https://onemileatatime.com/marriott-travel-packages-update/
I asked David Flueck why and he explained that they’re still “finalizing the tech solution, and depending on the tech solution it impacts how these certificates end up converting.” He says “we’re pretty close on that.” He knows that these packages “are really beloved by our members” and takes their value seriously. They’re just not ready to make an announcement until the tech is ready because if they run into issues, the solution might be change.
Thank you for the update. This has really been one of the big questions remaining to be answered. I played it safe and booked 7 nights in a suite at the London Marriott Hotel Kensington, which I knew would actually be going down slightly in points due to it being a Category 5 in the new chart. So the possibilities here are either that my certificate would have been devalued to exactly what I needed to book the hotel under the new points, or it would increase in value to the 7 night new Category 6 worth 300k points (which would be insane since I only paid 360k for the certificate and 120k Virgin Atlantic miles!!!).
If the former is the case, no harm no foul. I'm getting the same hotel that I would have anyway and playing it safe didn't come back to bite me. If the latter is the case, that one month moratorium is going to make me scream since it's assumed that I would then be able to call Marriott Rewards and upgrade my certificate to a "new Cat 7" for a mere 60k points! Since new Cat 8s are standard Cat7 awards for bookings the remainder of 2018, that means there is a minute chance that I could possibly book 7 nights at The Wellesley Knightsbridge instead, which is currently 630,000 Marriott-converted points for 7 nights + there's the 120k VS miles that I already used (those alone would have cost 300k Marriott points if done through SPG or 340k through Marriott). The value of that certificate would be mind-boggling if it panned out!
Honestly, no matter how it works out this is welcome relief. Many feared that the certificates would be refunded the same amount of points as Marriott currently gives if you just cancel a certificate.
