Originally Posted by
DYKWIA
I booked through the Marriott website, and paid through the Marriott website. Isn't the contract thus with Marriott, and they should be sorting out the refund? (rhetorical question

).
No, your contract is with the hotel, which is a wholly independent company from Marriott. Marriott’s role on a reservation is not much different that the role booking.com or expedia have if you book through them. This is clearly detailed in T&C’s and legalese fineprint for the website and the Bonvoy program. Marriott is absolutely powerless regarding the operational management of the property save for the setting of some general guidelines and procedures and all they can do vis-à-vis recalcitrant properties is rescind the licensing contract (which they won’t unless for extremely serious violations) or apply contractual fines if very specific obligations were not fulfilled by the property.
Btw, you did not pay through the Marriott website. With your permission, Marriott forwarded your credit card details to the company that owns the hotel and the latter charged your card through their own merchant account and using their local payments processor.