Originally Posted by
christianj
When I called the Titanium Elite desk today, the agent called the hotel and they said they would not be declaring their category until 3/5/19 and would only be accepting paid stays until then. I find this totally ridiculous since we all know why the hotel would do this....pick a category on 3/5 BUT then also block out virtually all summer as a PEAK award redemption period thus screwing people wanting to redeem points to pay higher award rates. The supervisor on the Titanium line can't seem to do anything about this based on what she told me.
I'm at the end of my rope with Marriott...how can they let hotels get away with this?
You are reading way too much into this. First of all, hotels very often do not open on time. Why would they want to take an award booking and then find the hotel is not going to open by that day? This would not do you any favors. With a paid rate, they can make an agreement with another hotel and walk you and negotiate for them to accept the same rate you are paying. Not so simple for an award reservation. They could simply say, you are out of luck--find a new place. It is not as if this is the only hotel in Athens--and staying at a hotel when it just opens is also opening yourself up to a potentially poor experience. The staff will be figuring out how to use the system, things may not be fully ready with all the facilities, etc. Given that you seem already upset before you even get started, it may be best to just stay at a hotel that is already open and has things working smoothly.