Marriott Rewards (including Ritz-Carlton) - LNFs being combined - mandatory?

:td: made 5 seperate reservations for 5-consecutive nights (next year) at same hotel and plan to later CXL 2-nights once flight reservations can be booked..... Best Available Rates were not the same for each night (ranging from 10,000 to 13,00RUB/night), however I did find a comparison site offering the same hotel over the same 5-nights each for less (all nights at 9000RUB) then the BAR rates originally booked..........
Filed an LNF claim one at a time for each of the 5 reservations.....
Received a positive response from LNF that my LNF was approved for the total 5-nights however they UNILATERALLY aggregated the 5 seperate reservations into a single 5-night reservation......

When I replied to LNF folks that I wanted to maintain the 5-SEPERATE reservations they replied that according to the T&Cs that consecutive nights must be aggregated and site Rule 8, "Comparison Rates applicable to only a portion of your entire scheduled stay will not be honored."
Now I'm only a lawyer for nearly 30-yrs so obviously I have no idea of how to read, but my understanding of their cited rule would mean if you had 3-seperate reservations with LNFs approved only on first and third but not second night that you could not use the approval of nights 1 & 3 to validate an LNF rate for night #2, but I'm open to any comments from FT'ers.......

What site did u use for comparison?

Did your comparison rate require a minimum stay?

no........... and as previously stated, that's why I was easily able to book the nights 1-by-1........ and then filed LNFs 1-by-1 too..........

Did your comparison rate require a minimum stay?

I just had a 2-night LNF rate stay at the Algonquin NY, which was booked as 2 1-night stays due to different comparison rates. Everything was kept separate, to the point that I paid for the 1st night the morning after (using gift cards), and had to have my key cards re-coded. They also posted separately on my MR account.

The one time I had a hotel combine a reservation like this, I had booked 2 different rates, and the combined reservation reverted to the higher rate. After politely hitting the roof, I got them to re-separate the reservations. I suggest you do the same.

sounds like you were 1 for 1 and after the hotel did their thing wound up 2-0........great, now if ONLY I could get the LNF Department to understand what they did was NOT required, by their rule cited or any other rule.............. if I can't then I guess my 2nd course of action is to get the hotel to seperate the aggregated 5-nights into 5-seperate reservations (as they were originally made)............now if only I knew cyrillic!!

I just had a 2-night LNF rate stay at the Algonquin NY, which was booked as 2 1-night stays due to different comparison rates. Everything was kept separate, to the point that I paid for the 1st night the morning after (using gift cards), and had to have my key cards re-coded. They also posted separately on my MR account.

The one time I had a hotel combine a reservation like this, I had booked 2 different rates, and the combined reservation reverted to the higher rate. After politely hitting the roof, I got them to re-separate the reservations. I suggest you do the same.

I hear pulling a DYKWIA like certain people on this site always seem to do in the threads works magnificently ;)

I've had an LNF rate for 3 nights before (although it was booked as such) and when I had to cut the trip short by 1 day, I emailed Customer Care and they amended it without any charge or fuss so when you know your dates for sure, try that.

THXs - I'd easily opt for this (simple) option if I hadn't tried to cut short a previous LNF over a period of nights that I also wanted to cut short only to be informed that this could only be done IF the comparison sites rates were still valid........... that's why I wanted 5-SEPERATE reservations so once I had flights available (and I have no control over when SU will post them so I can buy them - might be tomorrow, but might also not be for several months) I could just CXL the nights 1-by-1 that I wouldn't be using and no problems asking CS which might not do what you're suggesting......

I've had an LNF rate for 3 nights before (although it was booked as such) and when I had to cut the trip short by 1 day, I emailed Customer Care and they amended it without any charge or fuss so when you know your dates for sure, try that.

A colleague of mine had this happen too - he just redid the claims, somebody else accepted them and had no problem with this. Seems that there is one single person at the LNF-desk making up his or her own rules once in a while...

Greetings - Dirk

You've read the rule incorrectly.

It means if you book ONE reservation that is 3-nights long, with an average of say, $100/night, you can't go online and find a website that offers one of those nights at < $100 and use that to validate your LNF claim. You need to look at the cost being charges for all 3 nights.

A colleague of mine had this happen too - he just redid the claims, somebody else accepted them and had no problem with this. Seems that there is one single person at the LNF-desk making up his or her own rules once in a while...

