CruiserCLE

Hi all, I would really appreciate it if someone could answer these questions because 45 minutes of searching and googling still hasn't answered my questions.

1. Do you ever actually need to go to the hotel to earn points? While I know some would consider it wasting, if you really needed another night for status, could you search for some $49/night room halfway across the country and never show up and still get your full night credit and points per dollar?

2. Would Marriott get suspicious about this repeated behavior? Say you booked 4 different properties for 1 night each all around the country.

So relating to this topic, can this same type of thing be done with rental cars or would no credit be given?

Also, I really want to know if you can do this with airlines (I'm pretty sure you can't)...why can't you just book a ticket to get miles and never actually fly it but still get your credit?

Thanks for the help...I stay usually exclusively at Marriott's but never usually come close enough to earn elite status (I've had Silver off an on but never anything higher) but there are years where I've stayed enough that a few more nights would give me silver (or gold for those years that applied).

Thanks again!

goldenbear

Marriott requires you to check in an be physically present to get points/stay credit. You might be able to negotiate with a hotel to check you in and out with out showing up but it's not something to expect. Hyatt not so long ago allowed no show credits, but that received a lot of 'abuse' when they run their FFN (2 stays at any cheap hotel = 1 free night at any hyatt hotel with availability), so now they require physical presence too.

If I recall correctly, most car rental don't charge you for a no show, so you wouldn't accumulate days that way. I haven't seen any car rental programs/promos that would worth your while on that on a grand scale.

keeton

You must physically check in to get stay credit. If it is just one night, you won't need to say around. If it is more than one night, some people have reproted that they will check you out if housekeeping reports the room as unused.

Doing a matress run for silver is not worth it, IMO. You can get the Marriott Premier Visa card and get silver status and a free night (up to cat. 5). Well worth the annual fee.

hhoope01

As mentioned, for the most part you need to physically check-in/out to get the stay/night credits. But there have been posts here from some who have stated they were able to talk the management of a particular hotel to check them in/out without ever having to actually show up. So it is possible, but not the normal behavior.

But if you are successful in getting a few hotels to check you in/out, even if they are spread out all over the country, I don't see how Marriott could find out or even get suspicious. Given people fly all over the country every day, there is no reason you couldn't be somewhere on the West Coast on day 1, the East Coast on day 2, the Mid-west on day 3, the North East on day 4, back on the West Coast on day 5, etc. If the hotel staff is willing to check you in/out, I'm not sure there is any way Marriott can find out that you really weren't there physically.

CruiserCLE

Ok, thanks everyone for the replies. I appriciate everyone's responses. Maybe i will consider the Marriott Visa. I guess I just don't get it why hotels (most of them at least) insist on you being there....the company is getting the revenue either way. Someone care to give an explanation as to why this is?

Thanks again everyone!

tvetter01

It would only (or mostly, anyway) be done by those who would be using it efficiently for significant gain. You would never do a phantom mattress run at a $300/night hotel to get your 81st night, but you would do so at a $49 hotel to get your 75th night. The latter returns much more than $49 in benefits (or, costs to the MR program).

Same for the airlines. You would never do a phantom mileage run unless it benefited you to do so. If it benefits you, there's a cost to the airline that likely exceeds the revenue generated.

Airlines and hotels don't really like people doing mileage or mattress runs at all (for the same reasons), but they can't exactly deny the service to someone who has a reservation/ticket and is actually present (and they have no real way of knowing when you're just mileage/mattress running).

keeton

Well, those are the rules, which the hotels can set for whatever reason (and are almost universal in this regard). If you are a "no-show", they not only get to charge you, but they can also double-dip and resell the room. Nice work if you can get it...

CruiserCLE

Ahh that makes sense. Never really thought about that. Thanks for replying!