Marriott has just released a document containing the category changes for 2014.

Award Devaluation

The current award chart is as follows:

There are no new creation of award categories (unlike last year). Marriott says:

• 73% of the properties remain unchanged.
• 66% of the programs properties will remain in Categories 1-4.
• 27% of the hotels are changing; of these 22% are decreasing by one category and 78% are increasing by one category.

Unfortunately most of the properties going down are already in the lower categories. There aren’t any Ritz-Carlton hotels or Category 7 or higher Marriott hotels which go down in an award, which is unfortunate.

The post on the Marriott Rewards notes:

• All redemption reservations booked on or before April 7, 2014 will be honored at the current point price, even if the stay occurs after April 8. 2014. If you have not ordered your certificate prior to April 8, 2014, call Guest Services prior to your stay to request the lower priced certificate.
• As always, you may book redemption reservations up to 50 weeks in advance of your stay, even before having the required points in your account.
• You can also use Cash + Points to take advantage of booking your redemption stay early.

These further decrease the free night certificates from the Megabonus promotions as well as credit cards. I’m currently sitting on two and do need to figure out how to redeem them. A lot of the “decent properties” in category 4/5 are going up such as the JW Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, Shanghai, Bangkok, Khao Lak, and Mexico City.

I never liked Marriott very much though, given that the points required for their high end properties are substantially higher than most other hotel chains.

You can access the full list of properties at this link.

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