Oxon Flyer

Can anyone unequivocally say, though, that Marriott has continued to use this method when setting the reward categories for the forthcoming August chart ?

Bravada04

Well, lucky for me I guess as I have flights and reservations already for Bali in February 2019..........I guess I will cancel my current reservations with points and re-book after August when the locations I am staying at move down. I am correct in this process to cancel and re-book and am not missing something am I? I had the W booked on points; Laguna booked on points and St. Regis on a BRG. I guess I will cancel the W; Keep the Laguna as is as it moves up in points and use points on the St. Regis as it will be the same as the W?

I will assume that current reservations on points will be honored and not be bumped up to the new levels?

UA-NYC

I believe we saw in one of the blogs that those may still get "special treatment", as in not even fall into the top Cat 8. Hope that's not the case.

CPRich

No one has argued about the impact to the credit card program. But this isn't a credit card program, it's a hotel frequent stay program..

But clearly some are going to find reasons (credit card, "it will obviously increase in the future", "limited stay properties"?) to ignore the fact that average points per night have gone down, so we'll just let the facts be the facts. You can decide:

A. Point requirements have gone down 4% - obviously a huge devaluation of the entire program

B. Point requirements have gone down 4% - this is a positive sign that "the sky is falling" concerns may be overblown.

CPRich

You seem to have this on cut-and-paste. What does it have to do with an evaluation of the overall impact to the program as a whole?

Fwiw, I currently hold 8 reservations. At least 6 are "limited service properties", and I've never stayed at an AC in Spain so I don't know how to classify the other 2.

Anyone can feel free to state "this is a hit to me as the (2-8) properties I usually stay at have gone up." Trying to globalize that to an entire program is simply disingenuous.

CPRich

[QUOTE=conde;29675712
Granted, guests will earn more points from stays in the new program. For those earning most points from credit card spend however, the new top properties award chart appears to show the devaluation many were fearing.[/QUOTE]

The chart shows no such devaluation. The points you have earned in the past are worth the same, maybe slightly more, than they were before.

The change in the credit card program impacts future earnings. This is a hotel frequent stay program, The core of that program looks to be relative unscathed. Yes, it's bad for those who don't stay in hotels and generate points through spend, but I think it's clear that gravy train is ending across the FF universe.

TravelinSperry

This makes more sense then. And it differs from how Starwood did it. They just used avg daily room rates which is why the Sheraton Times Sq was a decent redemption option. Now it's going way up because it was one of the most redeemed properties in the Starwood portfolio. Its paid rates however are still competitive for the area so what you say makes sense to me. Marriott increased the award level for this property substantively since it's so popular among all of us for point redemptions.

TravelinSperry

Again, assuming only a 4% deval on the full award chart when released, I'd agree that the loyalty program side is generally status quo. For the subset of consumers who generated spend via in-hotel stays and who did not have the SPG Amex, they will see little impact (and in fact with all the new Starwood hotels might actually see quite a benefit due to all these aspirational properties coming online).

However you are too quick to dismiss the fact that there was overlap between many who earned via a cc promoted by the chain to complement their loyalty program. That loss is deep and does change the math for many. Dismissing it makes no sense as it was negotiated by Starwood to clearly add value to the hotel loyalty program. They are separate in a sense, but also do tie together and one must look at both earning points and spending them when looking at value. Apparently you didn't have the cc and/or rely on it for the bulk of your point earnings. Fine. That doesn't mean your pattern is the same for the others who accepted the Starwood negotiated cc and did rely on it.

bgriff

A few people have said this now. I guess that theoretically opens up some opportunities to game the system a bit, by using points in dull places and cash in exciting places (like using points to stay at a Courtyard in a random small city when you go to visit relatives, but using cash when you want to go to a popular beach resort). Though much like not giving lounge access at resorts and (until August 1) not giving breakfast at resorts, it seems like Marriott's philosophy is strangely opposed to enabling you to have good vacations ... which you would think is the whole point of a hotel loyalty program.

I'm not sure if I really understand the logic behind this way of setting categories, but I guess Marriott didn't ask my opinion

bgriff

There are various random properties missing from all of the region lists -- there are also a bunch of other properties (most of the various Four Pointses, the Sheraton on Canal St., the Aloft Harlem, the Brooklyn and Queens properties, etc.) that don't show up in NY for example. Dubai is for example missing the Ritz-Carlton International Financial Centre.

musicscrip

bgriff

One of the bloggers, I forget which, said something about you won't have to cancel and rebook, Marriott customer service will be able to re-price your existing booking or something like that. (That's now how SPG has ever worked in the past, but I don't know if Marriott does things differently.) But I haven't seen official confirmation so we'll have to see how it works in August.

musicscrip

MSPeconomist

Thanks. I had assumed that this was supposed to be a comprehensive list for the four places, of course with NYC suburbs not included. You're right that there are other obvious omissions such as Sheraton Soho and I forgot to look for the quirky Marriott property (Renaissance?) on about the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street.

DunkSB

Forgive me if this has been answered (searched and couldn't find it, but please point me somewhere if it has been answered). Has Marriott officially stated that the Reward 5th Night Free benefit is gone in August? If so, even the "point appreciation" hotels are going to be devalued for total point spend over a 5 day stay. Obviously this doesn't impact everyone but as I almost always use my points for vacations, the loss of 5th Night Free is probably the biggest negative impact.

Thanks for the guidance!