Marriott finally announces what they’ll do with status, elites, award nights, etc

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Status Extension until 2/22

The status you earned in 2019 will be good until Feb 2022. Pretty fantastic if you ask me. I would note that this potentially undermines some of the value in keeping cards like the Amex Platinum/Business Platinum since the status given from the card ( gold ) will be yours regardless if you keep the card. We don’t really know if they will differentiate between those who earned status through holding  card and those that earned it organically via Marriott stays, etc.

Points Expiration Pause

Any points you have won’t expire until 2/21 at the earliest. At that point the 24 month clock is effective again. Meaning…if the last time you had activity was March 1st 2019…you points would effectively expire on that date in 2021

Suite Night Awards extended by a year

Your suite night awards that would have expired on 12/31/2020 will now be valid until 12/31/2021 – this opens up the opportunity to double up on suite night awards in 2021

Free Night Awards valid until January 31, 2021

I don’t really think this is that great of a deal and should have been extended until 12/31/21 matching what Hyatt did. If you had a free night cert expiring between Feb and July you could have been using it to take advantage of the school schedule for spring break or summer vacation. Extending it into January is nice, but isn’t overly helpful to people who have had to completely uproot their plans and would like to make use of those certs again in the future. Look at what they’re doing for regions throughout Asia and that shoudl have been matched worldwide, IMO.

One thing to note is that members in mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan the Free Night Awards will be extended 12 months into 2021 from the date of expiration

Cancellations until June 30th, 2020

Personal

As long as you do so 24 hours in advance and booked with Marriott, non-group, non 3rd party like Expedia, Travelocity, etc – you can cancel your booking free of charge. up to 24 hours in advance. This is broken down into 2 categories

• Those with reservations already booked, as of April 8th, 2020, may cancel until June 30th, 2020 as long as they do so 24 hours in advance
• Those who make new future travel reservations, until June 30th, 2020, may cancel up to 24 hours

I don’t have any reservations, but if I did, I would be looking at the price I paid vs what it’s currently selling at. If they are the same or better…this policy behooves you cancelling your current booking and rebooking at the same or better rate with the ability to cancel past your current June 30th deadline.

Example:

• Made a booking in January 2020 for December 2020
  • Right now I could cancel free of charge until June 30th
• If I rebooked that booking now or in a few days, etc at the same or better rate
  • I could cancel up until 24 hours in advance

Group

You can see the official information below, but it’s essentially the same as with individual bookings except it allows you to cancel even if the event hasn’t been cancelled.

• For guests with existing reservations for any future arrival date who booked rooms into a Group block via a direct Marriott channel (e.g., Marriott.com or directly with the hotel), including reservations with pre-paid rates that are typically more restrictive, we will allow full changes or cancellation without a charge up to 24 hours prior to arrival,* as long as the change or cancellation is made by June 30, 2020. Please note that any changes to existing reservations will be subject to availability and any rate differences. Guests can cancel or change existing reservations regardless of whether the event itself has been cancelled.

• For guests making new reservations for any future arrival date, including reservations with pre-paid rates, between today and June 30, 2020, we will allow the reservation to be changed or cancelled at no charge up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival date.* Please note that any changes to the reservation will be subject to availability and any rate differences.