Marriott renews statuses through 2023 and says goodbye to fixed table for award nights
Day full of announcements today for the Marriott hotel chain and all Bonvoy program members. Two are [...]
Marriott
Day full of announcements today for the Marriott hotel chain and all the enrolled in the Bonvoy program. Two new features are particularly significant for Italian users:
- As done in 2020, the Bonvoy loyalty program has Extended elite statuses to all members until 2023
- From 2022 Marriott will abandon the fixed table for award nights moving to a dynamic quotation no longer tied to hotel category.
In this article:
The renewal of statuses
Marriott joined all other loyalty programs that, given the uncertainty that still reigned during 2021, decided to protect their members by automatically renewing elite levels.
This means that all users with status expiring in March 2022 will have another 12 months guaranteed, even if they have not met the requirements for renewal.
How the premium table changes
According to Marriott's statement, this change was made to provide more flexibility for customers, the truth is that from January 2023, when the buffer period ends, we should expect an increase in the cost of award stays.
What changes is easy to explain. Today Marriott divides its hotels into categories and provides 3 seasonality: low, standard and high. By having a fixed award table, you know exactly how many points you will need for an award night.
Tomorrow Bonvoy, as is already the case for Hilton Honors, will switch to dynamic premium prices, which can fluctuate dramatically based on demand. A practical example is Hilton Como Lake, where a room goes from 50k to 200k points per night. With Marriott, however, everything was very clear.
| Hotel category | Low season | Standard | High season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5.000 | 7.500 | 10.000 |
| 2 | 10.000 | 12.500 | 15.000 |
| 3 | 15.000 | 17.500 | 20.000 |
| 4 | 20.000 | 25.000 | 30.000 |
| 5 | 30.000 | 35.000 | 40.000 |
| 6 | 40.000 | 50.000 | 60.000 |
| 7 | 50.000 | 60.000 | 70.000 |
| 8 | 70.000 | 85.000 | 100.000 |
The rules will change in stages:
- The change will start from March 2022; first the current table will remain in effect.
- Between March 2022 and the end of 2022, including the old high/low season, prices in the 97% of properties will continue to vary; therefore, rates may be higher than they are now in about 3% of facilities
- Starting in 2023, the grace period will end. And prices will no longer be capped
In conclusion
Marriott tries to sweeten the pot, but this is certainly not good news, any more than it was when Hilton switched to the dynamic table. It is virtually certain that facilities will have higher average costs for very little additional flexibility for travelers.
Since the dynamic table involves correlating the price of the premium room with the actual price of the paid stay, one has to hope for empty hotels for much longer in order to break out attractive rates. But this is meager consolation.
