Originally Posted by
DaveMidknight
Marriott could safe so much time and money by training his agents correctly. Because every time the agent needs to reply like 4-5 times, he is wasting time, he could use to process a claim correctly.
Technically, your math doesn't meet their rules.
You can't search each night separately. You have to search both together. If the lower rate doesn't show when you search the consecutive nights together, tough.
I'm not saying I agree with it. I like how SPG did it, when once a claim it was approved, it wasn't "looked at" again if another consecutive BRG is filed.
Marriott does it differently. The agent probably just had enough back and forth and just approved it, which is probably why you didn't even get a final approval reply to your exchange (they didn't want you to reply any further).
Originally Posted by
Zorak
Fair enough. I asked my original question (that the "established" post was a response to) genuinely not knowing. Would welcome other informed responses.
The OTAs definitely don't pay it. It's the job of the hotel's Revenue Manager to make sure the Marriott branded sites are the cheapest.
Under SPG, each approved BRG (regardless of whether the stay was consumed) cost the property $25 plus the cost of the points, or the discounted rate plus an additional 25% off.
I'm guessing Marriott does it similarly. Charging properties, albeit the exact numbers I'm not certain of. No way they could even get OTAs to pay, because OTAs aren't the ones with any contractual guarantee of not having a lower price than Marriott.
Marriott has such a guarantee for consumers and enforces it upon properties to ensure they are checking the market and offering the lowest rate available.