Originally Posted by
margarita girl
No need to cancel the reservation next time this happens. Just click MODIFY, and choose the same room type at the lower rate. It will tell you how many points will be returned to your account. I’ve done this half a dozen times and all points were correctly returned. But of course, since this is Marriott IT, YMMV.
Same method can be used to change from points to certs or vice versa.
We shouldn't have to worry about cancelling or modifying a hotel stay not returning points to our account, though. That's a basic function. If they can test the removing of points when we book and get that right, they can also test the function of crediting of points when cancelling/modifying to ensure that it works as expected every time. (I've never booked a stay on Marriott.com that forgot to remove points from my account.)
I recently had to modify another stay, and I decided to call Marriott to make sure I got my points back. It took them 15 minutes to cancel/modify and rebook everything, and it was an extremely simple booking (same dates, same everything).