“All about” posts take an in-depth look into various topics. See all of them here. Have a topic you want to read more about? Sound off in the comments!
Need extra Starpoints? Starwood is currently offering 35% off purchases and gifts of 5K-30K Starpoints. Read this post for how to buy even more than that!
Before reading this post, I’d strongly recommend that you read this post: All About Marriott’s Lucrative Miles+Nights Travel Packages; The Best Way To Spend Your Starpoints.
This is a highly technical, advanced level post, but in it I will show you how it’s possible to get up to 6.6 airline miles per Starpoint when combined with a hotel stay. Be sure to first read this all about post about how to redeem points for these travel packages. Then try reading through this post a few times and finally, ask questions in the comments and I’ll try to answer them.
Marriott has said that their popular miles+nights travel packages will be sticking around in the new program. However they currently offer 5 packages with miles that vary based on the airline miles that you choose. Marriott said that they will combine those packages into a simpler option that will work with all airlines and the new unified award chart.
To me, that means it’s very likely that the 2 most lucrative packages for transfers to airlines will be devalued.
Here are Marriott’s top miles+nights travel packages for 7 nights in a hotel and United miles. With these you can get up to 132K miles and it’s always worth getting the 132K miles package if you can afford it. Prices are in Marriott points (divide by 3 for the price in Starpoints):
Here are Marriott’s 2nd best miles+nights packages for 7 nights in a hotel and Aeromexico, Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Copa Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, GOL/Varig, Hawaiian Airlines, Iberia Airlines, Southwest, or Virgin Atlantic miles. With these you can get up to 120K miles and it’s always worth getting the 120K miles package if you can afford it. Prices are in Marriott points (divide by 3 for the price in Starpoints):
The other airline packages are much less lucrative. You can only earn up to 60K-85K miles with those. I fear that the new packages will be closer to what those ones offer.
I’d highly recommend locking in packages now at the current rates. You have to call Marriott to book these and you choose the hotel later on. Be sure to read this post for all of the information that you need to know about these packages! In August you will be able to use these certificates at SPG and Marriott hotels, but how exactly will Marriott map the value of these certificates to the new unified program?
Marriott currently has 14 categories of hotels that will be moved into 7 new categories in August.
Let’s start by examining the Chase Marriott Premier card which will be discontinued very soon.
That card currently advertises a free category 1-5 anniversary night, but going forward it will give an anniversary night valid at hotels that cost up to 25K points (Other Starwood and Marriott cards will give free nights valid at hotels that cost 35K-50K points per night, but I’ll just examine the Marriott Premier free night in this post as it is the only one that is changing valid categories with the launch of the new unified award chart).
Let’s take a look at a comparison chart that I put together. All prices here are in Marriott points as I have tripled the prices in the Starwood award chart to help make things a little easier to compare.
| Previous Starwood Chart | Previous Previous Marriott Chart | August 2018 Combined Chart | February 2019 Combined Chart | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category 1 | 6,000 (Weekends) 9,000 (Weekdays) | 7,500 | 7,500 | 5,000 off-peak 7,500 standard 10,000 peak |
| Category 2 | 9,000 (Weekends) 12,000 (Weekdays) | 10,000 | 12,500 | 10,000 off-peak 12,500 standard 15,000 peak |
| Category 3 | 21,000 | 15,000 | 17,500 | 15,000 off-peak 17,500 standard 20,000 peak |
| Category 4 | 30,000 | 20,000 | 25,000 | 20,000 off-peak 25,000 standard 30,000 peak |
| Category 5 | 36,000 off-peak 48,000 peak | 25,000 | 35,000 | 30,000 off-peak 35,000 standard 40,000 peak |
| Category 6 | 60,000 off-peak 75,000 peak | 30,000 | 50,000 | 40,000 off-peak 50,000 standard 60,000 peak |
| Category 7 | 90,000 off-peak 105,000 peak | 35,000 | 60,000 | 50,000 off-peak 60,000 standard 70,000 peak |
| Category 8 | - | 40,000 | - | 70,000 off-peak 85,000 standard 100,000 peak |
| Category 9 | - | 45,000 | - | - |
| Ritz Tier 1 | - | 30,000 | - | - |
| Ritz Tier 2 | - | 40,000 | - | - |
| Ritz Tier 3 | - | 50,000 | - | - |
| Ritz Tier 4 | - | 60,000 | - | - |
| Ritz Tier 5 | - | 70,000 | - | - |
In other words the current anniversary night is valid at Marriott category 1 through 5 hotels. Those hotels currently cost 7,500-25,000 points per night on the Marriott award chart.
