Originally Posted by
margarita girl
Also note that the type of award is changing. You are currently on stay 4, get 5th night free, so works out to 48,000/5 = 9600 pts/night. For 3 nights, it will be 12,000 pts/night. (I realize this is high season and probably 16K/night, but you get the idea.)
The pricing for this stay was odd at 54,000 points. According to the T&Cs, I'm getting the 5th night free, but that means the average price per night works out to be 13,500 per night. I guess 2 nights are at 12,000 and 2 are at 15,000.
Originally Posted by
writerguyfl
IThe process is opaque for two reasons. First, not everyone understands minimum-stay requirements. Explaining the concept to someone who has never thought about how hotels operate can be time consuming. That's not really a task that reservation sales agents need to do because it doesn't change the outcome of the call. (The chances that someone will suddenly decide to stay an extra night just to meet a minimum-stay requirement is slim.) It's easier to say there's no availability for the dates requested.
The second reasons minimum-stay requirements are not disclosed is strategic. You don't want to provide your revenue management strategy to your competitors. If your reservation sales agents tell everyone your rate and/or stay restrictions, that's what your doing. You don't want your chief competitor knowing you have a 4-night minimum stay if they only have a 3-night one.
Thanks for the insight. That all makes sense, and it's always good to understand what's going on behind the scenes. My surprise is partially due to how "opaque" this reservation has been as compared to what I'm used to on Marriott. I do not recall ever having to call in to make a reservation in the first place, or not be told of minimum-stay requirements up front on marriott.com. Then again, I've never tried to book a New Year's reservation at a WDW property on points before, either.
I'll give Starwood another 24 hours to email me, and if I don't hear from them, I'll call the hotel directly to see what's up.