Marriott offers ‘travel packages‘ where you redeem points for airline miles and a seven night hotel stay (there are also 5 night packages, intended for timeshare owners, these have become tougher to get if you aren’t a timeshare owner).
The value here is that you get transfers of points to miles at a rate that’s good enough you’re more or less getting a free hotel stay thrown in.
The specific pricing varies by airline partner. For instance, here’s the chart for American and Delta transfers and free nights:
The new travel package pricing costs more.
Since I never actually book 7 night hotel stays I will never use this.
Travel packages were an exceptional value for anyone who valued the stays at all, even dropping a few nights off the end of the 7 nights. It’s not surprising to see this devalued in the new program which launches in August.
You can still book the old rates before the program transition happens. It’s still not clear what exactly will happen to stay certificates issued under the old rates where you aren’t actually making the reservation for a hotel now. It would have been nice, for instance, for Marriott to publish terms and conditions for the program we’re all about to be members of.
Although I really like their new redemption chart, this is definitely horrible…
In many years past, even before I started to really work the “hobby”, I cashed in on these packages a number of times. I always found it annoying that it was a seven night stay (one property), but a couple times I got them to give me two rooms for three and four nights, when traveling with family.
I have seen the redemption rate and the value steadily decline. Years ago the milage was a “round trip, anywhere on the system.”
Anyway, thanks to bloggers like Gary, I have the knowledge of better strategies now.
Stabbed by Marriott & SPG.
This is definitely a huge loss for those of us who wanted better value out of our SPG points by getting nights and air miles. I don’t ever do 7 night stays either. I am waiting to see what they will do with existing certificate holders before I book one of these prior to the devaluation. This is a great way to boost airline miles above the 20K transfers
The stabbings have only just begun
You aint seen nothing yet
This is still the Honeymoon stage
I was going to book a travel package and book Domes of Elounda, Crete for a week, since its going up 40k points. Surprisingly its blocked out….
I bought timeshares with the understanding I could trade off for points and travel packages. I used to get the hotel nights, car rental and air miles. I am horrified by the new award chart and can’t help but think Class Action Lawsuit !
I am a timeshare owner for 21 years and own 4 timeshare with Marriott…These new travel packages are Absurd…The number of points needed is ridiculous…also you only get 100,000 miles instead of 120,000 miles…Marriott never should have bought out spg..Marriott just keeps taking away from their Loyal customers…It’s nothing but GREED..BILL Marriott should be Ashamed what Arne Sorenson has done with the Marriott Company…Besides the Maintenance fees going up all the time…now making us use more points for vacations and Hotel stays…I am a very unhappy Marriott Owner..
Publishing Ts&Cs requires having them, and Marriott is still unsure of the details.
I have a 5-night award for a Cat 5 with plenty of points to spare. What should I do with this thing to maximize value? Should I upgrade it to a Cat 6 or higher? Should I book something now?
Huh. The inflation for more points makes sense (because that’s the industry trend), the reduction in airline miles awarded does not. I hope they backtrack this one.
Let’s sue for Breach of Contract.
Nick — I booked a week at Domes of Elounda for a week in May 2019 on Sunday — the day after you called — with no problem at all — using a Category 9 travel package.
How and who can I contact that might have insight into a possible class action lawsuit against Marriott for reducing drastically the value of a travel hotel reward I purchased before any merger. I bought and paid for in points three 5 day awards category 8 with the corresponding airline miles and they just arbitrarily made my category 8 package a category 5 without adjusting anything to me. I get a free night in a category 1-5 hotel yearly now just for having a Marriott visa credit card. This was a package I purchased! They gave me no warnings of anything prior until I now try to use them under the contract I bought in July 2018 James Day, M.D. Chairman’s club jfomd9@gmail.com