Originally Posted by
craigthemif
Sorry for the lack of sympathy, but there's a really incredibly simple solution to your problem... don't book prepaid rates so far in advance!
Then you can cancel and re-book when the rates almost inevitably go down before your arrival.
There is no rational universe where you can book a non-refundable, inflexible rate (at a discount that reflects the inflexibility) but then expect to receive a refund if the rate goes down later.
If I buy a nonrefundable airline ticket from American Airlines for $900, and the price later drops to $400, I can call American and get $300 credit voucher ($500 fare reduction minus $200 change fee) toward another ticket.
Last year, on a non-refundable international American Airlines ticket, I received a voucher for hundreds of dollars, and there wasn't even a change fee because of the fare rules for that particular route and fare. It was pre-paid. It was non-refundable. But the fine print in the fare rules allowed vouchers to be issued.
Sure, American is an airline company, not a hotel company, but the situations are similar.
OP simply called Marriott to find out what Marriott might do for customers in such a situation. The Marriott agent, instead of answering that Marriott's rules for Advance Purchase rates do not allow any flexibility whatsoever, provided misinformation and messed things up.
It's good advice to avoid Marriott's Advance Purchase rates. The savings over flexible rates tend to be small. But I don't understand the need to declare a lack of sympathy and to tell the OP that such advice is a "simple solution" to the OP's current situation. It's not. It's only advice for the future.