New Marriott Rewards Property Categories and Travel Package Requirements effective Aug '18

[ejp]

I would if it is by the 20th so you get the 35% off. Otherwise I would book the cat 9 5-night package for 345,000.

Thanks, it'll be quick to purchase and then I'll see what I can get for the leftover points.

 

[Saintsfanfl]

I found out the hard way that an account has to be active for 14 days before you can purchase points. My DW had an MR account but not SPG. It is too late for me to buy points on her account.

 

[teach]

I see a lot of people are booking 5 night packages vs 7 night packages and the reference to it being a better value. Can someone explain why the preference for 5 day? Anywhere we typically would use the package we would go for 7 days but I'm just curious about the 5 night package being a better deal.

 

[teach]

I like the 5 night TP BUT TO GET Jetblue air miles I have to go with the 7 night TP, am I correct?

 

[purduealum91]

Yes, can someone please explain why a 5 night package is a better value than 7 nights?

Thanks,

Tom

 

[mjm1]

Yes, can someone please explain why a 5 night package is a better value than 7 nights?

Thanks,

Tom

It really depends on how you want to use your points. For one, with the 5 night package you are taking advantage of redeeming points for 4 nights and getting the 5th night free. If you get the 7 night package, you still only get one night free. So, depending on how many points you have you may be able to get multiple 5 nights packages instead of one 7 nights package and have points left. The other is that we use them in hotel situations, so 5 nights has been plenty.

I am sure others will weigh in as well.

Mike

 

[winger]

t was going from a category 7 to a cate

Anyone consider buying a TP, booking a location you really think you want to go to before 8.1 and then trying to just change the dates of the reservation to keep the 5 night certificate undisturbed?

...

Unsure if this were addressed, but my understanding is if you called in after 8/1/2018 to change the date of the existing reservation, new 8/1/2018 per night point rates apply. In other words, if you booked (pre-8/1/2018) a hotel where redemption rates were increasing from 30k/night to 50k/night (on 8/1/2018), but on 8/1/2018 (or after) you called to change the date of the reservation, Marriott will charge you 50k/night. In this example, I presume a reservation booked/paid with a hotel certificate from a TP will face a similar need to 'increase your 'payment' .

 

[Luvtoride]

I like the 5 night TP BUT TO GET Jetblue air miles I have to go with the 7 night TP, am I correct?

No that’s not correct. You can get a 5 night TP in Cat 3 which is JetBlue for 60k JetBlue Miles and say a Cat 7, 5 night certificate for 270k MRP.

All of this speculation on what happens after 8-1 is just that...Spec! I have spoken to 3 diff reps on Marriott and MVC and none had any definitive answers to most of the questions posed here. In fact there is uncertainty if the 5 night travel packages will even still be offered to MVC club members era after 8/1 as they have no pricing charts to even refer to for point costs.

Good luck all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JanT]

This is true AND the account has to be open for more than 30 days before points can be transferred. I'm playing the waiting game right now. Will just make the deadline.

I found out the hard way that an account has to be active for 14 days before you can purchase points. My DW had an MR account but not SPG. It is too late for me to buy points on her account.

 

[Saintsfanfl]

This is true AND the account has to be open for more than 30 days before points can be transferred. I'm playing the waiting game right now. Will just make the deadline.

It is odd that the system will let you buy the points. It will let you pay with a credit card with the payment being confirmed. Then behind the scenes they cancel the order without batching the payment. Is it really that hard to prevent the order from taking place in the first place? Or was this a quick patchwork deal to prevent people from taking advantage of the value right before the deadline? That is probably it. I wonder if they had some people opening a large number of accounts and buying the max.

 

[JanT]

I agree with you. Very strange that they will let it all go through but then do some kind of behind the scenes check. In today's tech world it should be really easy to program the system to block anyone from purchasing/transferring points with new accounts. Of course, then what would the person behind the scenes who was hired to reverse those purchases do for a job? LoL

I'm sure tons of people opened accounts just for this purpose.

It is odd that the system will let you buy the points. It will let you pay with a credit card with the payment being confirmed. Then behind the scenes they cancel the order without batching the payment. Is it really that hard to prevent the order from taking place in the first place? Or was this a quick patchwork deal to prevent people from taking advantage of the value right before the deadline? That is probably it. I wonder if they had some people opening a large number of accounts and buying the max.

 

[Saintsfanfl]

I'm sure tons of people opened accounts just for this purpose.

I only wanted to open one, but not soon enough.

 

[JanT]

Sorry you missed out on that. I almost did but managed to find the info soon enough.

