Ok, I have literally never had that happen. Responding within half an hour? Calling and having someone do something quick and easy? Wow! YMMV

I'll chalk it up to beginner's luck: it was my first-ever 4NF booking.

More likely you write well, and organized the information in a way that facilitated a prompt reply.

Once a tiger has tasted the sweet flesh of man, it no longer craves its natural prey, always looking for pay 2 stay 3, or other stackable deals.

Very similar situation for me.

I will sorely miss Citi 4NF when it dies soon.

Have an upcoming 7 night stay at a Sheraton and may reserve night 1 as a Marriott award, nights 2-5 as a 4NF reservation, and nights 6-7 as another Marriott award (I'm basically cherry-picking the cheapest cash nights). Is this likely to cause any issues with reimbursement? If the hotel combines everything into one stay, would Citi use that to deny my credit?

This is pretty amazing. Not that they booked on the spot, but that you got an email response in anything less than 24 hours, haha. Emailing first is a good idea, with EXACT details, including any promo or special codes. If you don't specify that you want the cheapest rate, even if it's non-refundable, they will always book you the "best flex" level rate.

Phone calls typically are 30 minutes at the minimum for me, but a recent issue (Citi card not working on the Banyan Tree website) caused me something like 12 hours of total grief... however... I found a ridiculously good stackable deal where I got 38% off and THEN the 4th night free for a villa at a Banyan Tree that we really wanted to visit... so I toiled through it.

Funniest thing I've seen here in a long time....

And so true... My most recent one was even better. I started with a pay 2 stay 3 promo but a week later there was a 38% off. Cancelled the first and jumped onto the second... That was bliss! We are leaving this weekend for the stay and I can't wait!

Pray, tell - what Banyan Tree property?

Just to be safe you can ask for separate folios from the hotel. In my experience, this would not be an issue, and you should get reimbursed fine.

It's gone now. The rate was available for a few days right around International Women's Day (It was an IWD celebration promotion). I'm going to Banyan Tree Yangshuo, but there was a list of pretty much most of teir properties in Asia participating. It was also for specific room types, in the case of my property it was only the villas.

My apologies, but I did forget to post about it. However, I did post about (on the AccorHotels thread), and there continues to be availability for, another stackable buy 2 stay 3 with a good number of BT properties. This promo also comes with breakfast, wifi, and a 20% discount to the spa. You need to use the promo code MASTERCARD, and it just so happens that the Prestige is a Mastercard. Once again, limited to specific room types, but the promo goes to the end of the year. Here's the link with details.

https://www.banyantree.com/en/offers/mastercard-offer

This second promo is not restricted to one free night per stay. So if you combine it with the Citi 4th night, you could get maximum value at 2 out of 4 nights free or 3 out of 6 nights. These promos appear to only be available directly through Banyan Tree, I didn't see them via Accor so it doesn't seem like you'll be able to double dip on promotions (ie. Accor's bonus points promo via their website). It also has a 14 day cancellation policy, which was nice.

Edit:
I found this one as well. Advance Purchase with 35% off select villas. This basically is very close to the first one I got (38% advance purchase) although the selection of properties is slightly smaller:

https://www.banyantree.com/en/offers...orpDisplay_REM

You'll be okay ...
 

Nah. I have done this sort of thing (IC, with a mix of points, Citi 4/3, and FHR) and things were fine. When you are at the hotel, just to be safe, explain that you want to pay for nights 2-5 separately, on a specific card.

I have done it too, sort of. Property insisted that I "check-in/ check-out" for the records to stay different. One of them was able to do it without having me leave the room physically and other required me to leave the room. So YMMV... i hope former works for you.