This Marriott 3rd (or is it 4th?) massive devaluation in a row is a disaster! 69% of Marriott properties remain unchanged, 75% are moving up, and 25% are moving down! Nice! Only a company that doesn’t give a flying duck about the loyalty of their members can screw them over, year after year with such brazen detestable disdain!

There is no sane explanation for raising point redemptions in Europe when the Euro is dropping like a rock off a cliff — that’s pure, undaltered greed! Same as putting a hotel that books for less than $100 a night into the 6th category. Check the recent SPG “devaluation” to see how things are done when they’re done thoughtfully and with care. Read this Flyertalk SPG thread where people thank the company for devaluation (!) and then read this Flyertalk Marriott Thread. See if you can find a few differences!

So… where is a silver lining in this theater of absurd?

Hey, I’m a cheerful guy. I can find redeeming qualities (pun intended) in anything — and that anything includes greedy hotel programs too.

I combed through their mammoth devaluation file and immediately came up with another reason to hate Marriott as if I needed another one.

Marriott 2015 Changes — THE STUPIDITY!

Really, Marriott? At this day and age? You can’t list geographical locations along with your properties? You won’t name the state or the country? You just lump them all together so we could flip a coin and figure where your Courtyard Panama City is — in Florida or in a Central American country? Is that a test, Marriott, to find out if we are even worthy of staying at your beautiful hotels?

Here is my reaction to this killer Marriott presentation!

Luckily, vaboywnder (huge HT!) over there at the Marriott Rewards-Insiders forum converted the Marriott PDF file into an excel spreadsheet and categorized the hotels alphabetically. That helped! You can download that spreadsheet at the link above, and you probably should. It’s not perfect, but at least it’s better organized than this mess that Marriott has dumped on us in its infinite wisdom!

Parameters of research

Yes, I know it sounds preposterous, but I have a system for Marriott, just like I have the system for SPG, Hyatt, etc. But first, here is their rewards charts for both Marriott and Ritz Carlton (note that Edition hotels categories are moving into RC tiers –yes, thanks for another travesty!).

Marriott Rewards Chart

Ritz Carlton Rewards Chart

As a budget traveler, I don’t normally book a Marriott reward stay at an above Category 5 hotel — unless I go  on a spree, and that doesn’t happen all that often. Category 5 is the top level you can redeem with your free Chase Marriott credit card annual certificate. Although, I gotta tell you — in view of this devaluation, I might just book one big vacation with one purpose only — to put the remainder of my Marriott points out of their misery!

Anyway, here is how you find a silver lining in this outrageous devaluation:

• Look for properties off the beaten path.
• Look for properties away from city centers.

Please remember that I’m mostly interested in international travel, but I will also list some interesting locations in the US, too. Note that it’s all a HUGE IMHO. I will most likely miss some real gems, in which case, please use the comments area. Tell me and the readers what I am missing.

Notable hotels moving down in the category from 2 to 1: WORLD

Hotel/Category Change/Country/Hotel Rating (Trip Advisor)/Review (Trip Advisor)

Chennai is one of the most visited destinations in India and one of the 10 top places to travel in 2015 according to Lonely Planet. Redeeming your points at Courtyard Chennai will get you a respectable 1:100 ratio (remember the taxes that you usually don’t pay on a reward stay).

Marriott 2015 Changes: 2 to 1 — Chennai/Madras, India

Guayaquil is a step stone in Ecuador on the way to the Galapagos Islands. You will likely need an overnight hotel stay in both directions, should you travel via Guayaquil. This would be a terrific redemption! Save your cash!

Marriott 2015 Changes: 2 to 1 — Guayaquil, Ecuador

If you are not reluctant to give you tourist money to Putin, Kazan is one of the most underrated and most beautiful cities in Russia. It dates to the 15th century, yet it’s been incessantly modernized in the last decade — for better and for worse. And it has its own Kremlin, too. Courtyard by Marriott Kazan would be an excellent value for your points.

