# [MR] Category Changes 2013--A CATEGORY 9 [Deadline 5/15/13]



## Mr. Vker (Feb 11, 2013)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...iott-rewards-hotel-category-changes-list.html

Here you go.....

_{edited to add - SueDonJ}_

*LINK* to official *rewards-insiders.marriott.com post*; click on the link there for the *"2013 Rewards Hotel Category File.pdf"* for a complete list of Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels.

Also, *LINK* to marriott.com *"Upcoming Changes to the Marriott Rewards Program" FAQ*.


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## Mr. Vker (Feb 11, 2013)

Hotel Category Points Required Per Night
Category 1 7,500
Category 2 10,000
Category 3 15,000
Category 4 20,000
Category 5 25,000
Category 6 30,000
Category 7 35,000
Category 8 40,000
Category 9 45,000

What’s changing?

The changes are effective for all redemption reservations booked after May 16, 2013. In addition, Marriott Rewards is adding a Category 9 to the award schedule which will require 45,000 points per night. The points required for Categories 1 to 8 will not be changing.


How many hotels are affected?

73% of the programs properties will remain in Categories 1-4.
63% of the properties remain unchanged.
1% of the properties will decrease by one or more categories.
36% of the properties will increase by one or more categories.


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## dioxide45 (Feb 11, 2013)

There seems to be a lot more advance notice this year, no?


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## Mr. Vker (Feb 11, 2013)

dioxide45 said:


> There seems to be a lot more advance notice this year, no?



Yes, thats a fair point. And a complete easy to use PDF. Searchable too. But WOW. A ton of increases. The Cat 4's to 5 and 5's to 6's are huge because of the promo. certs that Marriott releases.

From Flyertalk. A Great post: _I think this devaulation is worse than the 2009 one for platinum members. There is no increase in bonus points for platinum members this time, and they basically made each category worth the previously lower one. Cat 5 is the new 4 and so on with the new category 9. A lot of solid category 3 properties are now 4. Some properties like La Jolla Marriott have gone from category 4 to 6 in two years.

If Marriott is going to charge these rates for award rooms, they need to stop the excuse of not offering free breakfast on weekends at USA/Canada properties for gold and platinum members.
_
I also feel breakfast at Courtyards for Golds and Plats should be offered. DOZENS of them have increased in category. This is the business hotel model. The competition provides breakfast at similarly branded hotels with status. We need benefits added. This devaluation after the loss of BOGO.

Come on Marriott. Earn our loyalty. PLEASE.


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## FractionalTraveler (Feb 11, 2013)

Mr. Vker said:


> Yes, thats a fair point. And a complete easy to use PDF. Searchable too. But WOW. A ton of increases. The Cat 4's to 5 and 5's to 6's are huge because of the promo. certs that Marriott releases.
> 
> From Flyertalk. A Great post: _I think this devaulation is worse than the 2009 one for platinum members. There is no increase in bonus points for platinum members this time, and they basically made each category worth the previously lower one. Cat 5 is the new 4 and so on with the new category 9. A lot of solid category 3 properties are now 4. Some properties like La Jolla Marriott have gone from category 4 to 6 in two years.
> 
> ...



Its funny.  I stayed at many of those now so-called CAT 9 properties five or six years ago when they used to be CAT 6.

IMHO, these increases have more to do with strong demand from paying customers than from reward redemptions.

Breakfast at Courtyards was taken away several years back when they converted to a la carte menus.  Every PLT I meet myself included HATE the new breakfast arrangements.  Many PLT now avoid Courtyards all together because of this.

We used to love the buffet style breakfasts in the USA because your in and out quickly with a decent selection of menu items.  Now, its wait in a que to make an order from a limited and very expensive menu designed by Marriott.  Then wait for someone to bring you the meal.  Needless to say its very time consuming and most PLT just bypass it.  I must say it makes Marriott a lot more money this way.

I learned a long time ago, once you reach Lifetime PLT there is really no benefit to staying on the loyalty train.  Especially now that roll-over nights are permanent and the lifetime requirements have been really waterered down as well.