The new anniversary night will be valid at category 1 through 4 hotels on the unified award chart in August. You’ll notice that those hotels also range from 7,500-25,000 points per night. Therefore it’s not a devaluation of the certificate, those categories will simply be valid for the same hotels that are currently 1 through 5 on the Marriott award chart that are likely to become placed as a category 1 through 4 on the unified award chart.
In fact, the certificate will become more valuable as SPG hotels will also be available on the unified award chart. There are 7 categories of SPG hotels and I’d guess that most of them will slide right into the new category 1-7 hotels on the unified chart.
Using that same logic:
- I’d guess that the Marriott category 1-5 travel package certificates will be valid at Marriott and SPG category 1-4 hotels in the unified award chart starting in August. After all, those both are good at rooms that cost up to 25K points per night, so that’s perfectly logical.
The other categories will be harder to pin down, but let’s make some educated guesses:
- Marriott category 6 currently costs 30K points per night. On the August unified chart, category 5 will cost 35K points. I would guess that Marriott will round up and allow Marriott category 6 certificates to be used at unified category 5 Marriott and SPG hotels in August. However Marriott may choose to round down and limit the current category 6 certificates to unified category 4 hotels.
- Marriott category 7 currently costs 35K points per night. On the August unified chart, category 5 will cost 35K points. This matches up exactly and I would guess that Marriott will allow Marriott category 7 certificates to be used at unified category 5 Marriott and SPG hotels in August.
- Marriott category 8 currently costs 40K points per night. On the August unified chart, category 6 will cost 50K points. I would guess that Marriott will round up and allow Marriott category 8 certificates to be used at unified category 6 Marriott and SPG hotels in August. However Marriott may choose to round down and limit these certificates to unified category 5 hotels.
- Marriott category 9 currently costs 45K points per night. On the August unified chart, category 6 will cost 50K points. I would guess that Marriott will round up and allow Marriott category 9 certificates to be used at unified category 6 Marriott and SPG hotels in August. However Marriott may choose to round down and limit these certificates to unified category 5 hotels.
- Ritz tier 1-3 hotels currently cost up to 50K points per night. On the August unified chart, category 6 will cost 50K points. This matches up exactly and I would guess that Marriott will allow Ritz tier 1-3 certificates to be used at unified category 6 Marriott and SPG hotels in August. It’s possible that they will generous and give these a boost to category 7 though, especially if they allow category 8 and 9 certificates to be used at unified category 6 hotels.
- Ritz tier 4-5 hotels currently cost up to 60K points per night. On the August unified chart, category 7 will cost 60K points. This matches up exactly and I would guess that Marriott will allow Ritz tier 4-5 certificates to be used at unified category 7 Marriott and SPG hotels in August.
Obviously there was a lot of guesswork there, but let’s assume that everything comes to fruition. And let’s assume that hotels in the 7 SPG categories will migrate into the 7 unified categories. What will that mean if you want to redeem for 7 nights in an SPG hotel?
- Category 4 SPG hotels include the Sheraton Kona Resort & Spa At Keauhou Bay, HI, the Four Points Miami Beach, the Sheraton Brooklyn, the Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort, and the W Beijing.
- Currently, 7 nights at those hotels cost 180K Marriott points (60K Starpoints).