Marriott 2015 Changes: 2 to 1 — Kazan, Russia

Hotels moving down in the category from 2 to 1: AMERICA

Hotel/Category Change/Country/Hotel Rating (Trip Advisor)/Review (Trip Advisor)

If you stay at a Category 1 or 2 Marriott limited service hotel (7,500 points) near large cities, you will almost always get your money points worth. I’m content when I can redeem a Marriott point at $0.01, but in the US, you will often do even better than that.

Marriott 2015 Changes: 2 to 1 — Atlanta/Marietta

Marriott 2015 Changes: 2 to 1 — Chicago/Blumindale

Want 2 cents per your point? Stay at this property near Baton Rouge.

Marriott 2015 Changes: 2 to 1 — Baton Rouge/Siegen Lane

Notable hotels moving down in the category from 3 to 2: WORLD

Hotel/Category Change/Country/Hotel Rating (Trip Advisor)/Review (Trip Advisor)

There is some excellent value to be found with some of these 10,000-point properties.

Marriott 2015 Changes: 3 to 2 — Haikou, China

Marriott 2015 Changes: 3 to 2 — Zhengzhou, China

Marriott 2015 Changes: 3 to 2 — Shanghai Hongqiao

Marriott 2015 Changes: 3 to 2 — Mulu, Malaysia

Hotels moving down in the category from 3 to 2: AMERICA

Hotel/Category Change/Country/Hotel Rating (Trip Advisor)/Review (Trip Advisor)

A room at a Category 2 Marriott hotel will cost you 10,000 points to redeem, so  to me it wouldn’t be very difficult to justify using the points for stay at one of these hotels. In fact, it would be quite easy. You often get as much as $0.015 per point, and sometimes even more. Of course, at this price point you will almost never be staying anywhere downtown. Almost…

Marriott 2015 Changes: 2 to 1 — Ambassodor Wichita

Marriott 2015 Changes: 3 to 2 — Boston/Milford

Notable hotels moving down in the category from 4 to 3: WORLD

Hotel/Category Change/Country/Hotel Rating (Trip Advisor)/Review (Trip Advisor)

Most hotels in the above table are good value at 15,000 points per night. The properties in Bologna and Cali are not, though. Pay cash.

Marriott 2015 Changes: 4 to 3 — JW Marriot Bejing Central, China

Marriott 2015 Changes: 4 to 3 — Renaissance Bejing, China

Marriott 2015 Changes: 4 to 3 — Hanoi, Vietnam

Marriott 2015 Changes: 4 to 3 — Astana, Kazakhstan

Hotels moving down in the category from 4 to 3: AMERICA

Hotel/Category Change/Country/Hotel Rating (Trip Advisor)/Review (Trip Advisor)

At 15,000 points a night, it’s a bit harder to get gems for your points, but they do exist.

Marriott 2015 Changes: 4 to 3 — Atlanta Northwest

Marriott 2015 Changes: 4 to 3 — Philadelphia/Bensalem

Marriott 2015 Changes: 5 to 3 — Newark/Elizabeth

And this San Antonio Courtyard looks like a great hotel and exceptional value.

Marriott 2015 Changes: 4 to 3 — San Antonio/SeaWorld

All remaining hotels moving down in the category from 5 to 4 and 6 to 5: WORLD and AMERICA

Why am I bundling these into one group? Because so few higher category hotels are moving down, it’s not even funny! I’ve decided to put them all in one list because of these free certificates for the Chase Marriott credit card holders. Choose wisely.

Hotel/Category Change/Country/Hotel Rating (Trip Advisor)/Review (Trip Advisor)

Finding real value in this bunch is going to be pretty tough. But if you are holding a free night certificate that you need to use anyway, then all bets are off! Still, this is not to say there are no gems left whatsoever.

Marriott 2015 Changes: 5 to 4 — Seoul/Pangao, Korea

Marriott 2015 Changes: 6 to 5 — Bogota, Colombia

Marriott 2015 Changes: 6 to 5 — Medowlands, NJ

OK, so this post is getting awfully close to 2,000 words, and I’m going to stop now. If you have any tips, praises or criticism — fire away.

Here is the link to the original Marriott PDF File.

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