I have a dilemma, a quandary...a conundrum. Every other year we take an informal group from my wife's dance studio to NYC in December. Mostly teenage girls and their moms, the dancers get to take some lessons at a Broadway dance school, etc. We always stay at the same Marriott property, which I hesitate to identify because I am currently negotiating room prices with them.

When I looked at the Marriott website for rates the "Standard Rates" weren't bad considering the time of year, but the "Rewards Offers" tab showed significantly lower rates. I started reserving rooms under my name at the RO rates and it occurred to me that I should ask if I can put a bunch of people in 10-12 rooms under my name. This question is not about points. I understand I can only get points for, I think, 3 of the rooms. That's fine.

I tend to think I'm not breaking the spirit of the "Rewards Offers" concept because the system is letting me make the ressies.

The last part is that I got a call from Group Sales at the hotel offering me a group room block, but the rates listed are the higher Standard Rates. I can save my group about $1K by doing the ressies myself.

As I said, the system lets me do it, but I would hate to get to the FD and have the GM tell me I can't have all the rooms at that rate because all the occupants don't qualify. My position is that if I pay for all the rooms, I'm staying within the parameters set by the system.