**All the information for this article was taken from FlyerTalk reports and personal experience. For the most up to date information regarding Marriott Travel Packages, refer to the FlyerTalk Thread**
Marriott and Starwood “merged” a little over one month ago. The process of merging loyalty accounts and creating a working front end website was successful. Marriott won’t admit it, but the backend was never really merged, as there are still separate booking sites for SPG (purple website) and Marriott (blue website) and two different call center teams handling their respective brands. The good news is that there is end in sight, and we may even have tentative dates for SPG properties to get integrated.
The Travel Package Problem
Prior to the merger, Marriott never announced what they were planning on doing with existing travel packages. The only thing they announced was a month-long black out period for redeeming packages. Many websites assumed that Marriott would be generous but that generosity largely never came. On the day of the merger, Marriott announced the mapping for legacy travel packages, after it was no longer possible to redeem or upgrade.
The Category 6, 8 and Tier 1-3 package clients ended up paying an extra 30k points to get the same value as people who purchased a category below them, leaving some members feeling rightfully stiffed. The only category that came out well ahead in the conversion was the Category 9. On August 20, two days after the merger Marriott back tracked and said that Category 6, 8 and Tier 1-3 packages would get refunds of 30k points but upgrades wouldn’t be possible. During that same announcement Marriott also claimed that the month-long black out on travel packages wasn’t necessary and that packages were again immediately redeemable. Spoiler Alert: They weren’t immediately redeemable.
How to Update Your Travel Package
The good news is that Travel Packages are redeemable at all old Marriott and Ritz Carlton properties today. In order to redeem your package, you need to update your certificate from a legacy travel package to a post merger travel package. This will not happen automatically, at least for now.
To update your certificate you will need to call Marriott Rewards at 1-800-321-7396.
Phone times have been very long, I have been able to get through to agents using this method within 5-10 minutes. You may find shorter hold times via non-us based call centers.
At the first prompt say “Travel Packages” it will send you to Discounts and Promotions. At the second prompt say “Something Else” and you will eventually connect to a representative who can assist you.
Once you get a representative on the phone use the following script
“Hi, are you able to see my list of certificates ?” if agent says Yes, proceed to next step if not, hang up and call again;
“You see that I have a xxxT/Pxxx right ?” if agent says Yes, proceed to next step;
“I would like to convert my legacy certificate to one of the post-merger certificates, can you cancel the xxxT/Pxxx certificate and reorder the QPxx certificate ?”
The chart below tells you what your new category and old category numbers are. You can also check your email for the old category number. The “T” numbers are full packages, the “P” numbers are for partial packages only if you upgraded/downgraded the category.
What we still don’t know
- We do not have a timeline for when you need to update your old certificate by. Be sure to update before any certificate expiration.
- Upgrades – There have been some positive reports of customers upgrading certificates but this loop-hole is probably closing fast as Marriott has already announced that upgrading would not be allowed. If you do manage to get an upgrade to go through, expect to pay additional points.
- Category 7 – Phone representative have confirmed that there is no known QP code for a Category 7 property right now. If you are holding a Tier 4-5 certificate you will be the dark for a little while longer.
Danny,
Yes, called the number listed here.
Converted my Category 9 to the new Category 6 and it extended it for a year. I think we’re going to use it in Aruba at the Stellaris since it seems like one of the nicer Caribbean Cat 6 hotels. We scuba dive so I think it will work out.
Hi Steve,
Did you call the number they listed here ? After they rebranded to Bonvoy, not sure what is the correct number to call. Thanks in advanced !
https://www.marriott.com/help/loyalty-customer-support.mi
Kudos to this blog and especially Steve Ganeles. All advise and direction as it pertains to managing my Marriott certificates was spot on! The Marriott agent even recognized how prepared I was to speak with them. I told them I had “help”. Thank you again.
Thank you so much for this post! Finally will be able to use the cert (was cat-8, now cat 5) that i’ve had in my account for 8 months. Refunded me 30k points and they extended it a year!
One of the assistant happened to upgrade my Old Cat1-5 to a a New Cat 1-5 at an extra 90K points. Is this a good deal? I am really curious if this is a fair value to get an upgrade for such Cat.
If I have an “old” pre-merger 7-night cert Cat 1-5 and I want to book a “new” 7-night Cat 5 using this certificate. As I understand it, I need to call and have it converted to “new” Cat 1-4; can I upgrade at that time to a Cat 5 and how many points do I need?
