copyright1997

Background: I'm a long time Flyertalk reader, infrequent poster, and also a long time Marriott stockholder. For the past eight years, I've had plenty of travel with my job, averaging over 25-30 weeks per year of at least a few days a week away from home. In that time, I've accumulated over a million Marriott rewards points, and have used only a small fraction of them, mostly for 1-2 night stays for myself or family. (Although Marriott has been my first choice, I've also accumulated a lesser bunch of points with Hilton and Starwood due to hotel choices acceptable to my employer.)

In truth, part of the reason I've not used many points is that with so much travel for so long a period of time, I really didn't want to spend more time away. My plan (or lack of one) was to eventually utilize the points after retirement.

With the very unwelcome program changes , I've decided to cash in a bunch of Marriott points and use them now before they are further devalued. I've ordered 1 Europe Hopper, 2 Hawaii Hoppers, and 1 category 7/120k mile package. Total points used = 720,000.

Are there others out there in similar situations (either in terms of accumulating and not using or in terms of cashing in big-time before the change)?

[I addition to nights in the hotel rooms, I also have a Marriott Rewards Premier VISA, Starwood Amex, and Hilton Amex. Given the seemingly never ending devaluations of all the programs, I am starting to re-think this ...maybe one is just better off using a PenFed VISA and getting cash back to use wherever and whenever you want?]

aaupgrade

Well, like inflation in hotel prices I expected award inflation about a year ago around the same time SPG and Hilton increased the points for their awards, so in anticipation I started cashing in points about 2 years ago. 3 weeks of skiing at Vail last January (1 TP), A Euro Hopper last summer (used in Paris and London), 2 weeks back in Vail this coming March (2 TP), and a Euro Hopper for later this year. 1.31 M pts. Miles from TP were sent to AA leaving me 16000 miles short of AA LT Plat. Remaining MR balance of 145000 points. Total lifetime MR points earned is a little over 3 M, so the majority of points 2 M were used for awards over the previous 9 years.

Renard

I burned all but 5....no Marriott stays planned and I'm getting rid of my Marriott Visa.

baglady

In the last week, I've burned over 600,000 pts; prior to that it was a bit more. My balance is a bit paltry, but still can handle emergencies

pjoalfa

I burned 810K today.

VA1379

730K for 3 travel packages of 100K miles each for AA, two category 7 and one category 6. I made two additional separate reservations for London hotels that are now category 8 without ordering any certificates. Most likely, one of them will be attached to one of the travel packages later, and I will cancel the other one later. I have already attached one category 7 to a prior reservation in London.

My current balance is under 2,000 points. It hasn't been this low since 2003. Hyatt and Hilton will cover any personal emergencies for now.

hhoope01

I was in a similar situation as aaupgrade. I thought they were going to have a big devaluation last year. So about 2 years ago I started depleting my account. I ordered three Cat. 7 TP and one Cat. 6 TP awards. Add in a RC award, a few 2 and 3 night awards, and two coming 7 night awards and I'm down to about 3K points. I'd say I have burned more than 1.5 million points in the last 24 months.

PhillyPhlyer40

1.3MM points in the past 12 months. Last night, a personal best. 640K, and I have 6, yes 6 reservations with no TP's attached, yet have 3 weeks of CAT 7 TP's that I can attach.

The guy on the plat. line last night got a good laugh, as I was making mulitiple reservations for the same weeks!!!!

From now on, SPG will get the bulk of my business!

littlevoices

Spent 250k of my points as I'd burnt most of mine last year, got a Europe Hopper (find it amusing that everyone is getting the hopper awards - good value when changes like this come in... shame its for a year!) as I'd like to stay at a Parisian hotel sometime soon and since they are all (almost...) category 8s now.

Also booked a hotel 11 months in advance (which I'd never normally do) to save 20k points!

Normally I wouldn't bother with the hopper awards, and wouldn't book so far in advance for a destination that doesn't require it.

gogogo

I also just burned all but 15k on cat 7 travel packages. And am now dumping my Marriott Visa for AMEX.

allset2travel

There is no set burn-rate for me. Most years, I used anywhere from 70K to 220K points. For 2009, I have booked on points for properties in Japan (where prices are usually high, and higher now due exch) and Hong Kong and 1 Travel Package. Burning a bit faster than prior years.

MN Traveling Man

I spent several hundred thousand points in the last month or so, including a cat 6 travel package with 120K miles. I'm proud to say that after booking plane tickets and this trip, I have (had) 19K Marriot points, and 8K NW miles!! And I have $1000 Marriott dollars to spend for my upcoming AZ resort vacation too.

pinniped

I spend 540k in December, but kept 300k in the account. I won't be doing a weeklong Marriott vacation in 2009, and I'm hopeful that the net devaluation will be offset but at least some real increase in availability when we want to travel.

I'm not panicked too much. Yes, it's going to cost a little more for my big TP awards, but I'm hopeful that we'll see a meaningful change to availability at the high-quality Category 6's and 7's.

The 8's don't really affect me. I stay in three or four of them for business, but won't be redeeming any awards there. Most of my favorite props are at the high end of Category 6, so even if Category Creep hits in 2010, I'm probably still okay.

darthbimmer

I was torn about whether or not to seize the opportunity with the old award structure before it disappeared. My award travel the past few years has all been short stays. I figured if I stick with that patttern I won't stand to lose too much value with the new award rates. But then again, part of the reason I've been taking shorter trips is because I've been saving up my points for bigger-ticket purchases. I wish I'd read the details more carefully and noticed that the Euro hopper awards ended 12/31, not 1/15. Those would have been the best match for the way I like to travel. But in the end, I decided to pull the trigger and snagged a travel package with 120k FF miles right before the deadline.

travelismylife

I got 2 travel packages and another 3 at cat. 6 and have another 2 res. w/o enough points in my acct. yet (waiting for marriott concierge to post my megabonus). And I'll be left with a few hundred points in my acct. Burned through almost 700k points in under two months.