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A couple of readers have recently reported problems with trying to upgrade their Marriott Travel Packages. This is a quick post just to affirm that it can still be done. I just did it. And, as expected, upgrading or downgrading has the benefit of extending the expiration date of the certificate.
If you’d like background on Marriott Travel Packages, please see: 12 things you need to know about Marriott Travel Packages.
Starting from Category 1-5
I logged into my Marriott account to get a “before” picture of my certificate. Here it is:
Note that the listed Points Value was 270,000 points (the number of points I paid for the package) and that the expiration date was 1/23/18. Also note that if I had asked to cancel the certificate, they wouldn’t have refunded the full 270,000 points since most of those points were for the 120,000 Southwest points that I got from the package. Instead, they would have given me only a 45,000 point refund.
Calling Marriott Rewards
I called the Platinum number (800-399-4229) in order to get a person to answer immediately. She was from Reservations. I asked if she could transfer me to Marriott Rewards, but she offered to help me directly. Accepting that offer was a mistake because she didn’t know what she was doing. If you try this, I’d recommend calling Marriott Rewards directly: In the USA & Canada: 1-800-450-4442.
I asked the first agent to upgrade my certificate to category 6. About 20 minutes and several clarifications later, she admitted that she couldn’t do it (she said that she didn’t have access to the right system) and she transferred me to a supervisor.
I repeated my request to the supervisor, was put on hold, and about 10 minutes later it was done.
Email notifications
I received two emails regarding the upgrade. One was titled “Cancelled Award Order Confirmation.” This one shows that my 7 Night travel package certificate was cancelled. I presumably received 45,000 points for the cancellation (as expected).
The next email was titled “New Reward Order Confirmation.” It showed the following:
Reward Details
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Description: 7 Night Partial Package Category 6 Hotels
Reward code: P870
Valid through: Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Total points redeemed: 75,000
Confirmed on: Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Reward Terms & Conditions
https://www.marriott.com/rewards/terms/usetrms.miDescription:
7 Night Partial Package Category 6 Hotels
Reward certificate number: XXXXXXXTotal points redeemed: 75,000
This is a bit misleading. It appears that it cost 75,000 points to upgrade, but in reality it only cost 30,000 points. 45,000 points came from the cancelled certificate and the additional 30,000 points came from my account.
Ending with Category 6 and a new expiration date
The difference in price between category 5 and category 6 travel packages is 30,000 points. So, they withdrew 30,000 points from my account and replaced my 7 night certificate with this one:
Note that the point value is now at only 75,000 points and the expiration date has been pushed forward to 5/16/18. The Points Value now is the full value of the certificate if I were to cancel it. It is, as expected, the sum of the original cancellation value (45,000 points) plus the difference in point price between the original and new packages (30,000 points).
Travel Package Pricing (for reference)
You can see in each of the packages below that the difference in price between Category 1-5 packages and Category 6 packages is always 30,000 points:
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Can Marriott packages be upgraded to Ritz?
Yes, but you’ll have to get Marriott Rewards on the line since most reservation agents won’t know how to do that. Here’s how to get them on the phone: https://frequentmiler.com/2018/06/26/navigating-marriotts-phone-prompts-to-book-a-travel-package/
I just tried upgrading my 7 night Category 1-5 travel package to category 6 while offering to pay the difference and was denied.
I’ll try again in a few days.
Did you make sure you were talking with Marriott rewards rather rather than Marriott reservations?
I just called Marriott today and easily extended my 7 day certificate just as a DP as of 01/10/2018, it is still very simple to get a year extension from the date you call – as in mine expires on 01/10/2019 now. I did not upgrade the certificate to get the extension, just asked nicely on the first call. Thought some people might be interested in data points lately.
Awesome. Thanks for the data point!
I just extended my 7-night rewards certificate by phone. It was extended by one year. When I login in online, it said “PARTIAL PKG-CAT 1-5 – 45,000 Points”. What does that mean? Do I need to redeem 45k points extra to use this certificate?
No, you don’t have to pay any extra points. 45K is the number of points you’ll get back if you exchange your certificate for points rather than for the 7 night stay.
Still working great. Just got off the phone after asking to upgrade my certificate as the initial one was about to expire in a few days. Upgraded with no questions asked and cert extended for a year. The rep even asked if I wanted to make a reservation on the same call, but I told them I was still deciding on dates. Whole call took about 10 minutes of which 7 were on hold waiting for someone to pick up.
I just tried to upgrade from a 5 to a 6 and they wanted me to make a reservation first, reserve with a credit card, and then they would apply the voucher to my account. Should I try calling back later?
Definitely a hang up and call later. Good luck. Just make sure you are calling the Rewards line and not Reservations.