60k additional points, and its questionable if they will allow you to actually upgrade the package
They did not
Sharing… just called 1-801-468-4000 to extend my Partial Cat8 7 days as it was expiring next year. Wait time was very short now I did hit reservations and then asked to be transfer maybe took 3-5 Minutes.. They did move the current award- Cat8 P940 to a new Cat5 – QP90 (115K value) award and gave me 30K points back. Total transaction was under 10 minutes, so looks like i got lucky! If i am reading the comments about upgrading correctly… as our initial plan was to use at a Cat 6 hotel in Hawaii, is there no way to apply this to Cat6 or above hotel? Only option is find a Cat5 hotel?
Its questionable whether they would have allowed the upgrade. If they would do it, it should have been done at the time the package was converted only. It would have cost you an additional 30k points at that time. You can try to call back but they will likely collect 60k points for the upgrade now, if they agree to it.
Thank you for the information… can you book these awards online or do you need call as well? as dont see the option use award when looking at Cat5 properties online?
You have to call them to get them to attach the Certificate to the hotel. I recommend you put the reservation on hold using Points Advance first, and then have them attach the certificate to that reservation.
Steven, I have 2 separate certificates to convert. My question relates to the expiration dates. If I am lucky enough to have the reset the date, will they extend 12 months from the date of conversion?
They should update to the new date, although there have been a few reports of backdating. Everyone seem to have different experiences.
Had them convert the old certificates this past weekend. It could not have gone any smoother. The expiration date was extended a full year. Should have asked about upgrading my now cat 6 to a cat 7. I’ll call again and maybe lightening will strike twice.
Help!! Any updates since the new year? I’ve had nothing but LONG LONG wait times and 4 separate conversations over 2 hours each, all with useless helpless reps who say they’ve attached our old Cat 9 cert to a new Cat 7 property (was a Cat 9 pre-merger, when we bought the package pre-merger we immediately attached to a different Cat 9 than the one we ultimately want to use it at, both were Cat 9’s pre-merger), but when I check online within a few days, NOTHING has been attached and new phone calls elicit a “I dunno” attitude/response. We are Lifetime Platinum Elites and absolutely disgusted with all this… any suggestions how to get proper recourse??? We’re set to travel Feb 16 to Scrub Island where we’ve had a 7-day rez since August. Txs for anything you can recommend.
Cat 9 mapped to new Category 6. If you got them to attach it to a Category 7 property, you came out way ahead and I would leave it as is.
You can ask them to detach and reattach, but again, if you only purchased a Cat 9 it may not be usable at your new Category 7 hotel and may not reattach.
Steven, it won’t let me reply below your comment so I’ve replied to myself in hopes you read this and advise further. To clarify, there has been NO reassignment of my travel package reward (despite two phone calls Dec 2018 assuring me it was done), rather the original reservation and reward was suddenly cancelled by Marriott on Jan 5. I neither asked for this nor approved these actions. I now have a reservation with NO pre-merger Certificate, and NO reservation! What can I do beyond talking to mis-informed, poorly-trained phone reps??? My online account is now so screwed up and does not reflect what the phone reps assure me they’ve done. I’m to travel in a few weeks and have other pre-paid, non-refundable reservations (flights, sailing school) tied to the resort so I cannot cancel my trip. Txs much.
Help me understand the situation, it sounds like 1 of 2 things happened
Situation A) You bought a Cat 9 7 night hotel package and made a reservation at a Marriott Cat 9 property that became a new Cat 7 Property, before the August Merger and the hotel switched categories you attached your Cat 9 certificate to the property. On January 5 the reservation got cancelled and now they are telling you that your SOL
Situation B) You bought a Cat 9 7 night hotel package and made a reservation at a Marriott Cat 9 property that became a new Cat 7 Property, but never attached your Cat 9 certificate to the property prior to the merger. On January 5 the reservation got cancelled due to not having a valid certificate
In situation A, they need to make things right as you followed the procedure. In Situation B, they are in the right and your Cat 9 wont map to new Cat 7 and it would have needed to be attached prior to the merger. If something else happened, please elaborate.
Stephen, thanks again for your quick reply; it’s actually a combo of both your A and B but it’s all been resolved by calling and holding and emailing to exhaustion. So I’m all set but wow did it take some effort and arguing… hopefully Marriott will straighten their awful structure out eventually but in the interim it’s beyond frustrating for us loyal member. Thanks again for your input.
any chance you know the codes for the 5 night packages also?