- In August, 7 nights at those hotels will cost 125K Marriott points (41,667 Starpoints).
- If my guesswork holds true then you will be able to redeem for a Marriott category 1-5 travel package now for 270K Marriott points (90K Starpoints), you’ll get 132K United miles now, and you can stay in those hotels for 7 nights starting in August. If you value those nights at the lower August price of 125K Marriott points (41,667 Starpoints) then you will be effectively using 48,333 Starpoints for 132K United miles. That’s 2.73 United miles for every Starpoint transferred, or a 173% transfer bonus compared to the standard 25% SPG airline transfer bonus!
- Category 5 SPG hotels include the Royal Palm South Beach, the Sheraton Kauai Resort, the W Miami, and the W New York
- Currently, 7 nights at those hotels cost 216K Marriott points (72K Starpoints) during off-peak times.
- Currently, 7 nights at those hotels cost 288K Marriott points (96K Starpoints) during peak times.
- In August, 7 nights at those hotels will cost 210K Marriott points (70K Starpoints) during all times.
- If my guesswork holds true then you will be able to redeem for a Marriott category 6 travel package now for 300K Marriott points (100K Starpoints), you’ll get 132K United miles now, and you can stay in those hotels for 7 nights starting in August. If you value those nights at the lower August price of 210K Marriott points/70K Starpoints then you will be effectively using 30K Starpoints for 132K United miles. That’s 4.4 United miles for every Starpoint transferred, or a 340% transfer bonus compared to the standard 25% airline transfer bonus!
- I think that the worst case scenario here is that you will need to redeem for a Marriott category 7 travel package now for 330K Marriott points (110K Starpoints), you’ll get 132K United miles now, and you can stay in those hotels for 7 nights starting in August. If you value those nights at the lower August price of 210K Marriott points/70K Starpoints then you will be effectively using 40K Starpoints for 132K United miles. That’s 3.3 United miles for every Starpoint transferred, or a 230% transfer bonus compared to the standard 25% airline transfer bonus!
- Category 6 SPG hotels include the Sheraton Tel Aviv, the W Hong Kong, the Westin Venice, the SLS Beverly Hills, and the W Retreat Vieques Island, Puerto Rico
- Currently, 7 nights at those hotels cost 360K Marriott points (120K Starpoints) during off-peak times.
- Currently, 7 nights at those hotels cost 450K Marriott points (150K Starpoints) during peak times.
- In August, 7 nights at those hotels will cost 300K Marriott points (100K Starpoints) during all times.
- If my guesswork holds true then you will be able to redeem for a Marriott category 8 travel package now for 360K Marriott points (120K Starpoints), you’ll get 132K United miles now, and you can stay in those hotels for 7 nights starting in August. If you value those nights at the lower August price of 300K Marriott points/100K Starpoints then you will be effectively using 20K Starpoints for 132K United miles. That’s 6.6 United miles for every Starpoint transferred, or a 560% transfer bonus compared to the standard 25% airline transfer bonus!
- I think that the worst case scenario here is that you will need to redeem for a Ritz Tier 1-3 travel package now for 420K Marriott points (140K Starpoints), you’ll get 132K United miles now, and you can stay in those hotels for 7 nights starting in August. If you value those nights at the lower August price of 300K Marriott points/100K Starpoints then you will be effectively using 40K Starpoints for 132K United miles. That’s 3.3 United miles for every Starpoint transferred, or a 230% transfer bonus compared to the standard 25% airline transfer bonus!
- Category 7 SPG hotels include the S. Regis Bal Harbour, the S. Regis Princeville, Kauai, and the Gritti Palace, Venice.
- Currently, 7 nights at those hotels cost 540K Marriott points (180K Starpoints) during off-peak times.
- Currently, 7 nights at those hotels cost 630K Marriott points (210K Starpoints) during peak times.
- In August, 7 nights at those hotels will cost 360K Marriott points (120K Starpoints) during all times.