Worked perfectly. I had a cat 1-5 expiring at the end of the month. I called the rewards number and requested an upgrade for points. I was granted the upgrade and the certificate was extended a year to the day. The transaction took less than 5 minutes.
Just upgraded my certificate, the reward number seem to be update to +1-800-450-4442.
Thank you! Updated post with new phone number.
I’m in a similar situation where i need to upgrade to cat 7 for honolulu but I am short 50k marriott points(I have 10k currently). I just applied for a marriot business card and should have the points in 2 months. does marriott allow the e-certificate of “borrowing” 50k pts to book first on 7 night certificates?
thanks
john
Good question. I don’t know. Have you tried calling to ask?
If you try to use the Cat 7-7 day vacation cert at a Marriott vacation club property that only has 2 bedroom villas, will they make you buy upgrade certs with more points?
I think it depends on how they normally charge points. Do they require a paid upgrade with all 2 bedroom villas when paying with points?
This is what posted about a week ago on a travel blog discussion similar to some of this thread. NOT HAPPY.
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Just yesterday, I did the 7 nights – 270,000 Marriott points for 1-5 category certificate plus 132,000 UA miles (+25,000 more miles if UA bonus comes through).
I then went to book a category 5 hotel that happens to be a vacation club location. The reservationist had a hard time using the certificate, but finally got it done, and I got a confirming email while still on the line.
She then asked me to hold, talked to someone, and came back indicating that I needed 70,000 more points for the stay. Two upgrade certificates @5,000 points each per night. Since I did not have that left in my account, I was told to start “earning” more points, or the reservation would eventually be invalid.
When I asked to speak to the person who told her that, she transferred me to him. He was the worst Marriott rep I have ever dealt with. Told me that’s the way things worked, and even though the hotel was clearly category 5, there were no “standard rooms” there. Every room required an additional 10,000 points per night. In effect, the place was actually a category 7.
Actually it was even worse than being a category 7 because if it had been, I could have upgraded it for 60,000 points as someone has indicated above (30K per category).
I protested, and he in-effect told me to take it or leave it. To be fair, he did graciously offer to sell me the 70K points for $875.00. I said I thought this was all a sham, given that I did not see anywhere that a certificate for a cat5 hotel might not actually work for all cat5 hotels.
My wife and I are still evaluating what we want to do.
And back ti Greg’s question — I believe one of the representatives told me that even if I had used 25,000 points for a night at this Category 5 property, I would still need two 5,000 Certificates per night in addition.
Ridiculous from my standpoint. If that is always the case with this property, why not just make it a Cat 7 ?
Very interesting. On the one hand, this adds support to the idea that you can use the 7 night certs at hotels that only have upgrade rooms available. That’s good. On the other hand, if this property truly never has standard rooms available then that’s bad.
Greg, thanks for the reply. Your last sentence is apparently the key — all rooms are villas, therefore no standard rooms. . And then therefore, 10,000 more points per night because we are forced into an upgraded room (nice, but actually more than we need).. . 340,000 points all-in for a Cat5 (but, we also will get the UA miles).
I am so torn! I think I’m just having hard time letting go of 90K SPG points to get to a Marriott package. I get that it’s a good deal though so I’m trying to decide if I’d be better off getting the United pkg, with the 10% bonus, or the Southwest pkg, despite missing the window for the CP.
ORD is more convenient, but I previously had a SW pass so MDW is do-able too. I haven’t redeemed very much on United, so I”m not familiar with how available award space is. I know they can be used for other airlines, but does that make them much easier to use than say…. AA, which are ridiculous right now. We do mostly domestic/Caribbean, but like the option of international once in a while. Any advice is appreciated.
I wouldn’t rush the decision. Wait until you need the 7 night stay or the miles. Or, wait until an airline from travel packages 1,2, or 3 offers a hotel transfer bonus. When that happens you can get even more miles for your points.
The only “deadline” I think is likely is that travel packages may go away when Marriott and SPG create a new single program (likely sometime in 2018). So, try to redeem for a travel package sometime this year (unless you find a better use for your SPG points)
[…] Upgrading Marriott Travel Packages by Frequent Miler. Useful information if you want to upgrade a travel package. […]
Is it possible to use these on starwood properties now or in the future? Perhaps when the programs integrate more?
It’s not possible today, but there’s a decent chance that they will work on SPG properties once Marriott Rewards and SPG merge into a single new program (expected in 2018). Here’s a really interesting possibility: If the new program does away with categories (like Hilton did), then these legacy 7 night packages may work across the board. I think its unlikely, but if true that would mean that one could apply a Cat 1-5 cert to stay at any Marriott/SPG property. That would obviously be a huge win. See this post for additional thoughts on the topic: https://frequentmiler.com/2017/03/17/marriott-spg-ritz-new-program-opportunity/
Cool, thanks for the info Greg.
