Originally Posted by aaupgrade

Because I actually like Marriott, have a lot vested in their program, especially like the Vail Marriott, and would prefer not to leave as I think their program is the best if they lived up to their promises.

Correct and FWIW I have been staying at this hotel for the past 9 years, and last year and next year are the only years for which I have used points for stays. Last year I had no problem making an award reservation, but this year was another story. The past few years I have stayed there 4-5 weeks per year. I love this hotel, its front line staff is wonderful, and the skiing at Vail is awesome.

The problem I have is one of principal since for next year I already have 3 weeks reserved for a Standard award, and 2 weeks paid. Now I had to jump through numerous hoops in order to achieve that goal, which we should not have to do. I called the Platinum line 3 times and the hotel twice in order to do so:

The first time I called the Plat line the response was no award stays available. Since it was still early February (50 week mark) I thought they may be a bit delayed, so I was patient and decided to wait and see.

The second time I called the Plat line in late February 2007 for a January 2008 reservations and was told by the Platinum line that this hotel was almost sold out in January 2008 (actually not the case) and was put on hold after asking for the CSR to check with her supervisor but ended up with the same response.

This is when I called the hotel and left a message for the manager of reservations to call me, but he never returned my call.

The third call to the Plat line, made in early March, I also got the response that there were no standard rewards but this time I told the CSR that I had tried calling the hotel, but my inquiry went unanswered; She placed me on hold, contacted the hotel, connected me to someone at the hotel who made a standard award reservation for me. The person at the hotel also commented that they hadn't gotten around to releasing award inventory yet and that they were no where near being sold out.

So this is what we have to do in order to get Marriott to fulfill their promise? I think that is a bit unreasonable to say the least.

Yes, unfortunately I think you may well be right with regard to many of the points you made in this paragraph, and that is why I am a bit disappointed at Marriott and Hotels' owners/management. FWIW, Vail Marriott Resort and Spa is owned by DiamondRock Hospitality and managed by Vail Resorts. Also an interesting piece of info: DiamondRock Hospitality HQ is locate 0.3 miles from Marriott's HQ in Bethesda, MD.