Does new Program include upgrades at RC for elites?
 

Just as it is now, breakfast will not be a benefit at RC hotels for elites. But is it clear to people whether or not Plats and above will now receive any elite benefits, namely, the possibility of upgraded rooms at RC?

I wonder will lounge benefits for plat applied to the new program with RC
if so, even if no breakfast, simply with lounge access there's still technically a breakfast there
and seeing that RC's lounge are generally good in serving
seems not bad to me

No lounge for elites and no breakfast benefit either at RC.

Anyone knows what's going to happen to chase certs? Will convert to whatever new tiers but which I guess is the key.

So technically, even prior to the new program, the RC's were supposed to offer "as available" upgrades to Platinum's. It used to be (up until late 2017) that they only rooms they wouldn't upgrade you to were Club Rooms and Suites. Earlier this year, without any public announcement that I am aware of), they started only excluding Club Rooms (meaning you could now theoretically get an upgrade to a suite). So as I understand it, in the new program, the upgrade policy will be the same, ie only on "as available" basis and excluding Club level.

I will say that in my experience, with is mostly US RC's, they were very stingy with upgrades so I am skeptical that things will change with the new program. In general, SPG Elites as St Regis's seems to have much better upgrade hit rates than Marriott Elites as RCs.

I think the only increased upgrade related benefit from the new program at RC with be the ability to use the Suite Night Awards at a Ritz although I can't find any explicit confirmation that Suite Night Awards with be available at RC's and from reading what the SPG elites on FT say those awards are pretty hard to use as is.

From the FAQ on the member website:

I have a Free Night Certificate from a Marriott Rewards or Ritz-Carlton Rewards credit card. Can I use it at an SPG hotel (or vice versa) after August?

So sounds like the award certs will be converted post 8/1 to point value as opposed to a Category Level. I seem to remember that I read in some other post that the Ritz cert's would convert to 50K points, but don't hold me to that.

If you have a cert my strong advice would be to use it before 8/1 as there's a decent chance a category 4 Ritz will be at least 60K a night, maybe higher.

If one of the hopes for the new program was that elites would get meaningful benefits at RCs, that has apparently gone unfulfilled.

St. Regis and LC properties will continue to be much more attractive options from the elite benefits perspective.

Says who? There wasn't a good answer on this. In the facebook live with Thepointsguy it almost sounded like they are now offering lounge access at Ritz, but TPG foolishly glazed over that comment...

Will RC Singapore and RC Reserve will participate in thew program?

Post #5 above thinks that the SNA will be useable at RC. But I don’t think that is clear. RCs are not specifically excluded, but I am somewhat skeptical. Of course, they could allow the use, but make it nearly never available.

I agree with your skepticism but I haven't seen any indication that SNA's won't be, at least technically, usable at RCs yet.,

I just watched a video with the VP of Loyalty at Marriott and he confirmed that breakfast would be available at resorts (at least non-RC resorts). He also confirmed that RC's would not offer lounge/club access. He talked about SNA's and did not say that RC wasn't participating, so I take that as further passive confirmation that SNAs will be usuable at RCs.

As for breakfast (per the FAQs): After 50 nights across the portfolio, members will achieve Platinum Elite status. As part of the Platinum Welcome Gift, members will have the option of choosing points, an amenity or a breakfast offering – options vary by brand, and The Ritz-Carlton, EDITION, Marriott Vacation Club, Gaylord Hotels, Marriott Executive Apartments and Design Hotels do not participate in the breakfast offering option. A breakfast offering is new for Courtyard, AC Hotels by Marriott, Moxy Hotels, Protea Hotels and resorts. Brands that are currently offering lounge access will continue to offer complimentary breakfast as part of the lounge offering.

https://members.marriott.com/faq/#is...-elite-members

thanks for clarifying

What about the 5 suite nights for being platinum premier with ambassador? will they apply?

That's what we are talking about when we refer to SNAs aka Suite Night Awards. In the new program you get 5 SNAs on your 50th earned night and another 5 (for a total of 10) on your 75th night.

As I said, at this point I haven't read or seen anything that SNAs won't be accepted by Ritz Carlton's but I haven't read or seen anything confirming that that they will either.

My base case assumption based on what has been published to date is that Ritz Carlton's will accept SNAs, but I am assuming they will likely be very difficult to use in practice as a lot of SPG elites claim that redeeming SNAs was difficult to being with and in my experience Ritz Carlton's are very stingy with normal "space available" upgrades as is.

It's interesting to note that according to SPG elites, St. Regis properties generally seem to have pretty good reputations for honoring upgrades and giving higher level elites free upgrades to suites. I am looking forward to trying some of those properties out post 8/1.