I’d like some advice as well as to how I should upgrade and what properties are worth upgrading to. My wife and I are trying to decide where we want to go for our vacation though we’ll likely only be staying 5-6 nights max. We’re looking at Costa Rica, Rome, or Paris, either the Cat 6 Costa Rica San Jose, Cat 8 Paris Marriott Opera Ambassador Hotel, Cat 9 Renaissance Paris Vendome, or Cat 9 Boscolo Exedra Roma (Rome), Autograph Collection. We have the required 120K points to upgrade to Cat 9 if needed, but is it worth it? I feel like we could just go up to Cat 6 Costa Rica, keep the leftover points, and then do Paris/Rome with our (yet to be applied for) Hyatt cards.
Personally I’d go with Costa Rica for the cert and Hyatt for Paris
Thanks, I appreciate it!
My two cents: San Jose Costa Rica is not where most people would spend a week in that country and driving on day trips which appear short on the map, can take many many hours. Research this location before you jump on it.
Hi Gene. I keep going back and forth about what I would do if I had the Fairmont 2 free nights and the 7 night Marriott certificate. If it were me, I’d use the Marriott 7 nights in Hawaii. There’s very few places that I’d want to spend 7 nights in the same hotel, but Hawaii is one of them. I think I’d just plan a weekend get away to use the free Fairmont nights. There are Fairmonts in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Austin TX that I would consider for a fun weekend.
Some Marriotts that I’d consider are Koloa Landing Resort (category 8 Kauai), Kauai Marriott Resort (category 8 Kauai), or the Wailea Beach Marriott (category 8 Maui). If you have a lot of Marriott points to burn, you could consider the Ritz-Carlton at Kapalua (Tier 4 Maui).
I agree with Barry. The ideal thing is to use the 2 Fairmont nights on another trip (or extend this trip by 2 days!). Call Fairmont to ask if they’re willing to extend the deadline of your certs.
I also agree with Barry.
One thought based on recent experience: I’d skip the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua. I went to Maui last fall and made an effort to try several different places for the purposes of taking pictures and gathering reviews. On Maui, I sayed at the Ritz-Carlton, the Andaz Maui, and the Westin Ka’anapali. I personally wouldn’t go back to the Ritz. The short version of the story is that it’s far from most of what you’ll want to see and do in Maui, it doesn’t have a nice beach of its own, and service didn’t match the price point. I have not stayed at any of the other Marriott properties in Hawaii, but I’d suggest the Wailea area of Maui over the spot where the Ritz is. I think Kauai might be my favorite island, but if I’m spending 7 nights I’d probably rather be on Maui — there’s more to see and do as you can drive a lot more of the island. Of course, that’s just my $0.02.
Since you’re only staying for 7 days, I’d use your Marriott certificate for this trip and save your Fairmont nights for a future trip.
Which hotel you pick is up to personal preference. Personally, I like the Residence Inn Maui Wailea. The rooms have a full kitchen and there’s an outside area with multiple grills. The hotel also has a complimentary breakfast. When I’m on vacation for a week, I don’t want to eat out everyday. You can save a lot of money on food if you have a Costco membership. The gas is also about 75 cents per gallon cheaper at Costco than anywhere else on the island. The downside of this hotel is that it isn’t right on the beach. It’s about a half mile walk to get to the beach from the hotel.
If you’re looking for a high end resort, this hotel wouldn’t be the best pick.
Looking for somewhat of a nice hotel. (Celebrating 10 year anniversary). Plus the Fairmont nights will expire in May. No other trips are planned to be able to use them by the time they expire.
I haven’t stayed at either Fairmont in Hawaii, but I have had the Fairmont card with the free nights in the past (which I used in the Canadian Rockies). Many times the Fairmont free nights are hard to use. There has to be availablity in the lowest level room at the resort in order to use the certificate. I would check at either the Kea Lani on Maui or Orchid on the Big Island to see if there’s low level availablity during your week. Both hotels have amazing reviews. You won’t go wrong on either island, but I personally prefer Maui to the Big Island.
If you haven’t gotten the Chase Hyatt cards in the past 24 months, I would look at them. They are not subject to the 5/24 rule. The signup bonus is 2 free nights at any Hyatt. If you get a card and your wife gets a card you’d have 6 free nights between the Fairmont and Hyatt stays.
I would then save the Marriott certificate for a future trip by doing the upgrade trick to extend the expiration or by calling in when the certificate is about to expire.
Hello All,
I am in need of some guidance with a trip that I’m planning. My wife want to go to Hawaii(March 2018). I am trying to figure out accommodations. I currently have the 7 night Marriott Package ( I would have to upgrade to either a cat 7 or 8). I am also trying to redeem 2 nights (from Fairmont credit card sign up). However I am only staying 7 days. Which hotels and order would you guys recommend?