jl3549

We have a reservation 5 weeks out and the hotel has not opened yet. On the website, no rooms are now available for our dates - we made reservations months ago. What is Marriott's policy if they don't open in time? Will we get a free stay at a comparable property, points, or just S.O.L? I am a platinum member if that makes a difference.

Thanks

joshua362

Generally SOL, you'll be lucky to be notified at all. You might want to make a reservation at another chain with a generous cancellation policy, show up, play dumb and see if that leads to any compensation if your plans allow for that and want to play that game. Otherwise maybe call a few weeks out and see what is up.

RogerD408

It's best being proactive here and book an alternate property. But also contact the property to see what they've done to accommodate your reservation. If they don't have anything worked out, escalate to corporate, and I don't mean customer support. If they have blocked out all other rooms (no reservations allowed now), they should have addressed those that were already booked. No excuse for just waiting to see how things go, you or the property.

I know someone that was in the same situation and the property just blew him off. Contacting corporate got him a free stay at a property close by (not a Marriott).

hhoope01

Agree with being proactive and either calling Marriott find out the current status and/or making a backup reservation.

If the hotel isn't open yet, it might well be possible no one will be there to ask for the "walk" or room guarantee.

jl3549

AC Hotel in Cincinnati at the banks is still not open, was notified by email that the reservation moved to another hotel for next week with no points compensation or cost break at the lesser hotel. I cancelled that one and am staying somewhere else...hopefully they are open in December when I have another reservation.

Segments

Just in the middle of dealing with this at a different hotel (TPS) for an award rez. I've been watching and reached out to them a few months ago when the opening date slipped. Was told they would take care of me if hotel didn't open before my rez. Received a call two weeks out advising of delayed opening. Was offered to switch rez to Courtyard across the street (same category). Pushed for something to cover loss of breakfast but instead offered an alternate property 10 miles away. Ended up negotiating a few points for the inconvenience and transferred to Courtyard since location was paramount.

Srisarin

Sorry to bust the bubble here, but per the T&Cs, a hotel must be open and operational for the Ultimate Reservation Guarantee compensation to apply.

mahasamatman

You are a lot more forgiving that I would be in that situation. Poor handling like that would garner a letter to the FTC and put the hotel on my permanent blacklist.

Often1

New properties can be fantastic, have all manner of flaws, or not open on time.

All it takes is the plumbing inspector not signing off on something and a 30-day hold goes into play.

Depending on where you are staying, this may or may not matter to you. But, if this is a resort during high season, finding something comparable at the last second may not be workable and double-booking may not work unless you are prepared to forfeit a hefty deposit.

All you can do is stay in touch directly with the property. Deal with multiple individuals and engage them in conversations rather than berating them. If the place is behind schedule, those are the people who will know. Then you can switch to service recovery.

So long as the property does not market itself as "available" once its open date gets pushed back, the FTC isn't going to do anything and Marriott knows that.

CPRich

Its been known to happen.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...nceton-wv.html

At least you're aware. This property had nothing saying they weren't open. Corporate didn't bother doing anything.

writerguyfl

After being on both sides of the Front Desk at a newly opened hotel, I recommend avoiding this situation entirely by booking elsewhere.

As a guest, I stayed at the Bellagio in Las Vegas right after they opened. After taking a shower, I discovered that it hadn't been properly caulked. The ensuing flood led to all sorts of problems.

I also worked as Night Manager during the soft opening of a luxury hotel. We had a whole host of problems related to construction. Finding and fixing those problems took months.

My view is that unless you're getting a spectacular rate, staying at a newly opened property isn't worth the potential hassle. Add on the uncertainty of whether it will be open makes it a non-starter.

Segments

Agreed. We made reservations at a property that was scheduled to open in April 2017 thinking six months would be enough time to work out any issues before our arrival. Yet property is still not open. If a construction plan for a limited service chain hotel is that far behind schedule then something must be wrong for it still not to have certificate of occupancy.