Walked in DC last night at 1am as a Platinum member

Long story short, I had a reservation made for about three weeks and got walked last night from a Residence Inn in downtown Washington DC to a Courtyard about 35 minutes north.

I am a Platinum member and wasn't told this until I tried to check in at 1am. The hotel front desk didn't seem to think it was a big deal and even asked said "it's fine, we'll pay for your Uber there".

I am out of words and not sure what to do next.

Invoke the ultimate reservation guarantee. Contact the GM & invoke the guarantee. They need to pay for your stay at the CY (Uber isn't enough), give you $100 & because you're a Plat, 90,000 points.

"If for some reason we’re unable to honor your reservation, we’ll pay for your accommodations that night at a nearby hotel and compensate you for the inconvenience. To be eligible, you must provide your Marriott Rewards membership number when making a reservation. Compensation varies by hotel brand.

Brand
Guest compensation***
JW Marriott®, Autograph Collections®, EDITION®, Renaissance® Hotels, Marriott® Hotel and Resorts, Gaylord Hotels, Delta Hotels®
- $200 USD
- 90,000 points

AC Hotels, Courtyard, SpringHill Suites, Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn & Suites, TownePlace Suites, Moxy Hotels, Protea Hotels
- $100 USD
(Platinum members also receive 90,000 bonus points)

The Ritz-Carlton
Platinum Members received
- $200 USD
- 140,000 points

***Outside of the U.S. compensation will be paid in the local currency"


http://www.marriott.com/marriott-rew...s/guarantee.mi

Cheers.

Which one? Without the specific name of the property, others who may have had similar experiences can't really help you.

As a general proposition, DC properties are so chock full that by 1 AM, walking someone isn't that uncommon. It's a city where everyone (not quite) has some status or some corporate or event affiliation, so properties simply could care less.

Did you insist on checking for other closer properties. There are times when DC downtown may be close to sold out, but the Marriott chain has tons of properties in DC and there is nothing that limits the property (or you) to Marriott.

While it's outrageous, one thing to consider is a call directly to the FD on the afternoon/early evening of arrival to make it plain that you are not a no show.

The Residence Inn Downtown by Thomas Circle.

I don't care (in the nicest way) how common it is. Why couldn't they call me to tell me? Or have arrangements pre made? I sat there for 20 minutes as the front desk called other places.

I will certainly be using that guarantee but still feel like it's not enough. I had a three week old reservation and was exhausted at 1am. Moreso, I spent 200+ (literally) nights at Marriott hotels last year... id imagine they don't casually walk Platinum guests..

They don't. In a walk situation, usually someone lower in elite status/no status gets walked because of the penalty (guarantee).

Cheers.

I have never heard of them calling when the hotel is full. It's not a bad idea.

Unfortunately this is part of the travel game. It sucks. It happens. Suck it up and move on.

Also, your platinum status means so little. I have been platinum for years and long ago realized it's basically meaningless.

This is solid advice, and also be sure to get the name of the employee who you spoke with about this.

I've had experiences where I called to advise the hotel of my arrival time and I was still walked at 2 am. At the time of my call, the hotel knew that this would happen and didn't say a word to me until I arrived. It would have been so much better if they had admitted that they were overbooked and instructed me to go directly to the repolacement hotel. Instead, I arrived, my taxi left, and it took 45 minutes to make arrangements for another (horrible!) hotel and call for another taxi to take me there.

Back in the day, a decade before social media, long before blogs, long before viral was viral, there was "Yours is a Very Bad Hotel"

Still epic to this day.

https://www.slideshare.net/politicsjunkie/yours-is-a-very-bad-hotel

After your hotel was down to just a few remaining rooms late at light, and at least one reservation more than rooms, your hotel hoped that there would be at least one no-show -- and that it might even be you.

By the time you got there at 1 a.m., the last room has gone.

I agree that the hotel should not have made you wait 20 minutes while making phone calls. There was a distinct chance you would show up, so the hotel should at least have identified hotels with availability.

The more important question is: were you able to get the other room reimbursed and collect on the 90k points?

Or, more completely (as a Platinum Elite guest with a guaranteed reservation at a Residence Inn), did you get a night at a nearby, comparable hotel at no expense to you + $100 USD + 90,000 Marriott Rewards points?

When did you finally get to your new room? How much sleep were you deprived of because the Residence Inn Washington, DC Downtown apparently does not take the Ultimate Reservation Guarantee seriously for a Platinum Elite guest?

Unless they comped breakfast at Courtyard, it is not a comparable property since CY does not provide breakfast as RI does. Throw in your breakfast bill too.

Happened to my party before. My friend was Platinum and we had reservations at the Residence Inn in Midtown Manhattan. Granted it was a long weekend (labor day and also the US Open), when we checked in at around 7pm, front desk told her that they gave away our room.

Put us up in an alternative hotel (which was a dumpier non chain hotel) for the night and didnt charge us for the night. Also paid for the cab ride there and I think it was 10k points compensation into her account.

I recall that when I worked in hotel business, we overbooked all the time. Given the fairly generous cancellation policies and thus frequent cancellations it didn't typically lead to problems but from time to time it did - especially in high demand properties at high demand times.

The thing was that you couldn't get away with not doing it because if you have empty rooms on a big night with high rates there's going to be questions asked.

In terms of bumping people, it made a legit difference if someone contacted the property to announce a late arrival. It didn't guarantee the room but it certainly solidified the reservation. If the property hasn't heard from someone by 11 or midnight-ish, they'd assume a no-show if not otherwise announced. Doesn't matter if there's space but if you have next to no space and there's a guy on location willing to pay essentially whatever you ask (what choice does someone looking for a hotel room at like midnight in a booked out city really have?)..well you're gonna take that chance.

In terms of re-accommodation, agreement had to be gained. That means, if the guests nixed a hotel proposed by us (i.e. a dump an hour outside town), we had to go back to the drawing board. At first you'd obviously try your own properties and reasonably priced alternatives but if that's a no go, you'd typically up the price cap with every 15 minutes or so. In a few cases, people who had booked a pretty no frills room ended up in a high-end luxury property. Not the desired outcome but it's the risk taken.