Originally Posted by
bdschobel
Marriott does have a rule, though it may be unpublished. Resort fees are not supposed to earn MR points. (Of course, they sometimes do, but that's regarded as either an error or a failure to follow the rules.) I have personally debated this point with Marriott corporate folks. I posed the following question:
Consider two Marriott hotels in the same location. Marriott Hotel A charges $200/night for a room and has no resort fee. Marriott Hotel B charges $175/night for a comparable room and also charges a $25/night resort fee. The total charge is the same at either hotel, but a guest would earn more points at Hotel A. Does that make any sense? [Marriott says that the answer is yes.]
OK, what if Hotel B decided to reduce its room charge to zero and charge
only a $200/night resort fee? What then? Would guests earn zero points at that hotel? [Marriott says that the second scenario would not be allowed by Marriott or by the local taxing authorities (because resort fees may escape hotel room taxes).]
Anyway, the whole thing is about as ridiculous as refusing to give Plats breakfast at "resorts," whether or not they have resort in their name!
Bruce
Bruce,
Thanks for enlightening me. Yes, it is all quite silly and ridiculous, if Marriott is putting charges on folios, other than taxes, then points should be earned on those charges. If not, then what you said about raising the resort fees and lowering the room rates would be an easy abuse. If Marriott has rules which are unpublished, which most everyone knows exist in some form, but by not publishing some rules, when some hotels make mistakes about posting those points which they should not, then it is Marriott's own fault, isn't it?
(Rhetorical question, no answer required.)