I have been a member of Marriott's loyalty program for over 40 years.
I am currnetly living in Israel and due to the war I will not be able to use an Amex 85Kpts award that will expire in a few days.
I called Marriott, spoke to a supervisor and was told that they will not extend my free night award even though I am living in a war zone.
If living in a war zone is not a valid reason for requesting an extension what is?
I am deeply disappointed by Marriott's decision to not extend my free night award.
Is there a way I can escalate this to senior management?
Any insights would be appreciated.
As previous posters have mentioned, either try to be persistent and get the certificate extended or perhaps use it at a hotel within Israel - I love the Ritz Carlton Herzilya, I know you're not getting the best bang for your buck as it's usually only 50k points but still better than losing it. Or you can use it at The Jaffe which is a more expensive.
Originally Posted by
Happy
That is a total BS.
To straighten the FACT, Israel is NOT in a War Zone. Gaza IS.
Normal life in Israel is hardly affected. I gather even in the "peaceful time" you do not travel to Gaza to use your 85K cert. So what difference does it make, to you?
This is a bit harsh IMHO. Perhaps if you wanted to chastise the OP (although not really your place to do so, again IMHO), I thought you were going to say that they could have used the certificate until the war began in October and flights were abruptly curtailed and less available, and this way they wouldn't need an extension.
But once there is already a war going on, the entire region is affected, some areas more so than others, of course with Gaza being the worst but not discounting that other areas are experiencing difficulty as well. And since the OP unfortunately didn't use the certificate up until that point and had no way of knowing there was going to be a war, it's a valid question if they can have it extended due to that. Also, unfortunately, it seems like it will be an uphill battle.