FT


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## Saintsfanfl (Feb 11, 2013)

Marriott once again bends the rewards customers over backwards and does the unmentionable. Reward points that were not worth near the hype are are now worth even less.

There are many credit cards that offer actual cash back and/or earn much higher reward rates so the Marriott CC is a poor financial choice for anything but Marriott expenditures.

Marriott's unofficial motto is "Bait the sucker, hook the sucker".


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## l2trade (Feb 11, 2013)

Well, this ruined my night. All the places I looked to stay at later this year for Disneyland bumped up in category. Not only does this reduce the value of my points, but it also puts these locations out of reach of my annual CC free night certificate! I won't get my certificate in time.


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## Mr. Vker (Feb 11, 2013)

l2trade said:


> Well, this ruined my night. All the places I looked to stay at later this year for Disneyland bumped up in category. Not only does this reduce the value of my points, but it also puts these locations out of reach of my annual CC free night certificate! I won't get my certificate in time.



MAKE YOUR REWARD RESERVATIONS NOW. You can absolutely attach your certificate later. You will be locked in at current category. I make my CC night certs every year before I have the cert. AND have done it before a cat change.

This holds for points reservations too.


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## Mr. Vker (Feb 11, 2013)

http://www.rewards-insiders.marriot...efore-may-16-2013-using-2012-hotel-categories

More info and details.


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## l2trade (Feb 11, 2013)

Mr. Vker said:


> MAKE YOUR REWARD RESERVATIONS NOW. You can absolutely attach your certificate later. You will be locked in at current category. I make my CC night certs every year before I have the cert. AND have done it before a cat change.
> 
> This holds for points reservations too.



I will try that. I hope it works. Thank you.


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## Mr. Vker (Feb 11, 2013)

l2trade said:


> I will try that. I hope it works. Thank you.



It will. If you read the link I just shared, it tells you exactly how and that the new cats are not in effect until May.


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## MOXJO7282 (Feb 12, 2013)

Saintsfanfl said:


> There are many credit cards that offer actual cash back and/or earn much higher reward rates so the Marriott CC is a poor financial choice for anything but Marriott expenditures.



I've thought this for a few years now. I used to put everything on my MAR Visa but now for gas, groceries and drug stores I use Amex Clear Blue for 5% cash back and anything else other than Marriott goes on my United Chase.


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## tompk (Feb 12, 2013)

So much for getting any return on exchanging your week for MRP.  Best bet now is to book the travel package with the lowest hotel category and the highest amount of ff miles to use for business class tickets to Europe and use the hotel portion for a Fairfield Inn when you go to visit family.


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## FractionalTraveler (Feb 12, 2013)

tompk said:


> So much for getting any return on exchanging your week for MRP.  Best bet now is to book the travel package with the lowest hotel category and the highest amount of ff miles to use for business class tickets to Europe and use the hotel portion for a Fairfield Inn when you go to visit family.



Yes!  This is another example of why over the years trading for MR points makes less and less sense.

I still remember when 125K MR points got you a full week at a nice MVCI property.  Looking at the latest changes, some of MVCI properties were upgraded to CAT 8.  That's 280K for a week if and only if it ever becomes available for use with MR points.

Another good reason to consider buying resale weeks!


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## puckmanfl (Feb 12, 2013)

Good morning.....

This is sort of a "regressive" tax...

Let me explain...

If you are denizen of the cat 8's (soon to be 9's)  your tariff goes up by 12.5%.  If you are a patron of cat 3's (soon to be 4's) your tariff goes up by 33%....

just sayin'...


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## puckmanfl (Feb 12, 2013)

good morning...

who is going to turn in a week for MR points now... for a 125K week you get 3 nights at cat 8..which used to be a 7...

at least they didn't spin this as a"program enhancement"... my plan just use all of my points in travel packages , get my FF's use them before they devalue more..

Fractional is correct... once I make PLat lifetime next year nogreat reason to accumulate MR points...

this is a major hit..at least 10% drop in value...in some cases more...!!!


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## Nickfromct (Feb 12, 2013)

The change really kills the Cat 1-4 certificates from megabonus promotions. I'll reach lifetime gold this year and will figure out what to do next.


