It should be 180k after Jan 15. However if they switch the SJU Marriott into Cat 7 before Jan 15 you are looking at the 210k. Also who knows if you get the availability in Jan 2009. Therefore one can rate the 30k difference as insurance premium to have the desired week secured.

In regards to the general "enhancements": I have a meeting scheduled with one of the MVCI sales sharks on friday and i am really looking forward to hear how they think they can convince people to buy their weeks from them instead of resale if the old "great point generator story" doesnt work anymore. Guess they have to improve those "bribes" (=First Day Benefits) dramatically to convince people in the know. However i fear that they focus on "Get a hotel room in Vail" whenever you want...

+1 - except I would be a little more definitive ...

thank you for a courteous response to some quite rude comments....

Bold added by me for areas of particular agreement...

Did everyone REALLY think that the bonus would go up to 50%, black-outs would be reduced, (as well as whatever else was inadvertently posted earlier this year) and there would be no offsetting factors?

I have the feeling that Marriott has basically decided Platnums are worth keeping, but Golds aren't.

Perhaps they have decided that if they increase Plat benefits, more Golds will strive to attain Plat.

Actually I think this change is a good move from both the Plat's perspective and from Marriott's perspective. Many of us have posted many times to inquires on Gold vs. Plat that there is not much different between these levels. Both get lounge access, upgrades when available, and Plats recieved 10% more bonus points which along with the Plat gift, Plat override and Plat phone line was hardly a good reason to go the extra mile to attain Plat. This was the advice many of us have given to folks all along. Now with 50% bonus, 30% more than Gold this is a significant difference and changes the comparison picture especially with the higher redemption levels.

Benefit to Plats is that they are less impacted by the point inflation.

Benefit to Marriott is that hopefully many more people will go the extra mile to reach Plat status than previously.


Regarding these changes. They are not surprsing at all. Both SPG and Hilton recently increased their redemption levels, it only makes sense that Marriott would do the same. That is why I have been burning more points recently. I have to get my reward cert for Paris CE before Jan and I will be good to go. I just cashed in a TP last week which puts me 40000 miles away from AA Plat so I am good to go in that regard. No more TPs for me. Instead of doing 1-3 award weeks, I will have to do 5, 10, 15, or 20 night stays instead. One must be flexible.

The good news (if you can look at it that way), with the economy and all of these folks fleeing to SPG (where reward redemptions values are still worse) and Hilton where they are marginally better, I anticipate seeing a double points/nights promotion this coming year as Marriott will be having a plethora of empty rooms and many Plats and Golds may have difficulty renewing status with the recession and the associated personal/company cost cutting measures.

Ditto. Three months ago I did a big study on which program to use, and switched to Marriott from Hilton. And signed up for the Visa. And booked a ton of rooms.

With the new "enhancements", I wouldn't have switched. So I'll probably just go back to HHonors. It's frustrating. My annual level of travel gets me to Diamond in Hilton, but only Gold in Marriott. It sure looks like the Golds are getting the short end of the stick.

Done this 4 years ago and never looked back.

Bye Bye Marriott
 

Same here (joined MR about a year ago... even bought 50k). So sad. Time to cash out and move on.

:(

Agreed!

Appreciate your efforts to answer our questions and supply accurate information. Thank you!

Well as a Gold I sure feel like I'm getting screwed. In fact, I believe that in the vast majority of cases, MR members are getting hit with a massive devaluation. Vacation stays which are commonly 6-7 nights are being hit with a huge point increase, and do you really think that new cat 8 isn't going to have a lot more hotels moving to that level?

I used to think that the MR program was one of the best, especially with the incremental discount on the nightly point rate when staying over multiple nights. But now, the only benefit is on the 5th night, and even then it still costs more than previously.

I guess everyone is getting into the act of destroying what used to be called loyalty programs. As far as hotel programs go now, its HH and MR are basically interchangable.

This gets a HUGE :td: from me

Oh and yes, this is a big slap to any MVCI owners, especially recent ones who thought that their incentive or exchange points were worth a lot more. No reason to buy through Marriott now unless they jack up the point trade values. I'll be in St. Thomas in Jan, so it'll be interesting to listen to their pitch and response when I bring up the massively lowered value.

:mad:I totally agree, my KBC unit trades for 110,000 points which originally allowed for a 7 night stay (before categories) if I remember correctly,
now it seems worth very little. It is time to stop supporting Marriott.:td:

I agree with the kudos for being courteous, but I don't agree that there have been quite rude comments.

MC was rightfully criticized for using words like "exciting" and "enhancements" and for conveniently ignoring the negative impacts of the changes. At that point MC's credibility suffered, and I feel like it was appropriate to take him to task. But MC regained his credibility with his candor (and humor) in subsequent posts. I imagine that it's been a valuable lesson learned.

Marriott would be far better served to explain to us exactly why the changes were made, such as MC's explanation for category assignments and internal reimbursements, than to pretend that it's enhancing the program. I've always preferred honesty and candor. If MC had started out that way, I'm sure the personal unflattering comments would not have been made. But the negative reactions to the program changes would have been just the same. Let's face it, the program has gotten less valuable, especially to Golds.

I have a bit of good news for you. Travel packages and hopper rewards ordered prior to January 15th can be used for reward stays booked on or after the 15th. If you call Guest Services on January 14th, (it may be a little busy if you all decide to do this) and order as many travel packages as you have points for, the mileage will be transferred to the airline you chose and you will have twelve months from the date of issuance to use the hotel portions.

Regarding the creation of five night travel package reward, I have sent your suggestions on and will keep you informed on what I find out.

This is a good question. Without mentioning specifics, (mostly because I don’t have that many of them regarding policing the changes on the hotels side) I can say that I have seen the training that was sent to the hotels and what they are required to do is very clear. One advantage to the new system is hotels will be reimbursed for redemption stays at a much higher rate than they used to, so there really is very little incentive for them to try and cheat the system.

Ira

So the program really was "enhanced" for the franchise owners not the customers.

Thank you Ira for passing on this suggestion. And for being on the boards and all the helpful info you provide.

After having a night to sleep on the changes, I am still sticking with Marriott. Guess I need to strive for Platinum Emeritus now instead of Gold Emeritus! So I can get the 50% bonus points!