Update 5/18/21: VFTW points out that 15 properties also increased in price that weren’t included in the list. 4 changed before the lists publication and another 11 changed after the lists publication. Good to see Marriott being transparent as normal (/s).
Marriott has announced what hotels are changing categories for 2021. The new pricing will go into effect on March 3, 2021. Unlike previous years were almost one third of properties changed categories, this year only 201 properties are changing category with the majority decreasing in price.
- 51 will increase in price
- 150 will decrease in price
Not a huge surprise given COVID-19 and low occupancy rates. Marriott has been offering frequent ‘all properties at off peak rate sales’, but realistically most properties should have off peak pricing if the program works as advertised due to the low occupancy rates.
The link to the list doesn’t work any more
I cant find the list. Where is it?
So, where is the list?
SPG was the best hotel chain around (Besides Hyatt, obviously), before Marriott Bonvoyed them. Now Hyatt is the best hands down. IHG is horrible, Hilton is pathetic and they both require ridiculous amounts of points for any stays, just like Marriott. It’s disappointing. 👎🏼
I’ve been loyal to Marriott for a long time, using my Marriot credit card, and hoping for a nice way to spend a free night. However, it became impossible to spend 50k certificates in something remotely nice. Redemption rates went massively up, while the certificates are still 50k…
Well if you think that is bad I have three 35k certificates. Pretty much worthless.
Link doesn’t go to a page that says anything about category changes, just a “Explore the possibilities – redeem your points for free nights” generic page.
Everytime I request for an upgrade, I always get Bonvoyed. I’m a Titanium member!! FUCK YOU Marriott!!
lol dude, you’re hilarious.
Just tell them you are a pro MSer, they will certainly upgrade you to the best suite in the hotel, the pro MSer suite.
More like Pro MF’er suite
When you say FUCK YOU to enough companies and people, sometimes they will fuck you back.
Yeah but they are also doing it to their best customers. Marriott status is pretty much worthless I couldn’t even get them to give me a noon checkout.
I’m Titanium as well. Same happens to me. I get denied trying to use upgrade coupons but then the hotel upgrades me to a suite for free! Currently traveling in Thailand with 0-10% occupancy rates so these upgrades should always go through. What’s up with that?
Anyway, will take the free ones and save these unusable upgrade certs for who knows what.
BTW, I’m an unprofessional MS’er so maybe that plays into it?
Fuck you Jordan. You bastard
Wuhan Marriott dropped from 3 to 2 ….. lol
As per usual courtyards/fairfields are going down while high end properties go up, generally speaking.
Marriott Bonvoy destroyed the loyalty program! Their low/mid range properties require astronomical points! It’s a pathetic program! Hilton is the best now in terms of value!
Hilton is the best? Lol wut? hyatt
I will give you three Hyatt free night certificates for one Hilton free night. Hilton is by far the best. It isn’t even close.
If you don’t think like everyone else, it can be BEST program.
See, in case you’re not aware, Marriott tends to price their property reward costs not by how much the property costs in cash (the way Hilton tends to do, for example), but by how many rewards redemptions there are at the property.
So if you redeem in places where few other people redeem, you can find great redemption value with Marriott properties. That includes many expensive-in-cash properties in parts of the world where few people redeem Marriott points.
OTOH, if you want to redeem where everyone else wants to redeem, properties which are low priced on cash may be a very poor value on redemption in those places.
(Of course, that’s based on reward redemption in normal times. The fact that only these 201 properties changed this year means that they didn’t over-factor-in temporary Covid changes in stay patterns.)
So with a few exceptions here or there, Marriott is a lot easier program to get big value out of (if you choose the “right’ places to stay) than Hilton, where value is very similar between all properties (since the rewards redemption cost at Hilton is closely tied to cash cost).
Interesting. I took a look at Hilton and found some excellent deals in obscure places, so if Marriott could beat that that’d be fantastic. Do you have some rough numbers for the # of points/night at some of those cheaper properties for marriott?
Here’s a couple examples, one from overseas, one domestically:
Protea Hotel Lusaka Tower, Lusaka, Zambia, 17-18 Feb, US$124 sale rate, US$160 standard rate, or 4500 points per night.
Fairfield Inn Memphis Collierville, 14-15 May, prepay rates from $157, refundable rates from $175, or 15000 points per night, or $65 + 7000 points per night.
Relatively few people who redeem Marriott points do so in the capital of Zambia. Relatively few people who redeem Marriott points in the Memphis area do so in the outlying suburbs. That’s why these hotels are below average redemption rates, yet in these two cases I managed to find no so super-cheap cash rates.
These are not even the best examples, based on my experience. I’m having trouble finding examples of way-above-average, because the cash price of many usually-expensive hotels (in places where redemption rates tend to be relatively low) are unusually super-inexpensive right now due to Covid. A number of hotels which cost $200ish when I was there are going for $80ish, $60ish, or even less now, just because very few people are traveling because of Covid. But I’m unable to look up precise numbers for years past.
Lol there is a reason no one wants to stay in those places.
I have to agree I have found it easier to get outsized value from Marriott Pts/FNA (35K) globally over Hilton Pts (Free WEN Aspire can provide outsized value with timing).
While points are a different animal than FNA/FNC from cards with AF – we are extremely happy for the outsized value from SPG/Hilton CC with AF but free annual night it’s easy to get 2X the AF from the annual nights stays. Even more so with crazy hotel taxes/fees in some places which can run as high as 18-25% .
I don’t see that. I am basically going to throw my Marriott 35k free nights in the trash. My 4 Hilton free nights I redeemed at $500 a night hotels.
Lol try redeeming Marriott 35k certificates in Europe. The hotels prices are slashed certificates are unusable. They make all hotels at least 40k a night.
Like I said, “IF you don’t think like everyone else”.
Where in Europe? The most popular cities? Of course.
But the first “not everyone thinks of this” city I tried, Helsinki Finland, has all three hotels at 35k or just under, in June, July, and September. Then I tried Lisbon, Portugal, and 6 out of 10 hotels are at 35k or under in July. Then I tried the Brussels/Ghent area, Belgium, and again about half of the hotels in that area are 35k or under in July.
But even around Paris, while Paris city center is of course priced much higher, you can get 35k or under at Paris airport hotels in July, plus a few other hotels well outside the city center.
So it still depends on looking in the “less obvious” places, even in Europe, to have a better chance of getting 35k and under.
I have hotel points in LOTS of different programs, and no one program works everywhere the best. I’ve used Choice Privileges to get a good redemption rate in the center of London AND a good redemption rate in the center of Venice, for example. The “big” hotel programs are of course ridiculous in “ultra famous” places like that. (Choice properties overseas on average are better quality that Choice properties in the US on average.)