VA1379

I can't see how this devaluation is any worst than what HH and SPG have done in the past few years by pushing properties up several categories. Marriott has had bracket creep as well, although not to the same extent. Try finding a Hilton property that takes less than 20,000 points per night in a major metropolitan area, and you will discover than many HIs require 20 or 25,000 points per night. SPG has had some major increases as well, and I am not certain that they are that much better in terms of earning rewards.

Yes, this Marriott devaluation is not fun, but I am not surprised that it will happen or that other ones will come in the next 5-7 years. You will see properties move up in categories, and I expect at some point that they will change the point requirements for all categories (although not in the next year or two). Compared to the great devaluation that occurred about 7-8 years ago, this current one is not anywhere as bad.

For me, I will keep my platinum status with Marriott, burn my points, and get a match to Hyatt for diamond (I've been procrastinating on this). I am about halfway to lifetime platinum, and I intend to get it. I will also keep an eye on the strengthening dollar, which is pushing some foreign properties down to relative bargains (South Korea, Australia, and Canada are on my radar screen). I expect hotel promotions to increase with the weakening economy, and that might take some of the sting out of this change.

The new strategy for Marriott Rewards after January 15 should be:
1. Go for a 5 or 10 night stay at one property if you are not interested in miles.
2. If you want miles, take the travel package. The best travel package for miles will have a category 5 property.
3. Forget about a 4 or 9 night award stay at a property. It means you are giving up a free night.
4. Look for bargains- part 1 - Marriott left out one current category 7 property in Paris and London (Sharon's favorite) from being bumped up into category 8. They also left out the Boston category 7 properties, which can get quite expensive during peak times.
5. Look for bargains - part 2 - Start thinking about which properties might move up (especially from 5 to 6 or 6 to 7) and consider booking awards on them. There are some which could definitely go up given their room rates.

BillMorrow

As a platinum who will probably drop to gold for the next few years, I'm not very happy with these changes. The point deflation is a major hit. One award night mentioned, that I assume will go away is one of my favorites-the 150K sampler award for Europe.

I also wonder if they are contemplating any changes to the EEO coupons. If these go away, I will too.

BTW, getting a room in BTV on parents weekend at UVM during leaf season is akin to getting a last minute room in NYC over Thanksgiving or in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. There are just not enough rooms to go around. I assume you checked the new Courtyard. Otherwise, the closest available Marriott property would be in Middlebury (maybe-It could be parents weekend at Middlebury College).

DFWsakp

I have seen it so many times in life that people have a perfectly working thing and then for apparently no reason they mess it up. Why is the need to modify something with which majority of the people are happy?

I used to work for Oracle Corporation and we used to use a tool called E-Travel for all Business Travel needs. It used to work awesome. I still remember the various features it had, like adding segments to existing reservations, booking personal travel using your Personal Credit Card and several other features. Out of the blue my employer decided to upgrade the system and everybody hated it. The System has been upgraded atleast 2 or 3 times since then, and it still has a tonne of bugs and less user friendly compared to the original one and with less features.

It looks like history repeating again atleast for me.

LKO

For those of us who aren't platinum and don't use the "stay anytime" rewards, this "enhancement" is a big disappointment.

I'm just glad I didn't purchase 50,000 points this year. With the new program these points are no longer worth .0125 to me.

I'll use my points in 2009 and start using my Am Express card that gives me cash back. I'd rather have the cash than Marriott points with these new redemption rates.

I liked the travel packages (120,000 miles & a 7 night stay) under the old program. A category 8 package has increased from 270,000 to 360,000 points! WOW!

I also liked the ability to pay less per night by staying up to 7 nights. Now we lose that option, the nightly rate is the same for 1 or 4 nights. Fifth night is free, but it still costs more than 5 nights under the old program.

This new program is not an enhancement for me!

imverge

Marriott you got it all wrong.

With the slow-down of the economy you are going to need us loyal members more than ever. You just rolled back the welcome mat. Looks like its more Starwood stays in '09 for me.

jan_az

And I notice that some of the Cat 8 dont particpate in the available anytime - this is definately a negative.

Delta3MM

Big time dissapointment.

I'd rather keep the stay anytime/standard awards, mostly to keep the travel packages cheaper.

I mostly use travel packages. Now have to decide to cash in 2 million plus points into travel packages by the end of the year or not...

Probably will.

Also, no more MVCI purchases for me...

