edcho

The room upgrade process is not uniform. It depends on what the hotel decides. Some do it for you the day before, some during check-in, some don't do it at all and you have to ask.

In general, if you want one, you should ask upon check-in.

taxquestion332123

Awesome, will do. I don't expect it, but might they give me guff if the reservation was made with a third party OTA?

We booked through Chase's travel portal with UR, but I'm added to the reservation and the reservation does show up in my 'upcoming stays' on my marriott profile.

Horace

There is no such Platinum benefit as "guaranteed room upgrade." There is "guaranteed room type," which refers to the kind of bed or beds guaranteed on your reservation. And there's "complimentary room upgrade," but it's based on availability.

Everything is supposed to happen automatically. The purpose to the penalties associated with the guarantees is to make service failures financially painful for hotels when serving Elite guests.

I have never collected a penalty under any of Marriott's guarantees. When the front desk at the Marriott in Monterey, California, tried to give me the wrong type of room, claiming my reservation did not guarantee a king bed and that the hotel was full, I replied that I had a printout that said I did, and I expected the penalty to be paid to me, please. Instead of paying $100 to me, the front desk miraculously had the room type I reserved.

A number of times, the front desk has failed to offer any sort of Platinum arrival gift to me. I just bring up the subject, either after the check-in process is supposedly complete or the next morning. I've never insisted on penalty compensation.

The really valuable guarantee is the Ultimate Reservation Guarantee. Because of it, Platinum members are very seldom "walked."

Keep in mind that benefits and guarantees vary by brand. Also, keep in mind that much will change August 18, 2018.

You might be confusing the published Platinum arrival gift benefit (which is never cash) with guarantee penalties (which can involve cash and points).

Any time that a property provides any sort of penalty or compensation, you could negotiate for what's more valuable to you. The rare times I've received compensation, it's been in the form of points, and I didn't have to ask -- because the hotel knew it has messed up, so proactively compensated with points. I value points at about one cent each.

CJKatl

ADDED: I just realized I misunderstood your post which others have answered correctly, but will leave my incorrect answer because it is still valid advice.

Most of my stays are one night and work related. To be frank, any snacks or room service can be reimbursed but the points go towards personal vacations. 35k or more points per year versus something that can be reimbursed? At an SPG property without a lounge on a personal stay. the breakfast option makes more sense for me, but on a regular work paid stay, I will take the points.

CJKatl

I had the same experience at the Raleigh Crabtree FS, except even after they found the room they offered to pay the money. I declined the cash.

The only time I was walked the FDA told me she knew i was Plat and would not have ordinarily walked a Plat but the other hotel was just across the parking lot and actually a little nicer so she though the Plat would be happy to get the cash and free night. She was right. I offered to split it with her, the cash, not the free hotel night, but she said she would fired and expected nothing.

taxquestion332123

Wow this is excellent, thank you so much! Especially this:

> Everything is supposed to happen automatically. The purpose to the penalties associated with the guarantees is to make service failures financially painful for hotels when serving Elite guests.

makes a lot of sense.

edcho

No -- you just need to add our MR # during check-in (or call ahead -- but sometimes that's not possible). Keep in mind of the following if booking via OTA:

https://www.marriott.com/rewards/terms/earning.mi

taxquestion332123

Totally, that's acceptable to me. So long as the perks are still viable, that's all I'm after

Marriott15

Wanted to ask this question and get people's thoughts. I stay in about 4 hotels a week and always take the arrival points because my company pays for my breakfast. It is getting to the point where I am not getting 1-2 of my arrival gift points posting to my account per week. This has been a on going problem for all of 2018. When I check in I tell the front desk agent my issue and she says she will take care of it. I call Marriott International and they always put blame on the agent checking me in.

When I call in I normally just ask Marriott International to add the 500 points. Now I have been reading some forums on here and other blogs were people are stating that if the points don't post you should be asking these amounts.

Marriott- 15k points
Courtyard/Spring Hill-10k points
Fairfield Inn - 5,000

Is this to much to ask? Should I be calling Marriott International directly or the hotel?

CJKatl

Where are you seeing this? Please provide links and post numbers to whatever threads instruct something so ridiculous. I read FT and have never seen such an absurd post and would be interested to see that this is not just something you made up to stir the pot.

