Reminder: 25K, 35K, and 50K Marriott hotel opportunities before and after March 5 2019

Update: Re-posting this to remind people that today (3/4/19) is the last day to book properties that are going up in price.

We’ve previously reported that Marriott’s annual category changes have been announced and will take effect on March 5, 2019 (Marriott’s Annual Devaluation: 120 Fewer Properties For Credit Card Nights).  Every year, Marriott adjusts the point prices of many of their hotels by changing the category to which they’re assigned.  For example, category 5 hotels cost 35K points per night, standard.  So, to reprice a hotel upward, Marriott changes the category from 5 to 6 and it then costs 50K points per night based on their Bonvoy Award Chart:

I expect that many readers have free night certificates of one type or another.  If you have a certificate from a pre-merger Chase credit card, it is good for a free night costing up to 25K points.  Newer cards offer free nights at the 35K and 50K levels.  You may also have 5 night or 7 night stay certificates from the old Marriott Travel Packages.  Travel packages used to be a good deal, but aren’t so good anymore.  So, hopefully you bought your package prior to the Marriott / SPG merger.

In this post I’ve identified all of the hotels that are currently bookable at the 25K, 35K, and 50K levels but which will be going up in price on March 5th.  If you are interested in any of these properties you should book before March 5th even if your stay is after March 5.  Further down the post, I’ve also identified the hotels that will drop in price on March 5th to 25K, 35K, or 50K.  If you are interested in any of these, you’ll have to wait until March 5th to apply your certificates.  But don’t wait too long: Marriott plans to introduce Peak pricing sometime soon (we don’t know when).  Those with stay certificates don’t need to worry.  Those will work even at peak pricing.  Those with credit card free nights, though, will be priced out during peak season.

If you want to tinker with the data yourself, I’ve got you covered. You can access my Google Docs spreadsheet here. To make changes, open the spreadsheet then click File… Make a Copy…

Finally, don’t forget that you can find out everything you need to know about Marriott’s rewards program here: Marriott Bonvoy Complete Guide.

Book these before March 5 2019

The following tables show hotels that will be going up in price on March 5th.  If you currently have 25K, 35K, or 50K certificates, you should consider using them now to book the following properties.  In each section below I’ve highlighted one noteworthy hotel. If you know of better choices from your personal experience, please let us know!

25K hotels soon going up to 35K (category 4 to 5)

35K hotels soon going up to 50K (category 5 to 6)

50K hotels soon going up to 60K (category 6 to 7)

Wait for these to get cheaper

It’s not all bad news.  While we’re losing a large number of options for our free night certificates, we’re also gaining some.  The following tables show hotels that will be going down in price on March 5th and which will then allow use of 25K, 35K, or 50K free night certificates.

Hotels that decrease from 35K to 25K (category 5 to 4)

Hotels that decrease from 50K to 35K (category 6 to 5)

Hotels that decrease from 60K to 50K (category 7 to 6)

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