- If my guesswork holds true then you will be able to redeem for a Ritz Tier 4-5 travel package now for 540K Marriott points (180K Starpoints), you’ll get 132K United miles now, and you can stay in those hotels for 7 nights starting in August. If you value those nights at the lower August price of 360K Marriott points/120K Starpoints then you will be effectively using 60K Starpoints for 132K United miles. That’s 2.2 United miles for every Starpoint transferred, or a 120% transfer bonus compared to the standard 25% airline transfer bonus!
- If Marriott is feeling generous and they allow you to redeem for a Ritz Tier 1-3 travel package for unified category 7 hotels, you can redeem that now for 420K Marriott points (140K Starpoints), you’ll get 132K United miles now, and you can stay in those hotels for 7 nights starting in August. If you value those nights at the lower August price of 360K Marriott points/120K Starpoints then you will be effectively using 20K Starpoints for 132K United miles. That’s 6.6 United miles for every Starpoint transferred, or a 560% transfer bonus compared to the standard 25% airline transfer bonus!
Need a Tylenol after all those words? Here’s a chart to try to visualize these scenarios. Costs are given in Starpoints, multiply costs by 3 for the cost in Marriott points.
| Unified Categories 1-4 | Unified Category 5 | Unified Category 6 | Unified Category 7 | |
| Best Case Scenario | Requires Marriott category 1-5 certificate | Requires Marriott category 6 certificate | Requires Marriott category 8 certificate | Requires Ritz Tier 1-3 certificate |
| Worst Case Scenario | N/A | Requires Marriott category 7 certificate | Requires Ritz Tier 1-3 certificate | Requires Ritz Tier 4-5 certificate |
| Cost in August for 7 nights without airline miles (In Starpoints) | 41,667 | 70K | 100K | 120K |
| Best Case Scenario Cost for 132K United Miles And 7 nights (In Starpoints) | 90K | 100K | 120K | 140K |
| Worst Case Cost Scenario for 7 Nights And 132K United Miles (In Starpoints) | N/A | 110K | 140K | 180K |
| Best Case Cost Scenario for 7 Nights And 132K United Miles (In Starpoints) | 1 Starpoint=2.73 United miles | 1 Starpoint=4.4 United miles | 1 Starpoint=6.6 United miles | 1 Starpoint=6.6 United miles |
| Worst Case Ratio Of Starwood To United Transfer Ratio | N/A | 1 Starpoint=3.3 United miles | 1 Starpoint=3.3 United miles | 1 Starpoint=2.2 United miles |
Marriott does allow you to redeem for the lowest hotel category package and upgrade them if you need to with the difference in points. But if they devalue these awards there’s no way to know if you will be able to pay the old rates or if you will have to pay the new rates in a devalued travel package.
Marriott also has a 5 night travel package, but those are intended for timeshare owners. Some reps may sell them to any member and you can read about them in this post.
Again, this post contains a lot of conjecture and guesswork, but I do think these are likely scenarios given the information that we know. Feel free to disagree in the comments 😀
I think that the travel packages will be devalued shortly. I don’t know if we will get advance notice of the devaluation, so if you do want to roll the dice on these, I’d do so sooner rather than later. I don’t assume any responsibility in case things don’t end up as I’m guessing, but these are all educated guesses on where things will end up.
Will you buy a Marriott travel package now to use on SPG hotels starting in August?
Related posts:
- Live Blog: Follow The Marriott-Starwood Program Merger Announcement!
- 3 Starwood AMEX Cards In The New Marriott Program: A Comparison Chart Of The Good, The Bad, And The Horrific
- Comparison Chart: How Marriott’s August 2018 And February 2019 Award Chart Compares With The Current SPG And Marriott Award Charts
- Marriott Got Almost Everything Perfect, But The Starwood AMEX Cuts Are Just Too Painful
- Rack Up The Starpoints While You Still Can: There Will Be 6 Months Of Amazing Starwood Hotel Bargains!
