my first experience with homes & villas was not all that good....i had to cancel my reservation because of covid otherwise i would have checked into the property today....
my booking was for 5 nights & 50% of the rate was charged at the time i booked....the other 50% was to be charged 30 days before my check-in date, after which the reservation would become non-refundable....if i cancelled before that then the initial 50% advance would be refunded to me....
since my check-in was on the 3rd of june, i had to cancel before 3rd of may....i called them around the 10th of april to cancel....the agent cancelled the reservation & told me that i would be receiving an email for the refund....the same day i received the email which stated that because of covid 19 they had changed their cancellation policies so they would not be offering me a refund but will hold the credit that i can use with the same agency that was managing that particular property....i replied saying that was not acceptable since the cancellation deadline had not passed & i was entitled to a full refund....they replied saying that these were unusual circumstances so for the benefit of the customers marriott had instructed them to change their policies....
i escalated the problem with my ambassador who didn't seem all that knowledgeable about homes & villas....i also escalated with marriott & the rental agency that looks after the property....i never got a proper response for almost a month....then i finally spoke with a manager at the rental agency who agreed to offer me the refund....3 days later it hit my account....
also, even though you get night credit for the stay, i have a feeling this won't count towards the $20k spend towards ambassador status....when i paid the 50% advance at the time of booking, neither did this register as spend at a marriot property on my chase marriot card nor did my ambassador have clarity if it would count towards ambassador status....