Thanks for your response here. I'm similar to musicgal in that I'm trying to book an extended period of time (10-15 days) at a category 1 Marriott hotel to maintain my platinum status. I was planning to book with points since I have quite a large surplus. Each 5 nights is around 30k points (inc the 5th night free).
At this particular hotel, I was planning on staying at least the first night there. I actually didn't think there'd be a danger of the hotel determining whether or not I continued to stay. Is this actually a problem? I suppose I could leave "luggage" or "stuff" for the extended period. But in my case, it would actually be difficult for me to go back to the hotel to check out. Do you think there's a high risk here? Have you heard of anyone doing this and it not working out? Thanks!
Welcome to FT!
If it was me, I would be up front with the hotel and tell them exactly what I’m doing. (I’m assuming you’re not in China where they seem to have different rules.)
I can think of 3 specific instances where I told the hotel what I was doing and got my stay credits. First was in Toronto where I had one night booked for a mattress run. Told the hotel I wouldn’t be sleeping/using the room and could I have stay credit and Green Choice pts. The manager agreed. Second was in Ottawa where I had multiple rooms booked on very cheap rate. Hotel was sold out and I told them they could have their rooms back as long as I would get my stay credit. Hotel agreed. Third instance was in Dubai where I needed a room for 4 nights. Since I was booking with points, I booked 5 nights (5th night free). When I checked out after the 4th night, I asked the front desk to process my check out the following day so I would get 5 night credits. They agreed.
In all instances, I physically checked in. Got all my night credits.
Good luck!