I only wanted to open one, but not soon enough.

 

[hpy2go]

As this is the right community to think out loud, and get constructive feedback, I'm going to chime in a bit. I have probably three different topics in this (long) post, but I'm not sure where else to post, so I'm starting here. Sorry.

I did talk to a Customer Service representative late last week. She was tremendously helpful and effective for the issue I called about, but she was also knowledgeable and practical when it came to advice about these changes. I felt she was honest and open about what she knew, vice what she thought. Here are my key takeaways from that conversation:

1) Yes, the value of points will be going down.
2) Marriott will be honoring reservations made with certificates before 8/1. (She said 8/1, because she knows August but not the precise date). Having the reservation is the only guarantee of value.
3) For the cat 1-5 certificate that I have, but intend to "upgrade" when I settle my plan, it is not clear what the upgrade will mean. I'm better upgrading and making the reservation before that 8/1 date. Only upgrading may not get what I want, points/value wise.
4) She wasn't 100% that there would be travel packages after 8/1 (although I see others have posted the tables with expected new values).

As others have said, this makes me wonder about the long term value of the MRP for travel packages.

So, what to do? I'm frustrated that I am too busy to sort through all these changes right now. I've all but given up hope to get to Lifetime Platinum by 12/31. (Although I'm not really sure of the value between the new Lifetime Platinum Elite [from my current Lifetime Gold] and the Lifetime Platinum Premier Elite [from a potential Lifetime Platinum by 12/31]). I've found the travel packages to be a tremendous value to us. We've flown to Hawaii for $44.20 (for 2) from the East Coast. We've spent a week at the Mauna Kea Resort (due to great advice from fellow TUGGers). My wife has made about a dozen Southwest flights on companion passes with me, including Cancun, Punta Cana, Aruba, San Antonio, multiple Denver/Colorado Springs, Las Vegas, etc. (looking at weekends in New Orleans, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos). We're using the heck out of that deal between now and the end of the year. Here's where I welcome feedback and ideas.

1) I have a 7-day cert that I've extended once. I think I want to use it before the year ends (and the SWA companion pass), to complete our "Southwest Airlines Year". It seems to me the sweet spot is to use that at a place that Southwest flies (free flight, free stay). JW Marriott in Cabo seems the top choice right now, for 90K more points. Other suggestions? Maybe I should disconnect the certificate and the Companion pass in my thinking and consider different options.

2) With the rest of the points I currently have, I'm thinking that I may want to get another 7-day package and try for a week in Santorini at a Starwood property, followed by a week in Son Antem with my MVC points. I have no idea if I can:

a) Use my MRP for a Starwood location on Santorini
b) How many points that would be (what category)
c) If I could get a reservation, at a time that it would work (weather, work, etc.) Thinking next May or July-September.
d) I could sequence those two visits with availability.

If that could work out, I'm think about this itinerary: Fly to Athens (which airline is best to use for potential upgrades to Business???). Spend a day there. Fly or ferry to Santorini, spend a week. Fly to somewhere that I could get to Mallorca - maybe spend a day there if that breaks up the trip nicely. Spend a week at Son Antem. Return home, even if it means another stopover day (Barcelona is nice! )

Any thoughts, fellow TUGGers?

Thanks in advance, and again, sorry for the long post. Also sorry if this isn't the right topic.

It seems fair to post an update, sharing information that might be of value to someone.

Booking on Santorini on a certificate is not possible. Neither location participates in that "feature" of the program. I won't say they laughed at me when I asked, but I wasn't sure that wasn't in the background. I guess I was dreaming bigger than I thought.

Crete was an option that worked. I think a week in Crete will be a fantastic alternative. The package put us in a position to fly back and forth in business class.

I was able to sequence Crete and Son Antem, so that feels like a great use of points.

Thanks to Saintsfanfl, I was able to grab the discounted SPG points to upgrade existing cert. Now to finalize that destination.

Continued thanks, tuggers

 

[Fairwinds]

I don’t do the packages because I don’t want the airline miles, but I still get the five or seven night stays with one free night. This year I reserved two back to back 5 night stays in Costa Rica and after checking the new charts I saw that I need to call and rebook after changes take effect. If I remember correctly I’ll actually save ~ 20k points. Thanks TUG!

 

[JanT]

Deleted and put question on a different thread.

 

[WBP]

I think you are spot on. I walked away from Marriott International's roll-out of their new brand loyalty program, and said that Mr. Fluek is a consummate Spin Meister, and I thought to myself, where there's smoke, there's fire.

I think Mr. Flueck could sell snow to eskimos, without any difficulty.