Billy

littlevoices

Thanks for the maths. I did some calculations on my 'spending' on points over the past year - I'm actually a beneficiary by these changes as I typically spend only 1-3 nights in a property (leaning more towards 1 night), my total increase in points booking the same hotels again next year gives a 7% increase in the cost of my holidays. When you take that against the extra 20% bonus I'm now getting from being Plat I'm actually in a better state - of course sadly my existing points balance will be decreased in value slightly but through spending I've managed to take it down recently.

I also think most posters here are being a little harsh in not mentioning that the single night costs are staying exactly the same, so if you stay just small numbers of nights at a property you will be the same as long as you don't go to the cat 8 hotels (benefiting even as there are no more anytime costs). Then again, I accept that it is only a 'winner' if you're a platinum, you don't stay in the new category 8 hotels, and prefer to stay fewer nights. Also, that Marriott posted about the announcement here should be applauded - and as the benefits were pretty much identical to those that were 'discovered' and posted here some months ago means that Marriott is clearly trying to make a real effort with its customers on flyertalk (I think the comment about not putting a specific name to the concierge was uncalled for).

Here were my totals from 2008 spend compared to spending the same nights in the hotels in 2009.

Cost.....................................2008..... ...2009
1x 3 NIGHTS CATEGORY 6 HOTEL 78,000 90,000
1x 3 NIGHTS CATEGORY 5 HOTEL 65,000 75,000
1x 2 NIGHTS CATEGORY 6 HOTEL 55,000 60,000
3x 2 NIGHTS CATEGORY 5 HOTEL 138,000 150,000
2x 1 NIGHT CATEGORY 6 HOTEL 60,000 60,000
3x 1 NIGHT CATEGORY 5 HOTEL 75,000 75,000
3x 1 NIGHT CATEGORY 4 HOTEL 60,000 60,000
1x 1 NIGHT CATEGORY 3 HOTEL 15,000 15,000

Total.....................................546,000. ..585,000
Increase 7.14%

Then looking at my last 6 stays (varying nights) I would have earned an extra 14% of points (I normally take the points welcome gift which distorts this from being +20%). In the stays I earned 33k points, so at the new rate would have earned 37k... not too bad (+4.6k more points exactly)

As such - I'm generally pretty happy, the weighting of the benefits towards the platinum members through the extra points, makes me happier. I think it also goes some way towards answering the questions about "why become platinum when gold is almost the same" - an extra 25% points bonus is a significant differentiator. I think it was a smart move by Marriott to reward some of their most loyal customers, and I also think it benefits the average consumer as well, who might only have 1 or 2 nights on points per year with Marriott, and now has a better impression of when they can spend their points. Having said all this I think there are clear losers as you've all identified in your posts, especially those who stay at the same hotel for a week, or who like Marriott's very best hotels.

(Now I have to wonder if I can use my platinum 48 hour guarantee to get a standard room and then convert it to a points stay :P... though who knows if I'd need to)

PS: This is assuming that there isn't a systemwide uplift on the category of hotels to make average hotels more expensive despite the points staying the same.

pjoalfa

Dear Marriott,

I have been a Platinum member since I joined the MR program. Additionally, my 75 nights are usually booked as two and sometimes three rooms for an average of about 150 or so room nights per year.

I exclusively redeem for the travel packages in precisely the places you are devaluing the most.

I have about a million points. I am about to book ALL of them out and spend them before your "enhancements" take effect.

Of course, if I book 4 weeks of free hotel, my prospects of requalifying as a platinum are slim to none. Fortunately SPG has been kind enough to comp platinum in their program for me, so they will now be getting my $25-30k annual spend.

Please at least do us the courtesy of not calling them "enhancements".

Sincerely,
Ex- Marriott Platinum

astanley

+1, couldn't have said it better myself. Some properties are more expensive, but the underlying costs of giving me a free hotel room is more expensive, and I'm OK with that. I'm OK with the new Cat 8 hotels, given just how #@$%#@%@#$ insane it is to travel in those markets.

50% bonus is mighty nice.

Cheers,

-Andrew

mickeypops

I may have missed it, but what is the impact on redemtions into MVC properties?

mapu

Great ... a point devaluation sold as an "enhancement"...

avidflyer

Aren't they all?

rahmanbar

And what would you think this change portends for EEO B1G1 weekend night offerings?

hnewman

How will we know that hotels have release award rooms and how will this be enforced?

And will hotels still be allowed to block rooms from PL override 2 times per year.