pritomd

I looked up a hotel that is category 2 and plan to stay there. I tried multiple options..start a booking with cash, start a booking with points..but at no point had an option to add my free cert. How do I go about and add it? When I google it, the results appear for an old booking system, OR I follow the steps and like I said, never get the option to add my cert at the screens the sites say I should. I can confirm I've tried with a cat 1 and also cat 2 hotel in Raleigh.

dakuda

I just call MR's 800# or the hotel to book with a cert. I only use it once per year, so I never remember myself.

kklems

The way I book online is:

On the find a hotel page I click use rewards points. put in your dates, city, number of rooms etc.

It will than bring up the page with all the hotels that are accepting point/cert stays for the night in question and the point cost. (Some hotels blackout reward stays on certain nights). Choose your hotel. On room selection choose the room your want (not all room types are point eligible...ie suites, whirlpools etc).

This brings up the reservation detail page. Look under #3 summary of charges and the ecertificate that will expire the soonest will be attached or you can choose to override and order a cert with points. So it should automatically attach to your reservation.


If you need more info I can post screen shots but working on a mobile device right now.

hhoope01

As kklems mentions, the system should automatically attach your cert. But it can only do that if the cert you have is usable for the complete reservation you are making. IOW, you can't use a one-night cert when making a 2 or more night reservation. The cert can't cover the whole reservation and thus won't show as being available.

So I'm wondering if the reservation you are trying to make is more than one night? Also, check to make sure you aren't trying to book more than one room for the night.

Note that you can call in and the MR reservation agent can use your cert for a multi-night reservation, but the online tool doesn't know how to deal with that. If you still can't seem to use that cert, I'd suggest calling Marriott Rewards and get them to help you make the reservation. And if there really is a problem with the cert, they should be able to tell you exactly what the problem is.

njcommodore

Here's some unsolicited advice you didn't ask for. Are there no other places you'll use the certificate before it expires? If there was a cat 2 that I was looking at I would definitely use points instead of a certificate, but to each their own.

joshua362

That is good advice however with annual category Creep and devaluation, a cat 5 in the U.S. Is usually good for a right off the interstate hotel, make sure you'll use in the future. Also a 6 month extension is usually granted with an email to Chase. Finally if you DONT want to use it when booking online, be careful as it will default to being used/ attached automatically at booking. Learned that the hard way although MR fixed it after the fact for me.

lskohn

I lucked into a great use for a cert a month ago - the cat. 5 Residence Inn at Pentagon City (Arlington VA, NOT Crystal City). We only needed one night, it's the closest hotel to my sister's house, and it's a nice property, apparently underappreciated by tourists despite being 1.5 blocks from Metro with a free shuttle to DCA. Very pleasant staff.

Granted, if you are using it to extend a leisure stay, it's not a cheap location, but it was perfect for our needs.

pritomd

Thanks all for the input!!

As hhoope01 mentions, I think the issue is I was trying to do a multi-night reservation. I didn't realize I could only use it online via a single night. When I try the same method with a 1 night reservation, I do finally see the option under '3 summary of charges'. If more than one night, didn't see it.

Guess I'll have to call in and try and get it combined for a multi-night stay. Thanks all!

joeags

E-mail to Chase or to Marriott??

njcommodore

Marriott

joshua362

Chase, if its the cert from the credit card. At least that is what worked for me in the past.

pritomd

As an FYI, the cert from this year (I've had the card since 2012) was already 1 year long, not 6 months. My cert last year did expire (don't have many opps to stay at cat 1-5 which is why I'm willing to burn it on a cat 2/3!!!)

SquarePeg

Got turned down when I asked them to extend the cert expiration date on the annual cert from my mom's card - per the CSR can't extend because she hasn't been using the card. Just FYI for those who don't put any regular spend on their card...

pritomd

Ended up doing it the easy way and booking a single night so I could use my cert online Well, also because I wanted to pay to stay at the city center my second night there.

ken98230

Same experience for me. Have been using the Ritz card all year and the Marriott has been unused. Chase was unbending even though I had lots of spend on the Ritz card.