Marriott Rewards backtracks on its changes to Travel Packages

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• Rob MC says:

  22 Aug22 August 04:12

  Still not platinum premier..anyone else has any luck who did the platinum challenge?

  • HAM76 says:

    22 Aug22 August 05:28

    Just a minute ago my account dropped from Platinum to Gold. They seem to be fixing this now.

  • KBuffett says:

    22 Aug22 August 06:34

    No…..

  • Simon says:

    22 Aug22 August 06:59

    I did the meeting room bookings @ 10 Elite nights per single booking ruse in order to get Platinum before the formal program amalgamation and now my account dims Platinum Premier Elite. Don’t know if that’s a useful datapoint.

    On a separate note, does anyone know how to get SPG points across to Marriott now? There was a VFTW article on Monday about new functionality being rolled out piecemeal for this, but there’s nothing on the two new iterations of my respective SPG/Marriott account’s which allows me to go this.

    • Simon says:

      22 Aug22 August 07:01

      Hating autocorrect today. Just saying. 🙂

      • MattyS says:

        22 Aug22 August 08:21

        I had an option show up to combine my SPG and Marriott accounts when I logged into Marriott last night. Took about two minutes, the points transferred straight away and gave me one bonus night towards 50 nights for some reason.

        It didn’t show the option to combine them when I logged in on my desktop pc though, but did from my tablet.

        • Rob says:

          22 Aug22 August 08:40

          Did mine too, all worked well.

    • mike says:

      22 Aug22 August 10:30

      personally I am quite upset about it, am surprised you are not Rob. not because the benefits per se of PP are so much better than PE (there is little difference), but because of the “soft drop” potential discussed in your article back in april. now that we are platinum elite, we are more or less guaranteed to drop to gold in March 2020. had we been PP, we could have hoped for a drop to PE, giving another year of platinum benefits. am I missing something obvious? the bump to PE was a major factor in my deciding to complete the challenge.

      • Rob says:

        22 Aug22 August 11:27

        It was always clear to me that only those who earned PP via 75 nights got it. Not sure why I thought this but I did. Haven’t SPG Plats with under 75 nights also been put onto PE?

    • TGLoyalty says:

      22 Aug22 August 18:00

      Yes SPG Plats are PE needed to be plat 75 nights to be PP

  • DaveA says:

    22 Aug22 August 08:24

    I had a case open with them regarding this and they have confirmed that Platinum achieved via the Platinum Challenge does not get uplifted to Platinum Premier, but remains at Platinum.

  • Rob says:

    22 Aug22 August 08:42

    Wasn’t expecting it, didn’t get it.

    • Pangolin says:

      22 Aug22 August 13:11

      Rob, the guiding principle behind Platinum challenges (and other status challenges) has always been that if you successfully complete the challenge then you ARE a Platinum member, with all the rights that any other Platinum member.

      There has never been any indication on the Marriott website or in their T&Cs that Platinum status via a challenge is a ‘pseudo Platinum’, with potentially hidden restrictions that could appear at any time.

      In the FlyerTalk WIKI the lurker stated that completing the challenge this year gives you PP till 2020. Also, anyone who had achieved Marriott Platinum will have got a letter them that they would be PP in August (assuming that Plat status was obtained via Marriott, not SPG).

      So I don’t think there is the slightest justification for them coming out now and saying that those who completed the full challenge (like I did even before the April announcement) are going to be given the same status as those who were MR Gold. Since you needed to be MR Gold to do the challenge in any case then it makes it completely pointless if we end up with the same status as we would have had anyway!

      • mike says:

        22 Aug22 August 15:54

        absolutely right, and well said.

        that is the fundamental point – undertaking the platinum challenge has been rendered pointless and futile.
        MR Gold elite before 18/8 has become MR platinum elite
        MR Platinum elite before 18/8 has become……….MR platinum elite

        • Rob says:

          22 Aug22 August 15:57

          OK. I suddenly see your point. Yes, if you were a Marriott Gold WHO EARNED IT PROPERLY then you have been stuffed. But were you?

