Marriott Bonvoy Category Changes from March 3rd, 2021

Last call to book the old category levels…

On March 3rd, the annual re-categorization of Marriott’s Bonvoy category levels will take place. That means that:

• If you see a property going up in category, you can book now and lock in the lower category.
• If you see a property going down in category, make a note for March 3rd to try and rebook at the lower rate (inventory must be available).
• Remember that a Points Advance reservation no longer locks in the price, so don’t make that mistake.

As you’d expect (hope?) more hotels are going down as compared to up by a 3 to 1 ratio. You’d expect this because rates have been so low for a while now and categories are tied to ADR (Average Daily Room rate).

• 51 hotels go up at least one category
• 150 hotels go down at least one category

Overall, I didn’t find this to be too bad, and I now have the newly lowered Category 5 La Caserne Chanzy in Reims, France on my list to use my free Category 5 credit card certificates.

You can see the chart on the Bonvoy website here.

Here are all the hotels changing category, sorted by current category:

Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card: Earn 75,000 Bonus Marriott Bonvoy Points after you use your new Card to make $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of Card Membership. Terms apply. | How to apply for this offer.

And here’s the same list, but sorted by future category:

The following hotels are current Category 5 moving to Category 6, putting them out of reach for the annual free night certificates you get with the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card, the legacy Chase Bonvoy Business card and the legacy (available by product change) Bonvoy Amex cards.

Also keep in mind that you can save an extra 10% by booking Off-Peak redemption rates by February 21, 2021.

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