Greetings - Dirk

I agree with Dirk - this is purely the staff that handles your case misinterpreted the rule. This has happened to me all the times - wrong calculation, deny my claim because they don't know what they are doing......

One thing I have experienced all the time - you have 1 shot to argue against your case. I tried it with 2 email exchanges, their mind are set no matter what you said.

So I'd file another series of claims if I were you - since your stay won't be until next year, sometimes you can even score lower rate that you have to file another claim anyway.

I have had them do that to me, as well. I was under the assumption that they could be split off at a later date, if you did not want them all. I am assuming that they are being booked under the same name/account number.

and this WAS done, night-by-night, all of which had the same lower rate found against various higher rates night-by-night, so show me where there's this rule that once each LNF claim is approved one-by-one that afterwards they MUST be aggregated cause it sure isn't the one being cited (and it sure isn't any of the others either)..........

You've read the rule incorrectly.

It means if you book ONE reservation that is 3-nights long, with an average of say, $100/night, you can't go online and find a website that offers one of those nights at < $100 and use that to validate your LNF claim. You need to look at the cost being charges for all 3 nights.

yes, same name/MR acct number and befiore I was previously "burned" I also was under the assumption that an approved say 5-nighter (all at the same approved lower price) could be cut down to 3-nights, but after being burned last time found out that my assumption wasn't correct, thus this time I made the initial reservations 1-by-1, filed individual LNFs 1-by-1, but when they were approved, the approver DEMANDED to aggregate them into a signle reservation.........

I have had them do that to me, as well. I was under the assumption that they could be split off at a later date, if you did not want them all. I am assuming that they are being booked under the same name/account number.

I agree with BostonFlyer1624, the agent read the rule incorrectly. I also agree with nacho, you can argue until you turn blue, but only once have I ever been successful in said argument.

You can refile of course...but I would just contact the Marriott Concierge and ask for his help. Much easier, and risk of the same agent getting hold of your claims.

Having said that - did they actually combine the reservations...or merely link them? If they are linked, you can still cancel one or more of the nights, and retain the others. It is often difficult to tell on the website...so I would call, ask, confirm...and then reach out to Drew if needed.

- awaiting a response from MC on this issue as I don't plan knocking my head against a wall........
- yes, LNF folks unilaterally merged all 5 1-by-1 reservations after approving each 1-by-1 LNF claims into a single reservation for 5-nights (and then CXLed all previous 1-by-1 reservations)

also reached out to Aeroflot to put inventory available post 31 March 13 so I can buy a couple of C-class tickets BKK-SVO and know which 3/4 nights I want to use (and CXL nights I won't be using)

I agree with BostonFlyer1624, the agent read the rule incorrectly. I also agree with nacho, you can argue until you turn blue, but only once have I ever been successful in said argument.
You can refile of course...but I would just contact the Marriott Concierge and ask for his help. Much easier, and risk of the same agent getting hold of your claims.
Having said that - did they actually combine the reservations...or merely link them? If they are linked, you can still cancel one or more of the nights, and retain the others. It is often difficult to tell on the website...so I would call, ask, confirm...and then reach out to Drew if needed.

THXs - I'd easily opt for this (simple) option if I hadn't tried to cut short a previous LNF over a period of nights that I also wanted to cut short only to be informed that this could only be done IF the comparison sites rates were still valid........... that's why I wanted 5-SEPERATE reservations so once I had flights available (and I have no control over when SU will post them so I can buy them - might be tomorrow, but might also not be for several months) I could just CXL the nights 1-by-1 that I wouldn't be using and no problems asking CS which might not do what you're suggesting......

yeah, just call in and shorten the stay. I have done this in the past w/o any issues.

we'll check on this once SU posts inventory and I know which day we'll be starting our tour of Moscow............... as previously stated, when I tried this before (shortening an approved LNF over a 5-night period to 4, my request was refused, but we'll see)

yeah, just call in and shorten the stay. I have done this in the past w/o any issues.

we'll check on this once SU posts inventory and I know which day we'll be starting our tour of Moscow............... as previously stated, when I tried this before (shortening an approved LNF over a 5-night period to 4, my request was refused, but we'll see)

I've done early checkout on several occasions on LNF-reservation without any problem - so if your checkin-date stands, you should be OK.

Greetings - Dirk

hopefully so as they've already gotten the comparison wiped off the preverbial map (therefore precluding making new reservations.............)