- No Marriott, The Starwood AMEX Card Will Not Be Richer Than Ever. You Are Just Changing What I’ll Use It For
- Starwood-Marriott Merger FAQs: Answers To Your Questions About Anniversary Nights, Status From Existing Cards, And More
- The Starwood Consumer AMEX And Multiple Chase Marriott Cards Are Being Discontinued! Here’s What You Need To Know About 9 Starwood And Marriott Cards
- Will The Starwood Cards Disappear Or Lose Their Starpoints Signup Bonuses Today? Now Is The Time To Signup If You Don’t Have These Cards Yet!
- Should You Signup For A Starwood Card Today Without A Signup Bonus Before It’s Discontinued?
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75 Comments On "Guesstimating Where Marriott Travel Packages Will Work In August; Take Advantage Of Marriott’s Lucrative Miles+Nights Packages Now!"
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Dan, this reads like a commentary to the Mishnah. Bravo!!!
Lol, I guess that’s what many years in yeshiva will do
Thanks 🙂
Dan,
Are they keeping the redeem 4 nights get the 5th night free?
Yes, the 5th night free is factored into all of these calculations.
You don’t think the best case scenario is that they will honor an old 6 for a new 6 old 7 for a new 7 etc or am I dreaming 🙂
P.s Dan you are amazing I really appreciate what you do
I’d say you’re dreaming, but we can all hope 😀
Thanks 🙂
Can you sum it up, why should I take advantage of it now as opposed to waiting till August?
I’d say there’s a 99% chance that this chart will be devalued by August.
It’s hard to say without knowing the Hotel + Air promotions come August.
There’s no way that it stays as generous as outlined in this post.
But united miles are locked in to United, and if you have no plans to stay in the next year or two for seven nights in a specific category of hotel ( a pretty specific subset of) then I would think this is a big gamble to clear all starpoints out for…. Thoughts?
True.
Dan, would you take advantage and if so, which one and why?
I think the category 8, the Ritz 1-3, and the Ritz 4-5 are all very compelling for their access to top-tier SPG hotels.
I am sitting on 2 million starpoints. What would you suggest and recommend I do? Getting as many airlines miles as possible via Hotel and Flights? Using the certificates is usually tough but I like to fly First Class most of the time via miles. Thanks
If you have people that will buy your certificates or if you will be able to use them, it can definitely make sense.
Got it. Thanks. So in your opinion it maybe best to invest in current Category 8 and the Ritz Certificates with United Miles for maximizing the hotel portion for the future categories? Also, you recommend purchasing these now or wait until August 1st?
Correct.
I’d buy them now as I feel strongly that these will be devalued soon.
Dan, I failed Yeshiva miserably, hence my complete confusion. Lol.
But I do have 2 of the 7 night packages (which I intend on upgrading), bottom line are you suggesting i redeem the vouchers prior to August?
The part that confused me, is that you kept saying “and you can stay in those hotels for 7 nights starting in August. ”
I hope you understood my question, and can clarify.
Thank you
No need to redeem by August. I’m saying you can reserve SPG hotels starting in August.
I am curious how they will handle category upgrades though after they change these awards.
Aha makes sense, just to clarify even with SPG opening up there’s still risk by waiting, as they may devalue the certificate!?
Once you have the certificate you are fine. The risk of devaluation is if you don’t redeem points for the package now, but you can reserve the hotel later.
I booked a hotel for an spg resort and already paid the points for it. 10k per night for 4 nights (40k points). This isn’t for a stay till September. If I decide to cancel the trip after the merger goes into affect, will the reimburse me 120k Marriott points it 80k Marriott points? What do you think?
You will be able to call in August for an adjustment.
About to book for February break as well. Same holds true? If I cancel, I can call and likely get 3x back in Marriott points?
Yes.
Can one cancel a booking of a seven night certificate and get the points equivalent back…
I like the idea of posting difficulty levels for all of your posts!!
