Marriott award chart changes happening on March 3

When it comes to award travel, it’s always important to stay on top of the ever-evolving changes in award prices.

Hotels are known to make adjustments on a yearly basis and Marriott is set to make annual hotel category changes on March 3, 2021.

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The changes

You can find the full list of category changes here.

As a reminder, these changes are not always negative as some properties will actually bump down to a lower category.

In fact, there are two category sevens bumping down to a category six: Grand Hotel Suisse Majestic, Autograph Collection and JW Marriott Parq Vancouver.

For a lot of people, the key changes to look for are properties changing in and out of category five and category six.

This is because with the select Marriott cards like the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card, you can receive a free night at properties costing up to 35,000 points per night, which is the standard rate for a category five property.

Off-peak for a category five goes down to 30,000 points and peak prices go up to 40,000 points. You can read more about these properties here.

Also, if you have the Marriott Brilliant from American Express you can get a free night for properties costing up to 50,000 points per night, which is the standard rate for a category six.

Off-peak for a category six goes down to 40,000 points and peak prices go up to 60,000 points.

A few interesting properties dropping from category six to category five include:

• Burj Rafal Riyadh, A Marriott International Hotel
• Curaçao Marriott Beach Resort
• Fairfield Inn & Suites Virgin Zion National Park
• JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Shanghai Pudong
• The Opus, Westchester
• Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre

So be sure to take a look at the category changes and book your best available rate based on the changes happening.