I am getting the feeling though that Marriott has basically decided Platnums are worth keeping, but Golds arent.

While I am enjoying my current upgrade to a newly remodled suite at a Fairfield Inn, its really not what would keep me loyal. I am not rushing to cash out and switch...but my sense is...its time to figure out if I can do better elsewhere.

I don't have any great issue with Marriott deciding that they have to raise the rates for point redemption.

I personally could care less about the stay anytime vs. no blackout dates...there will be blackout dates and we all know it. Personally I have experienced times where there were no regular rates available at a hotel but there was always another one close enough to choose.

I don't understand what is so special about 5 nights? MC, Why did Marriott decide to remove the sliding scale for night redemption (it was something I personally really liked, and along with the travel package was an influencer in moving more stays to Marriott and making platinum this year). Personally I have a tough time remembering when I made a five night stay for myself...lots of five night stays for business but certainly not for holidays or personal travel.

I also agree with the other posters asking for the travel package to be available for the 5 night stays since that seems to be the new standard, keeping the miles at the 1-1 ratio.

Anyways, inflation elsewhere means inflation at Marriott - no problem. But I honestly don't follow what is special about 5 night award stays. And I think you need to figure out how to make the travel package work for 5 nights. I'm not switching from Marriott, but two of the biggest "attractions" to the program were the sliding scale and the travel package. I do appreciate the move from 30 bonus points to 50 bonus points.

The only other question I have is will the change in bonus points impact the Marriott promotions that get run in 2009?

Regards

I would be willing to tolerate a 5 night travel package for the same points. In fact, there are situations where I'd like to get the nights and FF points transferred but can't justify a 7 night stay. This would be a compromise, though not ideal.

Still, I'm pretty ticked about this. Over the past 18 months I've spent roughly 250 nights and about $40k with Marriott. Over the next 18 months, I'll probably do about the same number of nights and in the range of $85-90k... of which Marriott will get as close to zero as possible. While I initially regretted that this would be the case (since my project has mandated that I use the Sheraton), these ridiculous enhancements and across-the-board devaluations have seriously compromised the value of my Marriott rewards membership.

Case in point: Assume a platinum MR member spends 100 nights/year at $150/night and uses the MR credit card. He'd earn 270k, excluding welcome gift bonus points and megabonuses. That's enough points for one Cat 7 travel package with 120k miles. Under the new structure, that same member would need to spend an additional 23 nights to get the same exact award... and that doesn't take the hotel category changes into account i.e. that some of the Cat 7's formerly available would now be Cat 8's. For tired road warriors, squeezing the most value of a rewards program is of paramount importance. Being told after 100 nights that you still won't get that heard-earned travel package and that you'll need to stay another 23 nights is a disgraceful way to treat your best customers.

Here's a chart of the differences between the old and new award structure... does not include category 8's. Negative numbers are good... i.e. it will cost less points under new system. Positive = bad. Numbers are in thousands of points.

Category 1 night 2 nights 3 nights 4 nights 5 nights 6 nights 7 nights
1 0 1 2.5 5 0 2.5 5
2 0 1 3 5 -3 0 5
3 0 2 4 8 -3 2 8
4 0 2 5 10 -5 5 15
5 0 4 10 20 5 20 35
6 0 5 12 25 10 30 50
7 0 5 15 30 10 35 60

Thanks hhoope01,

I was just wanting MC to confirm no additional points required for a MCVI award, because they are currently a great value for points if you can find availablity. I was looking for Hawaii in April 2009 and found 7 nights in a studio at the Maui Lahaina Towers (new building) for 100,000 points. That's less than a category 7 hotel and I'd prefer the studio over a hotel anyway. If it's available, a 2 bedroom unit is priced at 150,000 which is the same as a category 7. I'd much rather have the 2 bedroom unit with a kitchen.

I guess I was just surprised that they aren't increasing the points required for a MCVI stay and was asking MC to confirm that. But, you're correct he already answered that with the quote above.

Just started traveling for business this year, read FT to decide what hotel chain to go with, have never had status anywhere before. I did 103 nights so far this year in Marriott and and now I fear that I may as well have gone with Hilton.

Maybe I am so new at this that I don't understand why you would want to make your most loyal customers and biggest advocates angry? I recruited 4 other guys in my company from Hilton to Marriott because of MR this year and now I look like a jerk.

Thanks!

You seem to understand it....(and you are not a jerk!)......Way back when I worked for Marriott, we made our most loyal customers happy.....extra robes, some magazines, that really cool corner room that was almost as neat as a suite....cake and champagne on your anniversary....

Now the most loyal customers are lucky to be "upgraded" from a King at 69 bucks a night to a QUeen Queen that goes for 79 bucks a night without having to pay the other 10 bucks??

All in the name of making shareholders happy. OK, I own a bunch of stock...funny how it accumulates .....but, I AM NOT HAPPY!

Loyal???I dont know anymore....but maybe HHonors or SPG might get a call from me!!!

Well...out of frustration (ok, and maybe boredom) i filled out that "contact us" form on marriott rewards voicing my opinion.....i feel a little bad for the Concierge team....and people higher up on the food chain need to come here for a look-see!

Thanks for participating in the discussion Marriott Concierge. I don't stay at Marriott much anymore, seesaying my business back to Hilton and Holiday Inn because the recent mega bonus promotion requires Visa and I can't use Visa on my travel. However, the huge increase in points for travel packages really distresses me. I too would agree that if there was a 5 night travel package available with the same 1:1 mile/point award structure that would be a reasonable option.

That said, I'm not hopeful for the change.. I'm at 200k Marriott points now and will have to find 35k-70k more points so I can redeem the full travel package before the change. Since I already got the Marriott Visa card that option is out... urgh. Is this game still worth playing, I wonder.

Amen.

Thank you for your reasoned response to some very unreasonable comments.

Any chance that we can retire this very overused clich�?

Marriott Concierge - can you address what will be done to protect against hotels manipulating their inventory to reduce the number of standard rooms. This is the same exact problem that existed with the Stay Anytime awards. All a property had to do was change the room type to "Deluxe" or some other room that is almost identical to the "Standard Room" to get around the requirement to offer the room as Stay Anytime. I don't see how this will change with the current program. In fact, now a hotel has even more incentive to re-classify it's rooms and reduce the number of standard rooms available.

I would be interested in knowing this as well.

I'm looking at booking a room at the SJU Marriott Cat 6

right now its an anytime rate for 2009 @ 210K

am I better off taking that or as it appears (at least the way I read the changes) that it will only cost me 180K (130 std + 50K increase) after Jan 15