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I wanted to give you a two days heads up that tomorrow (Wednesday May 15, 2013) is the last day to book Marriott hotels before there are some massive category changes. While the number of points to redeem for each category level is the same, MANY hotels are moving up a category. There is a PDF document of all the hotels moving up or down a category so I highly suggest taking a look. Overall, there is 1 page of hotels moving down in category and 27.5 pages worth of hotels moving up! They are additionally adding a category 9 hotel which will require 45,000 points per night and includes the following hotels:
- Boston Marriott Long Wharf
- Le Merigot, A JW Marriott Beach Hotel & Spa, Santa Monica
- London Marriott Hotel County Hall
- London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square
- Grosvenor House, A JW Marriott Hotel
- London Marriott Hotel Park Lane
- St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel
- JW Marriott Essex House
- New York Marriott Marquis
- Renaissance New York Hotel Times Square
- Paris Marriott Hotel Champs-Elysees
- Renaissance Paris Vendome Hotel
- Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe Hotel
I personally think this is a huge devaluation of the program since many category 4 and 5 hotels are moving up and that means that the MegaBonus cat 1-4 free night certificates you’ve earned over the past year cannot be used at your desired hotel and the free cat 1-5 certificate you earn with the Marriott credit card is also not worth as much.
Keep in mind that you can book a Marriott hotel 50 weeks out, so as long as you book today or tomorrow, even if the reservation takes place after May 16th, you will lock in at today’s category rate. The unfortunate thing is that if you need to change your reservation, you will be taking on the new points required if your hotel has gone up. Additionally, Marriott allows you to book award stays even if you do not have the points in your account yet. So you can go ahead and book more stays than you have points for as long as you earn the points by the time your stay comes along. This will also help booking multiple stays if you are not 100% sure of you vacation plans.
Usually when hotels re-evaluate their category list there are always some positive changes mixed in with the bunch of devalued hotels, but in this case, I cannot find one common hotel that many people will reap the benefits with.
Just do not forget to book if you have a Marriott hotel stay in mind!
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Thanks!
I’d have missed an opportunity for Courtyard Toronto Downtown over Memorial Day weekend. Having difficulties with prior reservations elsewhere and was waiting to see if they would resolve.