If they wanted to get rid of cheap elites, why would they sponsor a credit card that grants automatic silver status and 15 nights? Besides, Fairfield Inns in rural areas must contribute to Marriott's bottom line or they'd have spun them off.

I predict they will drop Chase (just wishfull thinking on my part) and move to Citi or any other bank - maybe even Amex.

I really could care less about recognition or suites when I travel on business. I would only want more points. I love to vacation at Marriott properties for free. Since Sept of 2005, I have visit Aruba, Cayman, St Kitts and Jamaica-Ritz all for 7 days on Marriott. So give me more points and forget the rest.

Thanks

Well it will be interesting to see what, if anything happens in the next few weeks. I know that this thread should be fun to read.

No offense to the OP, but at this point I take this as a rumor since their is only one data point.

Short answer: Yes.

For my 3 standard award weeks next January I normally wait to get the e-certificates in hope that AA or UA will come out with a 20% bonus for transferred points. That way I can get 20% bonus on the miles from a Hotel-Air Travel Package. Due to this unsubstantiated rumor, and as insurance against point inflation or an end to Hotel-Air Travel Packages, I am going to cash in points for my reward certificates today, 2 standard 1-week awards and 1 Hotel-Air Travel Package. If Hotel-Air Travel Packages stay around, point inflation doesn't occur, and a 20% bonus comes along I can convert 1 of the other two weeks to a Hotel-Air Travel Package later. Better to be safe than sorry. Unless they totally dissolve the Rewards Program, the certificates should be good. If you don't have the e-certificates yet, and the number of points for them goes up, then you will pay more points or at a minimum your bargaining position is much worse IMO.

As a side note, this also might explain why hotels like the Vail Marriott are in no hurry to release award inventory. There may be significant changes coming to the program that Hotel management is aware of and they are waiting for the changes to be implemented before moving forward.

While there appears to be conjecture in my statements above, I still take this as rumor and am just being moving up what I would be doing later in the year anyway. If it is more than rumor, then I will be very happy when it is announced and we can move forward, and hopefully that will be it for a few years.

Regarding SPG, I just called them yesterday to make an SPG50 reservation for the end of next January and there was no availability. The CSR told me to call back at the beginning on January as they wouldn't have availability for an SPG50 until then. I also did some math on the SPG awards and the earn rate/reward ratio is much, much worse than MR. HHonors earn rate/reward ratio is very competitive with MR.

It would also be very nice if Marriott Concierge or Rewards Guy would come forward and at least say whether an announcement is forthcoming or not.

I predict they will drop Chase (just wishfull thinking on my part) and move to Citi or any other bank - maybe even Amex.

I would love to know what' so great about citi, I use to have the citi AA MC and I dump it. They are the worst credit card company to deal with, but I would agree with the AMEX part.

Thanks

AAupgrade wrote
"Regarding SPG, I just called them yesterday to make an SPG50 reservation for the end of next January and there was no availability. The CSR told me to call back at the beginning on January as they wouldn't have availability for an SPG50 until then. I also did some math on the SPG awards and the earn rate/reward ratio is much, much worse than MR. HHonors earn rate/reward ratio is very competitive with MR."

As a loyal flyertalker I always register for all of the promos postes on the SPG board.I then plan my travels around these promos.Now I conceed that most travellers are not able to do this as they need to be at a certain locale at a certain date(and sometimes at a certain property)for buisness.I,on the other hand have total freddom to choose 70% of the time.The other 30% is when my boss needs me to be close to her when she is out of town.

With my stay pattern thus I have been very happy with the SPG award program and my earnings in it.I find it comperable-even slightly better than MR.But there is no way to put this down in a concrete manner-since the bulk of my points come from promos that are not available to all SPG members.

Spg properties and customer service on the other hand have been leaps beyond Marriotts declining program.

Lets just say I am not a fan of Chase

Scary! Lets hope if the changes are negative that they DO NOT set the standards for the industry. I have seen enough negative changes at MR, HH and SPG recently!

Another thought....could we all be being to pessimistic about this? Maybe there will actually be some good changes. Probably not...I am thinking Marketing spin here! The usual making bad things sound good. I always love that! I think AMEX has mastered that over the years with making all of the devaluations and card price increases sound like a good thing in the announcements.

Well, for what it's worth, I don't think I've ever redeemed a PointSaver award anyway, so if they go away I won't be terribly impacted.

As far as the elite levels go, Marriott already has the toughest-to-attain elite levels in the industry, although it's a bit easier for U.S. members because of the 15 bonus nights we get with the credit card. Still, HH flat-out gives away Gold status - a level that is in several ways better than MR Gold. For HH Diamond, it's currently about in-line with MR Plat...the number of stays that make up 60 nights for me would probably also qualify for Diamond. (Clearly the stay component works more for some folks than others.)

Added a published level in the 125-150 night range would be a new enhancement - something nobody else does - that would hopefully benefit members. I hope I'm never in a position where that level matters to me, but I hope they'd apply some kick*ss benefits to it.

I'm not sure why they'd junk the Travel Packages: that's a popular award and, frankly, one of the top three reasons I do 60-70 Marriott nights a year. If those go away, the overall value of a Marriott point drops significantly, and Hilton moves into the forefront as the most rewarding program.

Anyway, this is one guy on an airplane who probably doesn't have all the facts. If there's a work in progress at all to significantly change MR, I doubt they'd bring all 2200+ GM's into the loop before things were almost ready to launch.

I am - they shower me with goodies. Thousands of dollars worth over the past couple of years.

Okay, I realize they are a bank, and like any bank they will use any means necessary to trick and deceive in order to score later profits from me. I realize that the lavish gifts are part of the game, and people who play with snakes sometimes get bitten. But seriously, are they any different than any other bank? I know Citibank and Amex won't hesitate to use the same nefarious tactics than any other bank would.

Besides, one thing that I think most of us are very happy with here is the Marriott Visa in its current form. I like the fact that no annual fee for it will ever be a waste - I can always use a Cat 5 award night. Since they just rolled it out, I doubt they will change it.

That's why we all have choices - no one bank is for everyone

Hi everyone,

At this time, there are no plans to further change the Marriott Rewards program. The GM may have been referencing the changes that have already been implemented or the announced changes that will be implemented soon (such as the Stay Anytime point-requirement increase which will take effect on June 1, 2007).

There were changes recently in regards to ordering paper certificates. For every paper certificate ordered that could be sent electronically (meaning paper certificates issued in the member's name which are not gifts for a family member or friend) will be assessed a $10 fee. Platinum members are not exempt from this fee, so this may have been what the GM was referring to in regards to elite benefits changing.

Our goal is to encourage the use of electronic certificates for our members--it's more convenient than a paper reward and easier to process on a property level.

Kind regards,

Hope the changes are for the better, and not the worse. Marriott Rewards is already by far the weakest link in my rewards network (flight, rental car, hotel, airport parking). I usually stay at Residence Inns, which earn half the points of the other hotels in the network. So for my travel, I get one free night for every *40* paid nights - a terrible ratio by any standards.

This is my weakest link.

Thanks for the follow-up, Chris.

And fess up: you have to laugh out loud at our I-heard-from-a-guy-on-a-plane panic threads! We have had these on literally every FT board I visit.