ohmark

You are right. They are making it up to avoid paying up.

BeatCal

note the "participating hotels".

With the exception of the JWs, most Marriotts are not company owned and the owners can decide what they want. I had a problem with a room upgrade and called the "Mr Marriott" line. Was told that since I was using a corporate rate with a significant discount, the owner of the hotel had the right to decide what amenities he would give.

ohmark

Corporate rate is directly negotiated with hotel and with Marriott and can contain whatever provisions the parties agree to.
Participating hotels generally means participating in Marriott Rewards.
Marriott corporate ownership or lack thereof is irrelevant as to whether a property is required to conform to MR's terms and conditions.

Horace

Marriott International has more than 4,000 properties across 16 hotel brands in 79 countries.

Back in 2013, Marriott International owned six hotels. I don't what the current number is, but I assume it's similar. Usually, Marriott only owns a hotel to launch a brand or to deal with an unusual situation. There's no rule that JW Marriott properties are owned by Marriott International.

The lack of corporate ownership does not mean that the properties can all do what they want. With a brand, there are brand standards. The hotel owners are contractually obligated to meet those standards.

RogerD408

Yes, although anything can be negotiated when working on corporate rates, your ability to upgrade may have been given away. Short of them having the full text of each agreement, the response may not have been too far away from reality. Many properties do choose to go beyond minimums to please their guests. These "pat answers" come across as made up and anti-customer.

Your best route is to contact your corporate travel desk and ask what the terms are and relay your experience. Maybe they will bring it up next time they go to renew the agreement. My company specifically negotiated breakfast and local transportation at many properties near our facilities. If they don't deliver you gotta let someone know.

cbellero

Back to the guarantee question. I know they should offer 100 USD. Now the hotel has given me 5,000 points. I do not believe that is 100 USD. To me 10,000 points would be more reasonable. What are your thoughts?

Kevin Adams

That is correct, they do not own many hotels. I would like to point out that there is also a difference between ownership and operation. Marriott operates many hotels that they do not own. They own 9 proprieties as of end of 2013 (per their 10-K filing) but operate 42% of the rooms in the Marriott system (per their 10-Q filing on Oct 29, 2014).

ohmark

They owe you the equivalent of $100 in GBP and they know it. If you are okay with accepting points, I'd say 10,000 is about right.

On a side subject, I'd be more unhappy about their ludicrous explanation than I would about forgetting the amenity.

BeatCal

As an owner of a marriott result, I can tell you that all JWs are owned by Marriott and that I can decide whether to participate in all rules. My response is that IC, Sheratan and Hilton would love to manage my property. The only battle I have lost is the no smoking in the bar and I won that by building a separate smoking lounge

ChrisJC5

I'm staying at the Marriott Residence Inn at Arlington-Ballston, Virginia until this Friday. At check-in yesterday, the Front Desk forgets to offer me the platinum arrival gift. (I've had this happen on 3 prior occasions; one time I asked for compensation on this and the Marriott Hotel promptly gave me compensation, and on the other 2 times I just said fagedboutit after the Front Desk was contrite about the mistake.) After I eat dinner, I go back to the FD and tell the FD that he forgot to offer me the arrival gift. There wasn't an once of contrition in his response -- in fact, the initial response was that I was offered the gift, and after that reply failed to convince me to drop it, I was offered extra rewards points and the arrival gift. I then asked for my $50 compensation per the rules.

The FD then tells me he can't provide me compensation and that I'll have to take it up with the FD manager tomorrow. So, this morning I take it up with the manager; he tells me that since he corrected the mistake on the day of arrival by providing me the arrival gift of points and adding 2000 points to my account, I'm not entitled to compensation. That's not the way I read the rules. Afterwards, I call up Platinum Elite customer service (and I spoke to a supervisor too) and she says that compensation is not due if the FD corrects the mistake during your stay. I ask her to show me the rules on this and she refers me to the rules but no where does it say that compensation is not available when the "brand" lodging/FD corrects the mistake. This really makes no sense to me. A mistake in giving you an arrival gift is not adequately cured by providing the gift after you have arrived when the point of the gift is to welcome your stay!

I really don't object to this rule if were mentioned in the official rules. Has anyone heard of this before?

NDN

This is often brought up as an issue. If you do not report the issue before checking out, then the guarantee does not apply; but if you do report the issue in time, the place can immediately correct it--and since you have not yet checked out, you get no compensation. Basically, you cannot invoke the guarantee.

dayone

My "rule" is I give the hotel until the next morning to remedy the oversight.

There are others around here who are "experts" on collecting against the guarantee, so I defer to them on the letter of the rule.

IMHO, you received a partial accommodation so I'd let it go. If winning the argument is important to you, fight on.

mapelle621

Wrong wrong wrong. Most places where I invoke the PAG guarantee provide a little resistance and offer a few points to cover up in hopes that you drop it. I also tend to beleive that FD agents do not have the authority to hand out cash. So, IME, gently insisting with the FD manager or Elite guest services has lead to 100% success.

In your case, you absolutely are entitled to the 50$. Unfortunately, you got a few bad apples in a row. HUCA.

FWIW, what I try to do is to talk to someone else later (preferably a manager), that way I avoid confronting or potentially embarrassing the front desk agent, both which will likely lead to them becoming defensive and everyone loses. Sometimes, I'd instead call or email Elite services on the night-of and let them handle it if I don't feel like talking to the manager. In any case, that deep into the issue, I wouldn't let it go on principle. Some people might take it as extreme, but letting it go IMHO would set a precedent, and "train" both FD agent and manager that what they are doing is ok. The next person who doesn't get their PAG will have an even harder time claiming the guarantee. Rinse, repeat, devaluate.

Mr. Vker

My best success in these cases has been through emailing MR customer service through the website. Be brief, state the facts and say you want the $50.00. I agree the benefit applies here. They are trying to weasel out of it. IMHO (I have stated several times on similar threads) it should be EASY to claim the $$ for us. They make it miserable and really leave a bad taste about it.

nacho

I normally wait until before check out because:

a) give them a chance to correct themselves;
b) they don't have time to put the points into your account.

If they still forget to offer it to you - then you have a stronger case since you have given them the whole period of time to offer you the gift.

Their typical response will be: Oh I think you opt for the points (since they don't credit it until you check-out). What I reply would be: 'I wasn't offered any choice of a gift at arrival'. Be firm and repeat it a several times, and they will give in.