For MVCI Owners, I think the value proposition of exchanging a timeshare week for Marriott Rewards points (do you remember when a Travel Package was 200,000 Marriott Rewards points, and included an 8 day Hertz rental car?) is a thing of the past (under the terms of the August 2018 update/revision of the Marriott Rewards program). Fortunately, we can still enjoy great vacations at our Home Resort, and at other Marriott Vacation Club resorts, by exchanging from one Marriott Vacation Club resort to another, via Interval International.

SEE this 45 minute video:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2095479260466710

SEE this (too):

http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/19965/The-history-and-evolution-of-hotel-loyalty

 

[WBP]

I think you are spot on. I walked away from Marriott International's roll-out of their new brand loyalty program, and said that Mr. Fluek is a consummate Spin Meister, and I thought to myself, where there's smoke, there's fire.

I think Mr. Flueck could sell snow to eskimos, without any difficulty.

For MVCI Owners, I think the value proposition of exchanging a timeshare week for Marriott Rewards points (do you remember when a Travel Package was 200,000 Marriott Rewards points, and included an 8 day Hertz rental car?) is a thing of the past (under the terms of the August 2018 update/revision of the Marriott Rewards program). Fortunately, we can still enjoy great vacations at our Home Resort, and at other Marriott Vacation Club resorts, by exchanging from one Marriott Vacation Club resort to another, via Interval International.

SEE this 45 minute video:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2095479260466710

SEE this (too):

http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/19965/The-history-and-evolution-of-hotel-loyalty

 

[WBP]

I've worked in Marketing research for the past 40+ years for medium and large corporations in various industries. In the early years, we were always trying to identify ways to make things better for our customers/ consumers in order to have a competitive edge. That changed 10-15 years ago to : how do we fool customers to make them pay more for less, and call it 'an enhancement'. That is why I am skeptical every time a corporation communicates how they 'listened to the customer to enhance the program. If you notice, they emphasize that more hotels went down in points than up. However, most of the decreases were for Courtyards and lower end properties, while there were significant increases (not including 'peak') for Autograph and other FS premium brands, especially in prime locations.

I meant to respond to the brilliant post (quoted above), with this:

http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/19965/The-history-and-evolution-of-hotel-loyalty

 

[kds4]

Just bought 30k Starpoints at 35% off. Tomorrow is last day of promo. Get your discount until midnight on 7/20. Points posted instantly for me. Another 90k MRP transferred into my account. Total time spent, less than 5 minutes and all from my cell phone (while out of the country).

 

[NJDave]

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marriott-rewards/1403715-marriott-travel-packages-266.html


The following is a post on Flyertalk from this morning regarding unattached certificates:

Originally Posted by Starwood Lurker
Any outstanding awards for certificates with a pre-defined category (like Chase or MegaBonus promotional certificates) will be converted to a commensurate value with the new award schedule. Other floater certificates will be cancelled and converted to equivalent points, credited to the member’s account for future redemption.

If you are asking for an exact conversion amount, all we can tell you is we are currently reviewing how to handle existing travel package awards already in members' accounts that remain unattached. Members should make every effort to book and attach these certificates prior to our programs becoming one to maximize their usage as this may or may not be forthcoming before the programs merge.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts LLC

spgchampion@starwoodhotels.com

 

[Saintsfanfl]

What are the opinions out there on unattached Marriott 5 or 7 night certificates for someone with no plans as of yet? Attach and cancel later or leave unattached? I am leaning towards attaching a cat 1-5 to a current cat 5(25,000) that is moving to a new cat 5(35,000) in the bizarre chance the cancellation results in a new cat 5 or a refund of 140,000 points. Any downside to it?

 

[VacationForever]

What are the opinions out there on unattached Marriott 5 or 7 night certificates for someone with no plans as of yet? Attach and cancel later or leave unattached? I am leaning towards attaching a cat 1-5 to a current cat 5(25,000) that is moving to a new cat 5(35,000) in the bizarre chance the cancellation results in a new cat 5 or a refund of 140,000 points. Any downside to it?

No downside to it... although I think it is just wishful thinking. I am leaving my 2 unattached and just wait for the refund sometime after August.

 

[Saintsfanfl]

No downside to it... although I think it is just wishful thinking. I am leaving my 2 unattached and just wait for the refund sometime after August.

My problem is we do not know what the refund will be, not that attaching will change that.

 

[VacationForever]

My problem is we do not know what the refund will be, not that attaching will change that.

I agree but I got the miles that I wanted and any MRP refund is just gravy.