Our first ever “Special Bulletin”. . .Marriott has announced that their latest devaluation will happen on March 29. As expected, the change to “flexible point redemption”. . .Marriott-speak for dynamic pricing. . .will mean that the value of Bonvoy points will continue to plummet. Anyone holding Bonvoy points and certificates will be impacted by these changes, and there are steps you can take to still get good value this year.
On March 29, 220 hotels will become more expensive for point redemptions (here’s the complete list: https://help.marriott.com/s/article/Article-33764). This list includes the cream of the Marriott crop as well as some of their more basic Fairfield, Courtyard and Springhill Suites properties. Here’s a summary of the damage: 37 hotels are increasing by 5,000 points per night; 60 hotels are moving up by 10,000 points; 79 hotels are increasing by 20,000 points; and 44 hotels are going to cost 30,000 more points per night. Some of these increases are in the range of 30, 40 and 50%.
And this is just the start. Marriott has said that they’re limiting their increases to a very small number of properties for now. That’s true, but if you look at their list, you’ll see that nearly all of the best hotels are on it. Starting next year, I believe we’ll see similar increases across the board at the rest of their 8,000+ hotels.
A major consequence of these changes is that, starting March 29, it will become very difficult to find a decent property to book using any existing (or future) 35k-50k Marriott certificates. In order to salvage the current value of those certificates you should book now, before March 29. You’ll have to book for a stay prior to the certificate’s expiration date, and there are a ton of certificates set to expire on June 30. Don’t expect that date to be extended.
If you have a Marriott co-branded credit card (Amex and Chase both offer them) that gives you a free night certificate each year as an offset to its annual fee, you should reevaluate whether to continue with that card. Going forward, it will be difficult and frustrating to find a desirable hotel that will accept that certificate for a free night, even when Marriott’s “top-up” program begins in April. Remember that you can still transfer points from both the Amex Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards programs to Marriott if you decide to stay at one of their (soon to be much more expensive) hotels in the future.
If your travel plans include a stay at any of the 220 hotels that are becoming more expensive, make sure to book those reservations before March 29 if you’re using points. Even if your plans change, you’ll get your points back if you cancel. Just make sure you are aware of that particular hotel’s cancellation policy. If your dates change after March 29, you will be charged the new, higher point value for your “amended” stay. . .so you might want to reconsider, pay cash, and get all of your points back.
For all of us veterans of both the Marriott Rewards and SPG loyalty programs, this is extremely disappointing news. In our case, it validates our decision to move our business to Hyatt, where we can still get great value of 1.5 to as much as 5 cents per point. When Marriott finishes this devaluation process in the next year or so, Bonvoy points will probably be worth less than a half cent per point. Apparently, Marriott’s definition of loyalty only works one way.