I'm not familiar with the Marriott program and the value of their points yet. I had a bad stay at a SpringHill Suites and wrote a letter to the Manager. The problems essentially had me sitting around waiting for their staff to do different things using up close to 1.5 hours of my time (shuttle ride, maintenance, etc).

The letter back from the Manager, in addition to the apology, included a note that they purchased 2K points for my Marriott account. This was the first time I have received points in place of a free or discount room certificate or just an apology. What is this comparable to?

Thanks.