Originally Posted by
shawneve
Considering this hotel for an upcoming family trip to Europe. (5 days in London)
Booking two rooms with points. (Plat member)
Currently it does not appear to work out as I have 5 of us with 2 teens and a 12 yr old.
All of the rewards rooms have max occupancy of 2 even the Superior and Premier rooms that have a cash upcharge. A suite is bookable with a L950 upcharge. (no thanks)
I already have a points booking that works at the Kensington but really want to stay here.
My hope is that post Aug 1, I will be able to use SNAs to secure one of my rooms to a suite. (occupancy works and Chamber Club access for three in that room, I will "officially" be in the other room granting that room Chamber club access) Hopefully SNAs will be functional at Marriott hotels right away, and Chambers Suites are an option.
My plan is to make another booking at this hotel, apply the SNA and if it clears I would cancel the Kensington booking, if not, I cancel this one. (Cancellations allowed up to 1 day before arrival)
Anyone see any issue with this strategy?
I've stayed here many times (will be back next month for 5 nights) including one time with my family (wife, son (13), daughter (10) ) on points with two chambers rooms (one Jr. Suite, one Grand Jr). We paid a nightly supplement for each chambers room.
Not clear when exactly you are traveling relative to the August 1st program switch, but some comments/advice:
1. The Barlow rooms really are too small to fit 3 people. No space for a roll-away.
2. You should ask over in the SPG forum if you can use an SNA on an award/points stay. I have no idea if you can but it is worth confirming that this will even be a theoretical option.
3. From what I understand, you won't know if your SNA clears until, at the earliest, 5 days before you arrive (this could be wrong but that's what I gather from the SPG forum). I would definitely book your reservation and your back-up plans on 2 different accounts to make sure they aren't canceled out by the hotels as duplicates.
4. I am skeptical that this hotel will participate in SNAs because they currently don't upgrade elites to Chambers rooms (which is against policy) and they only offer Chambers's lounge access to Platinums (which is also against policy). Thus, given their history of not following the Marriott corporate line and how precious the Chambers rooms seem to be to them, I could easily see them refusing to honor SNAs or just not doing so in practice. That said, you'll know come August 1st.
5. There's a chance that after 8/1 you will be able to reserve a chamber's room with just points. It will likely be pretty expensive, but I listened to an interview with the SVP of Loyalty at Marriott in which he seemed to suggest that hotels would also be offering premium awards and they would be getting rid of the whole cash supplement game.
My advice: I would book at least 1 chambers rooms with the supplement right now (sounds like you are fine doing 1 chambers and 1 barlow, but just FYI those are two separate wings of the hotel). Once August 1st comes along you can reassess and see if your SNA idea is even a valid option at that point.
Finally, I know you don't want to pay the supplement, but for what it's worth I am glad I did with my family as they really enjoyed the hotel and the club. There's really nothing else in the Marriott empire in London that compares to the Chambers rooms and club.