Wow – I will need 7 nights just to recover from trying to follow this! 🙂
Dan – if you had to guess, what should i upgrade my cat 1-5 voucher to so that I can use it for the Disney Swan or Dolphin? Thanks!
I’d guess thay remain in unified category 5.
See my guesses on that in this post.
Yup. And I pulled the string on the SPG biz.
I was thinking that old cat 6 is a good bet to end up in new cat 5, because 30K is equidistant from 35K and 25K. I was more doubtful of old cat 8, since 40K is much closer to 35K than to 50K. But now I grow doubtful.
Here’s how I could rationalize it if I were Marriott. What if we look at all the old hotels in e.g. cat 8, and ask where most of them end up? If most cat 8 hotels move into new cat 5, i.e., 35K rather than 40K (and Marriott is saying that most hotels will cost fewer points in August than they do now), it seems reasonable to say that old cat 8 certs should be converted to new cat 5 certs. (And honestly, when we compare cat 8 Marriotts to cat 6 SPGs and or tier 4 Ritzs… well, it’s easy to imagine a world where 65% or more of cat 8s end up in cat 5.)
The way I’d do it if I were them is to refund points to people who had tweener certs. If you have a cat 6 cert, you convert to a cat 4 cert and get a refund of 30K on 8/1; if you have a cat 8 cert, they convert to new cat 5 and refund 30K (MP). Or perhaps they might give people the option to move up by spending another 30K, or to move down and get a refund of 30K. It comes to the same thing.
I think they were brilliant to devalue last month. It makes it easy to say that more hotels are moving down in price, even if they’re just moving back to where they were in January.
Will Miles + Nights transfer qualify me for a Southwest Companion Pass? If so doesn’t that make that package the most valuable? If you use the companion pass on every flight you are essentialy getting 240K points + 7 night hotel stay. Even if you only use it sometimes you are still getting more than 120k.
Not anymore, where were you last year?
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/milespoints/southwest-kills-companion-pass-earning-option-without-advance-warning/
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/milespoints/southwest-is-just-trolling-us-now/
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/milespoints/southwest-relents-will-allow-hotel-point-transfers-to-count-for-companion-pass-for-3-more-months/
https://www.dansdeals.com/credit-cards/redeem-90k-starpoints-for-120k-southwest-points-2-years-of-southwest-companion-pass-and-7-nights-in-a-marriott-hotel/
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/starwood/should-you-buy-starpoints-to-earn-southwest-companion-pass-status/
My bad, I did know that, I should have asked it differently, so please allow me to re-ask. I got 2 Southwest cards that will qualify me for companion pass shortly. With the companion pass wouldn’t the Southwest transfer be the best deal since it can effectively be turned into 240k points + 7 nights?
Sure, assuming you’ll use those points with the CP.
Will I still have my gold status on United thru Marriott
Hi dan, thank so much for everything you do!
I want to go to Israel in the summer
I have a 140k Starpoints.
Which airline for flight and level package for hotel 7 nights in Israel would be my best option?
Thanks a million
Just depends on which airlines have availability for when you want to go….
https://www.dansdeals.com/more/all-about/getting-israel-using-starwood-starpoints-2018-ultimate-guide/
“Then try reading through this post a few times” Dan – I could not agree with you more. Do not ask any questions until you have read and reread this post a few times. Once you do, you will understand it – assuming you understand the hotel + air package from Marriot and that you read all about the SPG Marriot merger. If you did not then don’t read this post until you read those other ones that Dan references.
Thank you Dan
🙂
Do we know when they will release the hotel/category chart? Want to go to Princeville and debating if I should go for Tier 1-3 or Tier 4-5.
Probably by the end of May, but by then it may be too late to lock of these packages in.
I am in the same situation. Have u decided what to do yet?
i’m getting dizzy
Lol.
