Thought it would be fun to try the new/old St. Pancras hotel this August instead of our usual visit to County Hall. Used the Marriott website to request one room for three people using points in August. There was an available room, so I booked it and the points were deducted from my account. Because the room was listed as Double or 2 Twins, I requested a rollaway for our teenage son.

Thought no more of it until today when I was reviewing my upcoming reservations. When I looked at my St. Pancras booking, it read: rollaway requested, not guaranteed. That struck me as odd, so I clicked on the room description and found that the room that I booked for three people is restricted to two, and that no rollaways are allowed.

I do know that there are plenty of rooms like this in Marriott's European properties. I just don't understand how I could have managed to book a room that is limited to two occupants when my request was for a room for three. It's a good thing I looked at the room description, because there was nothing else to warn of the problem.

The hotel has plenty of rooms that can sleep three. In fact, the only rooms available for cash on my dates sleep three. They don't even list this class of room as available. Beyond this, I expect there is a decent chance I would be upgraded to the larger room anyway, based on status. At the same time, I don't want to show up only to be told that my son has no place to stay.

Called platinum reservations and the agent said all she was empowered to do was refund my points. Not the solution I wanted, especially given that I am likely to receive the minor upgrade to the slightly larger room when I show up (I simply want to be able to count on it). She had me call customer service. The CS agent agreed with me that the best solution would be for the hotel to upgrade me to the larger room. The CS agent tried calling the hotel, but got no answer because it will not open until March 14. She is now emailing the opening GM to see what can be done. I will report on the outcome.

My questions:
1)Has anyone had the Marriott reservations system offer a room that could not hold the number of people in their request?
2)If so, was it an award stay?
3)If so, how did Marriott resolve the problem?