Location: Some place in this wonderful world (usually at 39,000 ft in seat 1C)
Programs: CO Gold Elite / NW Gold Elite
Posts: 9,594
Quote:
Originally Posted by SkiAdcock
I beg to disagree on LPR not being publically available. Quite often it's a promo a hotel has going locally - REN Hthrow comes to mine, as well as others. But I DO agree w/ socrates that the above example definitely isn't a publically available one if it requires management approval. I mean, use some common sense!
Cheers.
Thanks for the clarification Sharon, you are correct, LPR can be either
Personally, if one uses any rate that mentions "managment", I would suggest calling the hotel and verifying that the rate is in fact publicly usable. It is better to be safe than sorry.
Actually before going through that hassle I am going to stay somewhere else...which in this case is the decision I have made in terms of this LPR...
Read the whole thread. Any other experiences with the VSA code? Best price and breakfast too. Is it a Visa employee discount? If I make the reservation would it be better to call the 800 number or the hotel directly in order to verify if I qualify?
Programs: AA Plat/1MM; Marriott/LoewsFirst/PC/SPG Plat; Hilton Silver
Posts: 14,587
I would think either would be able to tell if you if it is a public rate or not.
I have never used the code myself so I don't know, but when I left it in the list in the OP, I assumed it was a public rate for Visa card holders. If you find out one way or the other, please let us know what you find out. I will remove it from the list if it is a non-public rate for Visa employees.
__________________
"Those who know do not speak; those who speak do not know" The Sayings of Lao-Tzu
Programs: MR Platinum, AA Platinum, National Emerald Aisle and growing
Posts: 123
Business travel with my company requires I use a corporate discount code and pay with the company Mastercard.
Unfortunately in 2007 I can have only qualified for basic promotion bonus's like Spring Mega Bonus.
Anyone have ideas how to increase my bonus's or extra benefits as Marriott says I can't combine codes and I must use the company Mastercard and corporate discount code.
I tried using the VSA code at the JW in Hong Kong last year. Local hotel personnel confirmed it was for Visa employees only - fortunately, in time for me to make other arrangements
I have an LPR rate that I booked online. I received e-mail confirmation. I called the hotel and they referred me to the local Reservation center which confirmed that I was in the system, (it is a Vacation Club property). Is there anything else you would do to confirm this reservation?
Location: Some place in this wonderful world (usually at 39,000 ft in seat 1C)
Programs: CO Gold Elite / NW Gold Elite
Posts: 9,594
Quote:
Originally Posted by landstuhldoc
I have an LPR rate that I booked online. I received e-mail confirmation. I called the hotel and they referred me to the local Reservation center which confirmed that I was in the system, (it is a Vacation Club property). Is there anything else you would do to confirm this reservation?
Confirm no, you've confirmed that you are in the system but inorder to find out if you qualify I would recommend calling the club directly and asking "do I qualify for this rate"
Thanks for the tip - called the club - spoke to the Front Desk personnel and I asked, "do I qualify for this rate?" And he said yes and quoted the rate. Now that I have two written confirmations from e-mail and two verbal confirmations (I've gotten both their names too)- I think I'm all set.
As posted before, when the HKG example was mentioned I did both domestic & international dummy bookings w/ VSA & looked at the rate rules - for both bookings the 'be prepared to show id etc line' did NOT appear, just the usual cancel by 6pm. As a comparison test, I did dummy bookings using a corp code & those reservations DID come up w/ the be prepared to show id line.
So I'd say keep VSA on the list, and if someone is concerned, follow the general advice of check w/ the property directly.
Just to confirm, as I am on a stay at the Boca Raton Renaissnace right now under VSA rate. I "discovered" the rate on the hotel's web site under "specials" and found it better than anything else I had tried for this location. Only caveat is I was told by the front desk the next day, that I couldn't use my EEO cert combinable with this rate. I tried to pleasantly argue that I had confirmed with central reservations that the rate qualified to use the cert and had them mark the record, but they pleasantly held firm. They were very nice to inform me the first morning of the issue in case I wanted to change the length of my stay. :-). I actually like it so well here, I am thinking about extending my stay.
A word of caution on using these codes. Unless you have something or seen something from Marriott stating the code can be used on Marriott.com, you can run a risk of complications. The hotels do police for errors in their room and rate inventory and are aware of what promotions they are part of. If a code is linked to an incorrect rate or is retrieving rates when it should not, the hotel may lock out changes to your reservation to find out from you how you obtained the rate. Not a big deal, but it may mean you will have to consult with a reservationist to make any changes or require you to contact the hotel directly.
Secondly, in using these codes on Marriott.com, Marriott does protect itself against inaccuracies (see quote below). While in most instances a hotel would likely honor the rate reserved using the codes through Marriott.com, they do not necessarily have to if it is technical error, so if you think you have special rate of $9.99 per night, think again. It is likely an error. See the link below for details.
Marriott Information may contain technical inaccuracies and typographical errors, including but not limited to inaccuracies relating to pricing or availability applicable to your transaction. Marriott shall not assume responsibility or liability for any such inaccuracies, errors or omissions, and shall have no obligation to honor reservations or information affected by such inaccuracies. Marriott reserves the right to make changes, corrections, cancellations and/or improvements to Marriott Information, and to the products and programs described in such information, at any time without notice, including after confirmation of a transaction.
Well I don't think many of us are actually going to think a $9.99 rate is a valid rate, but there are lots of publicly available rates that ARE valid. And since most of us are booking ON the marriott.com site, it's a bit harder for Marriott to state that the publicly available rates are not valid given we booked it through the Marriott website. Again I'm talking about normal promotion rates, not an obvious $9.99.
I always print out the rate rules with the confirmation. If Marriott loaded a boo-boo, then I expect them to let me know in advance or honor the boo-boo. And again, a lot of the rates being posted on the publicly available thread are not boo-boos but are promotions that Marriott runs. But thanks for the headsup & welcome to FT.
But I will put a caveat that VSA can sometimes bring up a private corp code.