For the record, you can ask for whatever you want. There is zero chance you will get 15k points for someone forgetting to give you the PAG welcome gift and I would guess most of us realize it would be wrong to ask for that much. Asking for something so over the top may get your account notated and make it very difficult to get any points compensation in the future.

Horace

Marriott has published compensation amounts for service failures involving its various guarantees, including failure to offer and provide the Platinum Arrival Gift. I'm not sure why anyone would expect greater compensation, unless there are very unusual circumstances involving a larger problem.

1. Go to "Marriott Rewards® Elite Benefits Guarantee" at https://www.marriott.com/marriott-re...s/guarantee.mi

2. Scroll down to "Guaranteed Platinum Arrival Gift."

3. Look at the "Guest Compensation***" column to see the published compensation amount for each brand.

I realize that it could happen that the front desk promises Arrival Gift points at check-in, but these points fail to post -- and the guest doesn't know this until a week after checking out.

Remember that the new, combined program begins August 18, 2018, and that Marriott has not yet published the terms & conditions for it. Published compensation could change. In any case, there will be more brands, so the current chart will be obsolete.

bigshooter

Updated verbage for arrival gift and Ultimate Guarantee have posted.

- You are entitled to compensation if not offered your choice of amenity. It must be claimed during the stay.
- You are entitled to compensation if not offered breakfast or points when lounge is closed. It must be claimed during stay.

- Interesting that the Ultimate reservation guarantee at Marriott and other FS brands is $200 and 90k points for ALL members. Some limited properties (CY and others) is cash to all members and 90k points to Plat. Ritz and St Regis only pays out to Plat. I thought it used to be paid to Plat's only but was never walked and got a chance to try it.

dnkywhisperer

I am a 62 night platinum elite. Prior to the SPG merger most of my stays were with SPG, so Marriott may not value me as much as a legacy Marriott Platinum.

Here is my story. I booked The AC Boston North hotel a week ago using a 35,000 point night cert. I received a reservation confirmation number. I booked flights and tickets to game 1 of the World Series. I booked the hotel Monday morning and my stay was for Tuesday night. I received a call from the hotel a few hours later saying there was a mistake and they do not have any rooms. The said they were cancelling my reservation. I asked them not to because I did not have other accommodations, they did anyway. I asked them what I was supposed to do, they said call Marriott rewards. I called and spent about 3 hours on hold and waiting and I was able to stay in a less convenient AC hotel in Boston. I was given no compensation and used my 35,000 cert for the other hotel.

I looked up the Ultimate reservation Guarantee yesterday and emailed Marriott about my reservation being cancelled and that I should be given 90,000 point, $200USD and my night should have been paid for. Here was the response I received....
Hello XXXXX,

I am sorry your stay at AC Hotel Boston North was cancelled due to no availability. I can understand your concerns with your expectations of being a Platinum member not being meant. However, the hotel did call you in advance so the paid night for your stay does not fall under the being Walked requirements. And the $200 benefit applies as follows:

"If an Elite Member believes that compensation is due with respect to any aspect of the Elite Benefits Guarantee, he/she must request payment of the compensation while still a guest at the Participating Property, prior to checking out. Failure to request such payment prior to check out will result in a complete waiver of any right to receive such compensation."

I am going to share your details that you provided with the executive team at the hotel. They will take action and respond to you soon. I ask that you allow us three to five business days to resolve this issue.

You can count on Marriott to improve your experience in the future.

Thank you for choosing Marriott and we appreciate your loyalty.

Best Regards,

XXXXXXXXX
Marriott Customer Care
Wichita CEC

Is this correct? Am I really due no compensation because they cancelled my reservation 28 hours before check-in?

Horace

It's true that the Ultimate Reservation Guarantee applies specifically to being "walked" — arriving at a hotel that is operating but unable to honor your confirmed reservation.

However, the right thing for Marriott to do would have been to offer some sort of customer service adjustment to you to you — points or cash — for the time you had to waste on the phone, the inconvenience of staying at a more distant property, and the general aggravation that accompanied all that.

It wasn't your fault.

Somebody at Marriott or at the hotel was careless if the reservation system allowed you to make a reservation that the hotel had to cancel a few hours later. It should not matter what caused the problem — Marriott should take responsibility and make it up to you. Shame on Marriott for dropping the ball.

ethernal

I guess it depends on the definition of "not honoring a reservation" means. To me, canceling a reservation 28 hours in advance is equivalent to not honoring a reservation. But I suppose it is Marriott's interpretation that matters...