navatwal

I am sure this question has been asked over and over again. Has anybody had any luck switching from a paid to rewards reservation during a stay?

I have a ton of free nights that rarely get to use as I am often on paid corporate stays. Is there a strategy or way to get reimbursed that fellow travellers use?

How about I switch to points for the last night of a booking, the invocie will clearly show the cost of the first night or two.

Trying to find an acceptable way to do this that is not frowned upon or illegal.

Any thoughts or tips?

RogerD408

I do not suggest doing this. Many companies may consider it fraud if you're not paying a cash rate for the stay and is not acceptable (after all it's most likely you earned those points on business travel). IRS rules get a bit touchy about expenses and could put the company in a bad situation if/when discovered. When I've wanted to extend a stay of a business trip and policy would not cover it, I would book a separate point stay for the nights and advise the front desk at check in that I'm staying over and I'm usually left in the same room for the duration (but changing rooms was fine with me too).

Antarius

Or inquire with your travel department. Some companies have policies where an employee can use points for a work stay and request reimbursement (calculated as a point valuation or the requisite daily rate capped at an amount)

Duke787

If you don't have a good use for them as hotel nights, why not transfer to airline miles now that Marriott has retained the SPG miles transfer?

Or check out Marriott Rewards Experiences (or whatever it's called) and redeem for something like the Super Bowl, World Series, etc.

Or are these strictly free night awards (as opposed to points)?

navatwal

I dont think you can redeem free night certificates for anything other than hotel stays right?

hipquest

If you are trying to convert your rewards to cash from your company that would depend on your companies policies (and could count as earned income as opposed to reimbursed with the IRS, ask a CPA or tax pro). If you are trying to do a paid (company) stay and then PTO using points make 2 reservations and call the property. I've never had a problem getting them to link them so we have the same room the whole time. But I've also been told, by some properties, that by not linking them upgrade opportunities might be better for the paid and/or points portion if willing to move rooms. FWIW, we've been upgraded for our whole stay, based on us being very nice and flexible on room changes, more often than not. YMMV

controller1

As a former auditor for a large U.S. company, I would recommend against it. In our company we considered it a flag for fraud.

There is no true way to determine the reimbursement rate for the night unless a cash rate is paid. Say you have a three-night stay with the third night an award and the first two nights paid rates. Night 1 has a rate of $225 and Night 2 has a rate of $279. What is the reimbursement rate for Night 3? Is it appropriate to average the two nights? Not necessarily as Night 3 could have had a cash rate of $129. When points or free nights (or flights) are used by an employee and reimbursement is requested, it begs the question as to why, other than for the employee's own enrichment is this reimbursement being requested.

satman40