Marriott & SPG have both announced their properties that will be changing award category for 2017. Given Marriott’s acqusition of SPG, it’s no surprise to see these changes announced on the same day. In addition they will both go into effect on the same day (March 7th).
Properties booked by March 7th will fall under the old pricing and those booked after March 7th will come under the new pricing. This means that it’s worth going through the list to see if there are any properties you’re planning on staying at that will go up in price (book now!) or down in price (book later). Let’s get onto the changes.
Marriott Changes
- 23% of Marriott’s properties will be changing category
- 40% will be going down in price
- 60% will be going up in price
SPG Changes
- 21% of SPGÂ properties will be changing category
- 63% will be going down in price
- 37% will be going up in price
Our Verdict
Overall I don’t see anything that jumps out at me as being a horrible change, it’s interesting that they seem to be reducing a lot of SPG properties in price (rare to see more going down than up). Overall I’d say for most people they will find properties they want to stay at more expensive, but without it being a huge change – I just see this change as inflation.
The best thing is neither program is getting rid of award categories and trying to act like it’s actually a positive for their loyalty members (yes, Hilton I’m going to keep taking shots at you since nobody else seems to want to do it). Let me know your thoughts on these changes in the comments and remember to book anything you’re planning on staying at if it’s going to increase in price.
Hat tip to View From The Wing
For SPG, China is the main reason there are more down then up since every single hotel there went down. For Japan, every single hotel went up a category.
Good catch.
So… if I want to book a Starwood room with points for April, I should hurry and get it done before March 7th?
Depends on the property you’re looking at, more are decreasing in price then increasing with SPG