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## RandR (Feb 12, 2013)

This stinks.  The two places I stay when seeing my in-laws went from Cat 4 - 5 so the mega bonus certs are of no use.  The free hotel was the best part of the trip. May have to reevaluate our loyalty to Marriott.


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## tompk (Feb 12, 2013)

And the free night you get from the Marriott VISA may not get you within 75 miles of Manhattan for your $85 annual fee while the $49 annual fee for the Priority Club VISA will get you a night smack in the middle of Manhattan.


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## RBERR1 (Feb 12, 2013)

I was surprised when I was looking at the Marriott Premiere Visa that the certificate you get on an annual basis is for a category 1-5 vs. a category 1-4.  Wonder if this was done knowing this was coming down the pike.  Will be interesting to see if the megabonus stays 1-4 or it moves to 1-5 also. (wishful thinking)


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## aka Julie (Feb 12, 2013)

RBERR1 said:


> I was surprised when I was looking at the Marriott Premiere Visa that the certificate you get on an annual basis is for a category 1-5 vs. a category 1-4.  Wonder if this was done knowing this was coming down the pike.  Will be interesting to see if the megabonus stays 1-4 or it moves to 1-5 also. (wishful thinking)



The free night certificate when your card renews has always been for category 1-5 (at least for the black card).


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## SueDonJ (Feb 12, 2013)

Grrrrrr.  GRRRRR!!  !*#*&#*^$!%!!!

[Link moved to Post #1.]


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## Beaglemom3 (Feb 12, 2013)

Thank you for alerting us to this and all the other good advice that followed.

I am still figuring out the Marriott system.

Will definitely make reservations for New Year's at the Ritz Orlando_ now _!


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## mjm1 (Feb 12, 2013)

Thanks for your posts.  I was wondering if we might see a change this year. We are planning to use our points for a travel package for 2014.  I will have to review this info and possibly make some changes.

Does anyone know if these changes impact the travel packages, especially the 5 night package for owners?

Thanks.


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## NKN (Feb 12, 2013)

Well, that was a good news / bad news posting.   Our trips for 2013 appear to be okay...no scheduled changes at any of six hotels.

But our trip to Dublin in May 2014 appears iffy.  On the surface, it misses the reservation deadline by about a week, but the Dublin Shelbourne isn't in the list.   Time will tell...can't attempt the reservation until about May 20th.


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## sjnoble (Feb 12, 2013)

*Ritz travel packages*

Do you know if this change will impact any Ritz properties?
Still planning to redeem a travel package for a Ritz stay.
Wondering how late I could wait to book.

TIA


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## NKN (Feb 12, 2013)

There were definite Ritz properties in the list.  Go to the link of the insider and then click on the "list" link.  You can search the list by name.


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## bobmcgraw (Feb 12, 2013)

Whew - Just booked a hotel/award travel last week at the Marriott London County Hall for September for a week.  Glad I did!!!  Between that and a stay in Bristol, used up all my points.

I stopped trying to accumulate MRP a while back as the value just isn't there anymore.  Now I focus on miles.  Seems a better value.


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## OutAndAbout (Feb 12, 2013)

FractionalTraveler said:


> Looking at the latest changes, some of MVCI properties were upgraded to CAT 8.  That's 280K for a week if and only if it ever becomes available for use with MR points.


*Category 6*
30k*6(1 night free) plus 7nights*10k/night to upgrade = 250k
*Category 8*
40k*6(1 night free) plus 7nights*10k/night to upgrade = 310k


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## ezrv (Feb 13, 2013)

Saintsfanfl said:


> Reward points that were not worth near the hype are are now worth even less.



that is the problem with any point-based system whether it is rewards points or DC points. I wont be surprised when they announce a similar change for DC points. resale weeks rock!!!