          I was a Marriott Gold who got it via a card match. In some ways I am grateful they let ‘fake’ Golds do the challenge, they could easily have refused.

      • E says:

        22 Aug22 August 18:41

        Replying here as I can’t reply to Rob’s post from 15:57. Yes, I was a Marriott Gold who earned it! In fact I was Platinum last year but fell just short of the nights needed to renew Platinum. So when I dropped back to Gold I did the challenge to take me back to Platinum. And I’ve just been having pointless exchanges with Marriott where they say it is being sorted and nothing changes. I’ve had different responses from Marriott rather than the poster who said he wasn’t getting Platinum Premier in that they haven’t said that to me, only that I should be so I will be fighting this if that’s not the case. Of course, may not get anywhere fighting it but I can try.

• Leo says:

  22 Aug22 August 05:43

  If I never see another mention of the Marriott travel packages…..

  • Kipto says:

    22 Aug22 August 08:26

    +1

• Mr 1A says:

  22 Aug22 August 06:19

  Only people with a Chinese driving licence are permitted to drive in China, foreign licences are not valid, so booking car hire might prove difficult

• Polly says:

  22 Aug22 August 07:24

  Rob means add a car for a couple of days, but not use it. Still brings the price down…

  • Golfer says:

    22 Aug22 August 07:31

    Polly, BA are hardly likely to offer Car hire in China given the above. Just done a search and car hire unavailable for Beijing holidays.

  • Rob says:

    22 Aug22 August 08:41

    Not allowed to say that though 🙂

• mr dee says:

  22 Aug22 August 07:42

  OT: Still can’t use Marriott points to book SPG hotels, even phoning up they can’t do it, useless…

  • Rob says:

    22 Aug22 August 08:41

    I booked St Regis New York last night with no issues.

    • David says:

      22 Aug22 August 12:43

      Do Platinum’s get free breakfast at the St Regis in New York?

      • mike says:

        22 Aug22 August 15:56

        yeap,

        but you do have to pay the resort fee remember.

  • mr dee says:

    22 Aug22 August 09:35

    SPG properties don’t seem to work

    • Russ says:

      22 Aug22 August 12:22

      I’ve booked some on Marriott and SPG: cash or points. Three of my Marriott bookings never made it to the dashboard and two are showing up as booked then cancelled.

• Petr says:

  22 Aug22 August 08:24

  My understanding is car hire in China is only possible with a Chinese driving license. In China it would have to be a hotel room

• Chelseafi says:

  22 Aug22 August 09:01

  The option to transfer MR to SPG looks like it’s working now, do I need to use the new SPG account number? Has anyone done it & do I need to add any leading zeros? Thanks

  • mr dee says:

    22 Aug22 August 09:36

    Mine was already linked to the new account number surprisingly

• jimmy says:

  22 Aug22 August 09:04

  OT: Just had Amex MR 20,000 bonus points deposited in my account. Are any of the Deals I can convert to substantially better than the others?

  • Alex W says:

    22 Aug22 August 10:29

    Now that Marriott Travel Packages have been substantially devalued, no.

    If you are saving for a specific value busting redemption I would go for that. For example, Hilton Conrad Rangali. Transferring Amex MR at 1:2 would give you probably around 2p per MR point.

    • Genghis says:

      22 Aug22 August 10:39

      Equally remember that HH points can often be bought for what is normally considered “par” (0.4p or so) so it might be better to send MR points to something else and then buy the HHs. All depends on individual circumstances / goals etc.

      • Alex W says:

        22 Aug22 August 14:31

        Good “point” although current US $ exchange rate makes that less favourable currently.

  • Nick M says:

    22 Aug22 August 11:12

    What do you want to be able to use them for? Flights? Hotels? Trains?

    https://headforpoints.com/2017/09/10/what-is-the-best-use-of-american-express-membership-rewards-points/

    • jimmy says:

      22 Aug22 August 13:54

      great, thanks for that link

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