[Skip this reply if you don't like long stories; this is your forewarning!]

We call this BonVoy Math. I am not new to Marriott at all, but last year made Titanium, and I am stunned at the ineptitude of the calculations (if that's what we call it) of the internal systems. I can't say what every hotel is using, but at one hotel in a major metro area I joked (in the middle of a 4 month stay when I saw the screen), "wow, that reminds me of DOS." The reply? "It is DOS."

[mic drop]

I just left a hotel where I stayed 32 nights. In that state, 31 is tax-exempt, and I happened to need 32. Clearly that mattered. The hotel was exceptional. One of my best experiences yet. However, I noticed not long after checking in, my check in date had moved two days later. I went down to the front desk. The short version is, the hotel still had me checking in the date I actually checked in. My receipts I was asking for copies of each week since I don't trust BonVoy Math also had the same information. But my app said I was staying 30 nights.

A week prior to check out I emailed Marriott and explained the situation, and I added they should NOT send it back to the hotel because the problem was not with the hotel, that the hotel was excellent and Marriott should be proud to have such a hotel in its portfolio (side eye to big corporate...). I sent in screen shots showing the difference, and explaining I needed the accounting to show up right for myriad reasons, including in my app for purposes of accounting. I also added that in my last extended stay at a different hotel, the date changes were also randomly occurring, and the hotel was not doing it then either, so it was clearly something on the back end. The reply I received was awful.

The exact reply (only identifying info edited):

You might note I wrote after explaining I had talked with the hotel, and that the tax part" was only part of it. As a matter of fact, the missing nights propelled me to Gold on my way back up the elite chain... which may not matter, but it shows the difference even two nights can make. But Mike B. didn't leave it at that; he still sent the hotel manager an email despite my email. So then I had to explain to her I was not complaining--I hope she knew that but I wanted to be sure. She was amazing. I thanked her again for running such a wonderful hotel.

A few days after checkout, the stay posted, but it was--wait for it--missing two days and two days or revenue. I had my receipt with me, and I did not wait 10 days. And they didn't make me. I am out of the country or I would have also called and read them a scolding. In my comments with the missing points/nights request I added that I tried to explain this already and was told to pound sand.

It was promptly and professionally corrected, quite quickly actually, but I remain disgusted by how it was handled. I have an upcoming conference in London, paid for by my employer, and booked a Marriott, which I have rethought as a result of the way this was handled. I will absolutely stay with hotels in the States if the price (and people, such as the last one) are right. But the amount of time I spent due to an idiotic computer system, which I attempted to proactively address when I saw it coming, is not worth dealing with again--especially when the reason for these errors has not been identified.