5-night packages
OC5=530T/P530 is now NC4 QP53
OC6=570T/P570 is now NC4 QP53
OC7=610T/P610 is now NC5 QP61
OC8=650T/P650 is now NC5 QP61
OC9=690T/P690 is now NC6 QP69
Mine was upgraded (hotel I needed is now cat 5 and cert was old 1-5 so new 1-4.) But they charged me way too many points. Should be 60,000 but so far it’s at 135,000. Hope I can get that sorted out. People should go in armed with exactly how many points they are expecting it to take and not allow them to do the conversion until they confirm that amount. The first time they converted it to a cat 6 and took even more points, after I said I only needed 5.
Thanks Steven for your explanation. My cat8 (P950) got converted to cat5 and it says it is worth 105k points because they gave me back 30k points during the conversion. At some point there was an idea going around about this and an option under Contact Us – Deals….to get your 30k back which i did. Even though is called “partial” it is still a full 7 night cat5 certificate, correct? I should be able to book a cat5 hotel with including SPG properties. I didn’t know anything about the timelines, thanks a lot for clarifying it for me. They should inform people not let them wait on the phone for something that is not even possible today…i do not even want to get into how rude and incompetent Marriott agents are…..they intentionally transfer you knowing that your issue won’t be solved…what is the point? Someone should monitor their activity and fire them for that….how hard is to just tell me upfront that booking an SPG property is not possible as of yet?
Your partial package is still worth 7 nights at a category 5 hotel.
Marriott has not confirmed or denied the timeline that I have for SPG properties to be bookable. I dont know why they havent because their lack of communication is causing more people to get upset than if they were to publish and make changes to the timeline later on.
This doesnt come down to rude agents intentionally transferring you, knowing your problem wont get solved, this comes down to agents complicity following instructions they know are wrong and a lack of information being trickled from the top down.
What a big mess! My cat8 certificate got converted to a cat5. The issue I am having is that i have a partial certificate as i initially had a cat9 certificate. The certificate I ended up with has a number of points attached to it, cat5 105k points. I have been trying to book an SPG property for a while now, many hours spent on the phone with completely incompetent people….they always transfer you after being on hold for hours and then the call drops after a while. I feel like i am begging to get my points back…shame Marriott! SPG says that because the certificate is limited to 105k points it cannot be attached as there is not enough number of points…..ridiculous….this was a full cat9 certificate which I paid 390k points for it…..after conversion i should have ended up with a cat5 certificate up to 245k points as cat5 costs 35k points per night….What i am supposed to do now? Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Your Cat 8 (P950) should have been converted to a Cat 5 (QP95) That QP95 should be worth 135k not 245k points. When you attach the certificates, Marriott overrides the points cost to make it match the 135k to allow the reservation. You can not attach the reservation to SPG hotels yet. See this post for a timeline to book SPG properties. https://samchui.com/2018/09/22/spg-integration-begins-points-advance-reservations-and-travel-package-timeline/
Thank you for posting this information. I have been trying to apply TP certs all week and this is the first I have heard of this issues and timeline. It is a shame Marriott did not even share this timeline with their customer service agents so that they would not waste their time trying something that was not possible. Hopefully I can finalize this next week.
Has anyone have experience requesting a one year extension on the old certificates since the merger?
I was old the phone for 3hours two days ago and a supervisor Marriott pretended like she knew what she was doing but she was clueless. Her stupid attitude cost me two days of calling back and forth again and being on hold so long, yet I lost my reservation and cannot book anything anymore. She cancelled my reservation but couldn’t attach it to Sheraton (of course she thought she could) so she spent 2 hours on the phone without any success, only to transfer me to a clueless agent at SPG, who eventually got disconnected after 40minutes. I waited another hour to connect to someone but gave up. Next day after a long wait, finally supervisor at SPG said they cannot book SPG properties with TP at the moment and they don’t know when they can. Connected me to Marriott again, another long wait. Then Marriott hotels are implementing black out dates and blocked a few dates in the middle of the 7 nights so I cannot book a new hotel or even the original one anymore. I explained to the agent that black out date rules changed but Marriott supervisors won’t listen, saying nothing about blackout dates has changed (and they claim they worked so long at Marriott and they know the rules better than me….) and the hotels release a small amount of rooms to points, even though the new terms clearly state I can book with points if the standard room is available, which is my case. I explained the new rules many times but got nowhere. Any advice on how to get my Marriott hotels booked when the hotel is blocking award reservations while they make standard rooms available for cash? Marriott supervisors seem to be really arrogant and incompetent…I am just shocked by their attitude…
Still no ETA for using travel packages for Starwood Hotels.
One would think once the certificates have been converted to the new category it would be able to be applied with Starwood but this is Marriott and they’ve proven to be complete utter idiots with the rollout of this merger!
Stay tuned. More information on SPG properties to follow tomorrow.