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## mjm1 (Feb 13, 2013)

I spoke with a MRP rep this morning and he said the points required for the travel packages haven't changed. The only impact would be if the hotel you want to stay at was raised to a higher category it would cost more points.



mjm1 said:


> Thanks for your posts.  I was wondering if we might see a change this year. We are planning to use our points for a travel package for 2014.  I will have to review this info and possibly make some changes.
> 
> Does anyone know if these changes impact the travel packages, especially the 5 night package for owners?
> 
> Thanks.


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## Lawlar (Feb 13, 2013)

*Changes to Marriott Rewards Program*

Marriott sent me an email today saying that they are changing the Marriott Rewards Program.  Here's the statment:

"On May 16, 2013, Marriott Rewards® will be changing which hotels are in which categories as part of our regular review of all our hotels' categories. Additionally, there will be a new Category 9, requiring 45,000 points per night for a redemption stay."

I spent almost 30 years building my account to over 900,000 points as of two years ago (there were a few redemptions along the way, including a week in London, but about two years ago the total reached 900,000).  

When they changed the system about two years ago (depreciating the points again), I made reservations for a week's stay for January 2012 & 2013 at the Wailea Beach in Maui.  210,000 points covered each week.  Well, not exactly.  This year they charged us $30 a day for a resort fee (I asked if they would waive the fee if I promised not to use the pool or gym; nope).   You would think the points would cover the full stay, and that we wouldn't be gyped by an additional fee that really should be considered part of the cost for the room.  [The cost for food also increased over the prior year].  So even though the points required were the same for the last two years, a new $30 fee was added this year that really should have been covered by the points.  By the way, the resort fee is shown on the Marriott Websit in tiny print so I suspect many customers don't see it until they get to the hotel.

Now Marriott is probably going to bump the Maui hotel up to a higher level (I've managed to up our points to 600,000, after deducting for the last two trips), and my points lose their value once more.  At 45,000 a night a week's stay would be 315,000 points (assuming there isn't a weekly rate).  And I'll bet we have to pay a resort fee again next year ($50???)

Now anyone thinking of buying vacation points in the timeshare program, should give some thought to how Marriott keeps devaluing the rewards points. I suspect the same thing will happen to the vacation points.  Buyer beware!

I haven't posted here in a long time so you know I'm irritated.


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## Superchief (Feb 13, 2013)

FractionalTraveler said:


> Yes!  This is another example of why over the years trading for MR points makes less and less sense.
> 
> I still remember when 125K MR points got you a full week at a nice MVCI property.  Looking at the latest changes, some of MVCI properties were upgraded to CAT 8.  That's 280K for a week if and only if it ever becomes available for use with MR points.
> 
> Another good reason to consider buying resale weeks!



Not to show my age, but when I purchased my Royal Palms week, the 110k MR points could be redeemed for 1 week at any Marriott property worldwide, plus 2 roundtrip coach airline tickets, plus 1 week Hertz Car rental. Although I still get the same 110k for that week, I can now get about 3-4 nights in a Courtyard with the dreaded Bistro breakfast.


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## GaryDouglas (Feb 14, 2013)

*Hmmmmm......*

Looks like I'm going to have to start looking at planning a trip to Europe earlier than I had hoped. Starting late April should be a good time to hit Italy for few weeks weeks and a couple more in England, just to hydrate our skin. I'm not going to let 2009 happen again...


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## bogey21 (Feb 14, 2013)

Superchief said:


> Not to show my age, but when I purchased my Royal Palms week, the 110k MR points could be redeemed for 1 week at any Marriott property worldwide, plus 2 roundtrip coach airline tickets, plus 1 week Hertz Car rental. Although I still get the same 110k for that week, I can now get about 3-4 nights in a Courtyard with the dreaded Bistro breakfast.



It was these type of unilateral actions by Marriott that caused me to sell my 4 Marriott Weeks.  For example one of the big selling points for Monarch is that you can exchange your Week for Rewards points every year.  But if the points get devalued year after year this benefit becomes somewhat meaningless.

George


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## BocaBoy (Feb 14, 2013)

Superchief said:


> Not to show my age, but when I purchased my Royal Palms week, the 110k MR points could be redeemed for 1 week at any Marriott property worldwide, plus 2 roundtrip coach airline tickets, plus 1 week Hertz Car rental. Although I still get the same 110k for that week, I can now get about 3-4 nights in a Courtyard with the dreaded Bistro breakfast.



