Just last month, Marriott announced their yearly hotel category changes and it unfortunately is a pretty negative change. Out of the 383 properties changing categories, only 37 of them are going down a category. Do the math and you’ll see that out of the changes, 90% of them are moving up—this means more points required to redeem for a free night stay. This is a reminder that these changes will go into effect on March 5, 2019. This means that today is your last day to make reservations under the current categories. As long as the hotel is booked before tomorrow, you’ll be locked into the lower point amount.
While you can see the entire list of properties changing categories here, this is my breakdown of areas you should pay attention to.
Hawaii
Staying in Hawaii on points is not cheap and unfortunately some of the better redemptions will not be a great value anymore.
- Courtyard Waikiki Beach — moving from a category 5 to 6
- Sheraton Waikiki — moving from a category 6 to 7
- Sheraton Princess Kaiulani — moving from a category 5 to 6
- Residence Inn Maui Wailea — moving from a category 5 to 6
- Koloa Landing Resort at Poipu, Autograph Collection — moving from a category 6 to 7
New York City
Right now New York City actually has many category 5 properties where you are still able to use your free night certificate from one of the Marriott credit cards. Unfortunately many of these properties will be moving up to a category 6, although you’ll still be able to stay in downtown Manhattan or in some of the boroughs with your category 5 free night certificate.
- Residence Inn New York Manhattan/Times Square — moving from a category 5 to 6
- Residence Inn New York Manhattan/Central Park — moving from a category 5 to 6
- Residence Inn New York Downtown Manhattan/ World Trade Center Area  — moving from a category 5 to 6
- Courtyard New York Manhattan/Central Park — moving from a category 5 to 6
- Courtyard New York Manhattan/Times Square — moving from a category 5 to 6
- Courtyard New York Manhattan/SoHo — moving from a category 5 to 6
- Courtyard New York Downtown Manhattan/World Trade Center Area — moving from a category 4 to 5
- Fairfield Inn New York Manhattan/Financial District — moving from a category 4 to 5
- Fairfield Inn & Suites New York Downtown Manhattan/ World Trade Center Area — moving from a category 4 to 5
- Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel  — moving from a category 5 to 6
- Aloft New York Brooklyn  — moving from a category 4 to 5
Disneyland
If staying in Anaheim is on your radar to visit Disneyland, these properties are increasing as well.
- Courtyard Anaheim Resort/Convention Center — moving from a category 4 to 5
- Four Points by Sheraton Anaheim — moving from a category 3 to 4
- Residence Inn Anaheim Resort Area/Garden Grove — moving from a category 4 to 5
- Residence Inn at Anaheim Resort/Convention Center — moving from a category 5 to 6
- SpringHill Suites Anaheim Maingate — moving from a category 4 to 5
- TownePlace Suites Anaheim Maingate Near Angel Stadium — moving from a category 3 to 4
Florida Beach Resorts
Many family friendly resorts in Florida are increasing as well. This hits most of South Florida on both the East and West Coast.
- JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort — moving from a category 6 to 7
- Hollywood Beach Marriott — moving from a category 5 to 6
- Key West Marriott Beachside Hotel — moving from a category 6 to 7
- The Saint Hotel Key West, Autograph Collection — moving from a category 6 to 7
- Playa Largo Resort & Spa, Autograph Collection — moving from a category 6 to 7
- Waterline Marina Resort & Beach Club, Autograph Collection — moving from a category 5 to 6
- Sheraton Suites Key West — moving from a category 5 to 6
- Courtyard Marathon Florida Keys — moving from a category 5 to 6
- Delray Beach Marriott — moving from a category 5 to 6
- Palm Beach Marriott Singer Island Beach Resort & Spa — moving from a category 6 to 7
- W Miami  — moving from a category 5 to 6
- Residence Inn Fort Lauderdale Pompano Beach/Oceanfront — moving from a category 4 to 5
- Residence Inn Cape Canaveral Cocoa Beach — moving from a category 4 to 5
- The Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove, Miami — moving from a category 5 to 6
Mexico and Caribbean Beach Resorts
Resort vacations throughout Grand Cayman, Puerto Rico, Puerto Vallarta, British Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas are about to get more expensive as well. I am personally disappointed to see The Westin Grand Cayman moving up again! Just a few years back you could redeem 12,000 Starwood points for a free night stay and now it will require 60,000 Marriott points (equivalent to 20,000 Starwood points) or even 70,000 Marriott points during peak dates (equivalent to 23,333 Starwood points).
- Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort — moving from a category 6 to 7
- The Westin Grand Cayman Seven Mile Beach Resort & Spa — moving from a category 6 to 7
- Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman — moving from a category 7 to 8
- The Westin Resort & Spa, Puerto Vallarta  — moving from a category 4 to 5
- San Juan Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino — moving from a category 5 to 6
- La Concha Renaissance San Juan Resort— moving from a category 5 to 6
- Sheraton Puerto Rico Hotel & Casino — moving from a category 4 to 5
- Scrub Island Resort, Spa & Marina, Autograph Collection — moving from a category 7 to 8
- French Leave Resort, Autograph Collection — moving from a category 6 to 7
As you can see from the lists above, there are some significant changes which will require you to use more points. Of course there are a few (just 37) properties that will require less points, but they are far and few between. I personally would pay good attention to the hotels that are moving up from a category 5 to a category 6 because the free night certificate that comes with the Marriott credit card are capped at a category 5 hotel. So if you are looking to use one of those free night certificates and the hotel is moving out of the category 1-5 zone, make sure to lock in that reservation now.
Make Reservations Now!
Originally when the changes were announced there were some rumors that point advance reservations would not lock in at the current (lower rate). Fortunately, that is not true! The reason why this is so great is that Marriott will allow you to make reservations in advance even if you do not have the points in your account. You just need to make sure to have the points in your account within 14 days of check-in. This will allow you to continue to earn the points required between now and your reservation taking place—especially since you can book award reservations for 51 weeks in advance. If you wait until tomorrow, you can make point reservations at these properties for a checkout date through February 23, 2020.
Just remember though, if you need to change a reservation post March 5th, Marriott will re-price you at the higher level category. Since you can use Points Advance, you can always make a few different speculative reservations, just make sure there is a flexible cancelation policy.
Overall…
Do not delay in making your Marriott reservations for all properties moving up a category as well as the category 8 properties that up until this point have been pricing out as a category 7.
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