 20% hertz car rental bonus and a 25% airline bonus though. And I definitely liked those back then. ^

Yes, I understand that would meet the new rules. And it wouldn't be unprecedented, that's similar to what WN offers on their no-blackout popular dates. At the same time, MR's rare platinum overrides are truly rare. So maybe there is hope.

It's been pointed out that the negatives of this change (point inflation) are immediately obvious; but the positives (no blackouts) won't be visible until January. My suggestion for MR, if the availability on peak dates will really be better, do something now to demonstrate that.

I expect rooms will narturally be available next year - so you will find more available rooms, not necessary because of more rooms allocated, but because of the economy being very weak next year. Hence the timing to do it now, while Marriott projects less rooms being used all of next year, so it will appear as an advantage in the program.

Once economy recovers, more people will actually pay for travel and the desired dates will again be limited.

Also will be an advantage to get members use as many points from MR huge balance as possible next year to help provide some income to hotels in a form of award stays. After next year cost in points per room will go up and/or availability will be limited.

TL

Everyone takes advantage of the business traveler
 

It seems everytime there is an "enhancement" :confused: it is the frequent traveler that gets taken to the cleaners. I'm a Platinum with Marriott and have been for 5 years now. I had set a "fun" goal of hitting a million points and even though I spent weeks in HI, weeks in Sydney and time in Hong Kong and NY using points, I am at my mark.

Now I find that my million points will be worth about 700,000 after this enhancement. I am getting punished for working too much and paying to stay instead of using my points for vacations....:mad:

This is just another example of stupid corporations biting the hand that feeds them. Heck, I've recruited 3 or 4 other people that I travel with to all get on the Marriott bandwagon and all of us even got the credit cards...Now it looks like I will be scouting the other brands for better rewards. A lot of the competitive properties are nicer anyway. At this rate, I may cancel my card and go back to Diners Club....(ouch..did I say that!)

Note to Marriott Concierge
 

One more thing...to even out the playing field, do you think it's possible for Marriott, on a one time basis, to adjust everyones points up by 20% on Jan 15? This would offset the devaluation and make the change a little less painful.

Don't hold ones breath!!!