I remember those days very well.  We bought Sabal Palms in 1987 and it was one of the best financial moves we ever made because of the 110K MR points we traded for every year.  (BTW, the annual maintenance fee in the early days was something like $325-$350.)  Do you remember the year back then that they even added a 3 or 4 day cruise to the 110K award package?  That did not last long, however.


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## 1st Class (Feb 14, 2013)

QUOTE=Saintsfanfl;1423349]

There are many credit cards that offer actual cash back and/or earn much higher reward rates so the Marriott CC is a poor financial choice for anything but Marriott expenditures.

[/QUOTE]





MOXJO7282 said:


> I've thought this for a few years now. I used to put everything on my MAR Visa but now for gas, groceries and drug stores I use Amex Clear Blue for 5% cash back and anything else other than Marriott goes on my United Chase.



I also decided to switch from Marriott Rewards Visa to AMEX cash back.  Since last fall I've used the Marriott card only where AMEX is not accepted.  Too bad for Marriott ... we used that card to pay for everything -- the kids college tuition/room/board/ the whole works! ... now I may keep it only for the free night, but with this devaluation I may just stop using it completely.  I'll need an another card in addition to AMEX, but, for us, there are better choices than Marriott.


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## SueDonJ (Apr 28, 2013)

*Bump - Approaching Deadline 5/15/13*

There are only a few weeks left to book Marriott Rewards Points stays prior to the 2013 category changes.  From the *Upcoming Changes to the Marriott Rewards Program* FAQ at marriott.com (bolding mine):



> ... *Book now for the best value*
> *All redemption reservations booked on or before May 15 for stays after May 16 will be honored at the point price at which they were booked.* If you have not ordered your certificate prior to May 15, you will need to call Guest Services and request the lower priced certificate before your stay.
> *As always, you may book redemption reservations up to 50 weeks in advance of your stay*, even before having the required points in your account – although the points must be earned prior to your stay. For example, on May 1, 2013, you are able to book your hotel redemption stay as far out as April 16, 2014. Our newest booking tool, Cash + Points, can be used to redeem for stays as well. ...


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## hangloose (Apr 28, 2013)

Question. 

If I book a hotel via MRP prior to the category change date of 5/16, but at a later point need to move my reservation dates, will Marriott still accept the certificate for the previous category?

Example:   

-Book 7 nights before May 16th via MRP package at Kauai Beach Club (Cat 6) for April 2014.
-Modify reservation after May 16th category change to a later check in date at KBC (now Cat 7).

Will they still accept my 7 night Cat 6 cert, since it was initially made and linked to my hotel prior to the category change?  

I think I read this was a tip/trick which worked in past, but couldn't locate the post when searching a second time.

Thanks!


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## Superchief (Apr 28, 2013)

If anyone has a category 1-4 cert to use in the SF bay area prior to the increased award levels, I highly recommend the Renaissance Club Sport in Walnut Creek. It is located accross the street from the Pleasant Hill BART station and about 30 minutes to Napa Valley. You have access to a great health club and I found the staff to be very friendly and helpful. The only downside is parking fee, but we only rented a car for a few days and used BART to go to SF. It is increasing from cat 4 to 5, which I still consider to be a fair value.


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## Mr. Vker (Apr 28, 2013)

pedersenkl said:


> Question.
> 
> If I book a hotel via MRP prior to the category change date of 5/16, but at a later point need to move my reservation dates, will Marriott still accept the certificate for the previous category?
> 
> ...



No, they will not honor the lower category if you need to change the reservation. That's the same as rates carrying through on changes. You can cancel the reservation (within the cancelation window) and get your points or certificate back. But, you won't be able to change it. The hotel will be a category 7 for all new reservations and changes after May 16. 

You would have the option of using additional points to up your cert to a cat 7.


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## SueDonJ (May 8, 2013)

Bump - 5/15/13 deadline is a week away.

_(Note the thread has been re-titled to include deadline date.)_


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