I just read about an awards program of hotels.com that supposedly gives back 1 night per 10 paid for without the capacity control headaches.

A quick search in the Albany, NY area next week shows just about all Marriott's in the area participating as "Price Match Guarantee" at rates equal to or a few bucks more than the best I can do at marriott.com. No fee cancellation is available although a day's notice is required rather than day of arrival.

Is this an opportunity to "double dip"? Specifically:

Will I earn points?
Will I earn night credit?
Will I receive PLT benefits?
Will I receive the worst room in the house or will PLT status override that?

Two drawbacks I see is not being able to leave early and get a refund of the prepayment and not getting a full 5 pts per dollar on the MR Visa card.

I also don't know if this has any value to me at FS or above since my corporate discount will blow their rates away but below that, it seems like a winner to anyone who frequents this tier of Marriott properties.

Anyone have experience with this? Thank you.

Read about it here. It does state that Marriott does give points but I'd like to confirm that with actual users.

http://www.smartertravel.com/blogs/u...0&u=3ABFACEA89