1. Sit down.
2. Have a glass of water
3. Read this post a couple of times: https://www.dansdeals.com/more/all-about/marriotts-lucrative-milesnights-travel-packages-best-way-spend-starpoints/
4. Read this post a couple of times and see the chart towards the end.
5. Ask questions here.
6. Profit 😀
For the second chart (non-united) – does it ever pay to transfer more than the minimum number of miles? The price increases by exactly the amount of miles you’d get. If you chose the fewest miles, then you can transfer miles later at 20:25 and you’d come out better…?
Those prices are in Marriott points!
For an extra 70K Marriott points (23.3K Starwood) you can get 120K miles instead of 50K miles.
Always worth getting the highest package.
Nice, thanks!
I have a category 1-5 certificate. I have currently enough points to upgrade it to a category 8. What would you recommend if I want to use it in a family friendly resort in either southern CA or near Miami in the winter? There doesn’t seem to be any category 6 spg resorts there, only 5s and 7s in Florida.
Hmmm…would you say it’s worth buying starpoints in order to purchase a travel package? I wouldn’t normally do that except to just top off.
Hi amazing post! I have around 250k starpoints and I really only care about united miles. Would it be better to get the Marriott travel packages with the included United miles or transfer to Marriott points and then convert to united miles?
Do you need to say explicitly when buying to what name to issue the certificate?
im a bit confused. If I get the cat 8 package now- (120K SPG) I will get 132 United miles and you saying the best case scenario I will be able to use those nights at a Marriott current cat 9/ritz cat 4-5/ spg current cat 7? and worse case scenario I will be able to use it at Marriott current cat 8/ ritz 1-3/ spg current cat 6?
so you think I should buy the 132k united pkg for the spg level 6 and that would take care of airfare and hotel for 7 nights for pesach 2019?
if someones holding a cat 5 cartifucate now, and wants to stay in a higher cat/ tier hotel ultimately, should they redeem starpoints for the upgrade now, or will they be able to wait?
thanks!
I’d probably do it now.
How do I look for availability for these and how do I book?
Same as any standard points room.
I’d like to go to Israel this summer with my family. Is there any Marriott hotels in or near Jerusalem? It will probably be in July.
However, until i finalize the dates, i won’t know what airline I’m using. Still worth it to book a package now?
Nothing in Jerusalem.
I have a 7 day package, do I need to upgrade before 8/1?
TBD.
Dan, do you recommend buying 30k starwood points now to be able to afford the 7 nights and 132k miles in tier 4-5?
Sure
If I would like a 7 day certificate at category 7 SPG hotel (+ 132k United miles) , which Marriott category should I do now when redeeming?
See above chart. Dan guesses either ritz 1-3 or 4-5.
I’m looking at getting a Travel package for Hawaii Waikoloa today’s Cat 8 (40k a night).
Would you speculate this is becoming a unified Cat 6 (50k) or a unified Cat 5 (35k) property?
Wondering if I could save a few points by getting a travel package one level below in anticipation of the realignment.
Hey Dan this post is unreal thanx! 2 qs… firstly are all suite hotels like bora bora and Maldives included in ritz tier 4-5/spg cat 7 ? And where do u think cat 9 will end up?
Dan, If i buy the Marriott cat 6 package now (cost 300k marriott). Will i be able to redeem it on the Rits cat 1-3 after Aug 1?
Likely not
will the value of 7 night certificate go up after aug
Any idea on this comment that floater certificates will be cancelled and converted to points? It’s super unclear how it would convert if any.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starwood-starwood-preferred-guest/1904261-official-announcement-see-how-our-three-loyalty-programs-will-become-one-august-86.html
“Question on the “floater certificates” being canceled and points redeposited into the account on Aug 1st. Does this include outstanding Marriott Travel packages here: Flight and Hotel Packages Marriott Hotel Packages
Floater certificates, including outstanding Marriott Travel Package certificates, will be cancelled and converted to equivalent points, credited to the member’s account for future redemption. “
Maybe you could post a new write up given the latest information about new hotel categories. Thanks.