I've done early checkout on several occasions on LNF-reservation without any problem - so if your checkin-date stands, you should be OK. Greetings - Dirk

a light dawned in LNF-land and they now understand, and agree, that ALL 5 SEPERATE reservations using the SAME comparison site which had the SAME rate all 5-nights upon which 5-SEPERATE LNF claims were filed and approved, does NOT mandate an aggregating of the 5 SEPERATE reservations into 1........................ CONGRADS to the LNF team (now if only Don Merideth was here to sing his Monday Night Football song!)

:td: made 5 seperate reservations for 5-consecutive nights (next year) at same hotel and plan to later CXL 2-nights once flight reservations can be booked..... Best Available Rates were not the same for each night (ranging from 10,000 to 13,00RUB/night), however I did find a comparison site offering the same hotel over the same 5-nights each for less (all nights at 9000RUB) then the BAR rates originally booked..........
Filed an LNF claim one at a time for each of the 5 reservations.....
Received a positive response from LNF that my LNF was approved for the total 5-nights however they UNILATERALLY aggregated the 5 seperate reservations into a single 5-night reservation......

When I replied to LNF folks that I wanted to maintain the 5-SEPERATE reservations they replied that according to the T&Cs that consecutive nights must be aggregated and site Rule 8, "Comparison Rates applicable to only a portion of your entire scheduled stay will not be honored."
Now I'm only a lawyer for nearly 30-yrs so obviously I have no idea of how to read, but my understanding of their cited rule would mean if you had 3-seperate reservations with LNFs approved only on first and third but not second night that you could not use the approval of nights 1 & 3 to validate an LNF rate for night #2, but I'm open to any comments from FT'ers.......

(now if only Don Merideth was here to sing his Monday Night Football song!)

:D :D

Glad it worked out.

Cheers.

a light dawned in LNF-land and they now understand, and agree, that ALL 5 SEPERATE reservations using the SAME comparison site which had the SAME rate all 5-nights upon which 5-SEPERATE LNF claims were filed and approved, does NOT mandate an aggregating of the 5 SEPERATE reservations into 1........................ CONGRADS to the LNF team (now if only Don Merideth was here to sing his Monday Night Football song!)
So did they split them back up? I don't see where you actually said that above explicitly. But you seem to be celebrating if they did that (not just agreed that going forward they wouldn't do it, which is all you spelled out).

YES, my 5 seperate reservations, made 1 by the LNF folks, are now once again, and the way they should have been at all times, 5 seperate reservations................ so now, once late Oct arrives and tickets can finally be bought on SU to MOS I'll be able to know arrival date and CXL the undesired res with a simple push of a button............

So did they split them back up? I don't see where you actually said that above explicitly. But you seem to be celebrating if they did that (not just agreed that going forward they wouldn't do it, which is all you spelled out).

i just had this happen on my LNF claim. had two SEPARATE reservations, submitted two separate claims, both were approved, however agent decided to combine them for 'my convenience'. i called lnf department, but got the most stubborn person in the world. he kept repeating 'i can not help you' like a broken record and that i need to call the hotel and arrange it with them. hotel transfers me to general reservation line, who OF COURSE can't help either. ill email them again (first reply is still unanswered after 12 hours) and if that doesn't help, i hope marriott concierge can help. im ok with everything, but phone agents attitude :/

I guess we need to write 'please don't merge my ressies' in the claim form.

So odd - I booked a single reservation for 2 rooms, filed a LNF request that was honored, and was surprised to see to separate one-room reservations. I called and asked about that and they said it's normal.

So odd - I booked a single reservation for 2 rooms, filed a LNF request that was honored, and was surprised to see to separate one-room reservations. I called and asked about that and they said it's normal.

Interesting... Last week I booked a single reservation for 2 rooms and filed a LFN request that was honored, and it stayed as a two-room reservation. Normal for only some associates maybe???

So odd - I booked a single reservation for 2 rooms, filed a LNF request that was honored, and was surprised to see to separate one-room reservations. I called and asked about that and they said it's normal.

It is - kind of. In the majority of cases this is what happens when I submit a LNF-claim for a two-room reservation, and is even done when the claim is rejected, so it seems to be a standard-procedure to split the reservation very early in the evaluation-process of a LNF-claim.

That said, I also had instances where this did not happen, and in one of such cases it was even impossible to split the reservation after the LNF-claim was approved. In the end I had to redo the claim since I wanted seperate reservations for each room and initially just did a two-room reservation for the convenience of having only one claim vs. two...

Greetings - Dirk