A story about the Marriott fraud team's (algorithm, approach, commitment to actions) unsatisfactory performance.

As background, they flagged my account for potential fraud. I have 1.4M points and did a 50K point transfer to an account which previously received points from me. The stay, using these points was several weeks out and was for a bit less than the amount transferred. Is the typical fraud scenario someone just taking 4% of the points in an account for an in person stay? I doubt this although there are many not so smart bad guys out there.

Both accounts locked. China desk says stay canceled. Conflicting position on where the points are. Marriott sent an email to me, while I was in one of their hotels located in China, and their own hotel knows this email does not work in China (many free US email systems are blocked in China). There was no notice through the app. I and the recipient were given conflicting information by Marriott including that accounts will be unlocked and reservation could be used. Subsequently, back tracked and locked the recipient account for 45 days despite following their resolution process and Marriott being satisfied that all was above board.

This ‘protection’ caused several hours of scrambling and having to spend additional funds to resolve these issues. No apology, still not fully resolved, and commitment to speak to the fraud team not met.

Marriott’s stated reasons for identify the transaction as potential fraud:

- Done on line

- Account password was changed about 10 days earlier

- Little activity in China for donor account

- No previous activity between the two accounts

Well ...there are a number of poor and questionable statements here:

1. Yes, done on line but do you really want us calling for every nit we need? Isn't that the reason for the online transfer ability? If this is such a concern, shut off the ability to do this online.

2. Yes, PW changed and verified using all of Marriott’s protocols so should be no risk. Is Marriott saying that their PW change process is deficient?

3. Account has over 400 nights in China and this is classified as ‘little activity’. What would be an acceptable level?

4. Donor previously transferred points to recipient AND went through the same ‘fraud identification’ process at that time.

I was promised a communication from the Marriott fraud team. Its over three weeks and I am still waiting for anything. No apology, no statement that the second account is now active, and no promised contact. Crickets and not even fried ones. In speaking with the US team, I requested that they unlock the second account. This was point blank refused.

As a lifetime Titanium will this cause me not to book Marriott? No. Will it cause me not to value the brand and my points and the relationship as highly? Definitely. Travelers outside of areas with great connectivity, and challenging infrastructure need a travel partner which understands this.

What should Marriott have done? Well, first, get your IT systems straight regarding points 3 and 4. Second, decide if YOUR process in points 1 and 2 carries two much risk and adjust accordingly. Third, once you realize that in fact this is not fraud, invest the resources to timely return the customers to how they were.

Watch your point transfers … and don’t count on Marriott minimizing the disruption to you.