You got lucky....or they're going to hit you with a no-show fee later.

I've been given a couple get-out-of-jail-free cards by Marriott over the 20-ish years I've been some type of elite in the loyalty program. But only for significant weather events that were disrupting tons of travelers. In one case, I called and successfully pleaded my case by saying if you'll let me cancel my room in city A, I'll book one with you right now where I'm stuck, in city B. It was well after 6PM so I was committed to, and went and checked in shortly after, at hotel B. It was pretty obvious I didn't just flake on the stay in city A.

But I haven't tried any of this in the Bonvoy era. This was old Marriott Rewards in an era where they actually seemed to kind of care about their guests.