Originally Posted by
cletraveler
hotelboy and joakgarp, with respect, I think you are both missing the point.
The rooms were already paid in full in points. The hotel is not out anything by me not showing up until the second day of my 5 night stay. Likewise, sean1397's rooms were fully paid for in advance with points. Please help me understand how the hotel is losing money when we don't show up on the first night of a reservation that is fully paid. The hotel need not do anything w.r.t. reselling the room so it is irrelevant (at least how I see things) as to whether reselling is an option. Further, at least in my specific situation, I let the hotel know that I would not arrive until the afternoon the next day. Optionally, the hotel could have sold my rooms for the 1st night and made some extra dough if there was demand (i.e., they would receive whatever value they get from my points booking plus optionally cash if the room could be resold).
sean1397, I feel your pain. My family prefers Airbnb's and similar rentals. This will only further push me in that direction.
Sorry, but
why the hotel charges a no-show fee is not relevant. This argument was made over and over back when Starwood agreed to allow points as the cancellation fee. Marriott has reversed that policy. The fact is that marriott hotels do charge a cash no-show fee and clearly communicate that at time of booking. Your case is different because you booked at the time when you could pay no-show in points instead of cash. But going forward you should recognize that cash no-show fees are standard for marriott and you should expect to pay them or choose not to book using marriott points.