swintec

I have a points stay coming up this weekend for several nights. I used the app to chat with the hotel regarding a plat. premier room upgrade. got that ironed out.

after the res. got upgraded i looked at it and it is showing the several nights at $1x each night. it also shows no mention of my points being used let alone a e-certificate being attached to the reservation.

is this how a reservation paid with points but upgraded with cash is displayed on the site and in the app or did the agent mistakenly switch me to bill me the rate that marriott pays the hotel for reward stays?

if its the former...the nightly rate between a standard reward eligible room and the rate of the upgraded room is a lot more than $1x...does the system really allow an agent to input any dollar amount they choose in this case when upgrading a points stay with cash for the room upgrade?

my initial reaction was to simply cancel the reservation entirely and start fresh since upgrades are suppose to be "complementary" (and assuming the whole reservation is fubar'ed at this point) but if the entire stay will be under $50 that's a smoking deal and I will more than happily keep the 100k points (assuming the e-cert gets canceled on its own).

DJ_Iceman

Why not just call them again and ask?

RogerD408

I've read a few different times that a property can and do change a rez to a ridiculous dollar amount that is NOT used upon arrival. It may be their way to flag the rez to get the FDC to look to the comments to see what arrangement has been made.

I would not cancel the rez, as that will most likely throw everything out the window and you would need to start over and maybe not have the same set of options available.

captainbaker

I had a similar situation happen at The Beach front Marriott in Key West. Wanted to stay for x nights plus some cash. Someone took it upon them selves to upgrade my room and help themselves to an additional 30,000 points a night. I caught it the second night, called Marriott Plat line and explained I would never pay to be upgraded.

The hotel took the first nights points but not the rest of the nights.

RE points plus cash. In days of past, a hotel would put up say, 15 rooms a night that could be bought for points. When the rooms are gone, they were gone. Now when the point only rooms are gone, they can offer up more point purchase rooms.....but with a little gotcha at the end ($150?/night). This can be a winner if the guest has the spare $150 per night.....but at that point, some folk might just say 'screw it', stay at a AirBNB and save the points.

In closing, you should see the points being taken out of your account the moment your reservation is confirmed. This will help you confirm things are being done correctly.

swintec

Yes, at reservation time, everything was done as it normally would be. Points deducted, e certs made, etc. Since I got swapped to a really low cash rate (because i was Plat. upgraded), the e-cert is no longer attached to the reservation but the points are not in my account again so I think the e-cert "exists" somewhere just not attached to my reservation.

swintec

Maybe...at this point I will wait and see. The e-cert is no longer on my reservation though and my cancellation penalty if i cancel is $17 so it just feels like i am on some corp marriott rate. will see what the front desk does.

captainbaker

Then time to make a call and try to have your details ready. The upgrade switch was a new one for me. I always get upgraded based on occupancy and my status, thus thats one of the reasons I book the hotel. I know there is a great chance of upgrade because the hotel is no where at occupancy.

My first clue was when I saw a dip in my points. I dont hover over my balance, but I have a ballpark estimate.

Best guess? A lot of hotels are not corporate owned. I think you can connect the dots.