On February 27th Marriott released a full list of hotel category changes for reward night stays. According to Loyalty Traveler, 100 hotels are decreasing by one category (roughly 3% of the brand) while 526 hotels are increasing by one category (15% of the brand). Upon reading many of the comments from the various frequent flyer blogs a lot the hotels that are increasing by one category were in the Category 4 bracket meaning they will now become category 5 hotels and thus be exempt from the typical free night award that comes from the Marriott MegaBonus promotions. For example I used a free night earned from a MegaBonus promotion at the Residence Inn Toronto Downtown Entertainment District and would definitely again but that hotel is moving to Category 5. Perhaps we will see a change of promotion terms when the next version of MegaBonus is released to include a wider spectrum of hotel categories.
This change will also affect people who apply for the Canadian (and U.S., for those Americans reading this blog) Marriott Rewards Visa from Chase as the free night(s) that comes with the card is only for Category 1-4 hotels.
What do you think of the latest round of hotel category shifts from Marriott? Will these changes make you reconsider which frequent guest program you use?