Marriott FAQ Master Thread
 

I noticed that the Marriott forum has quite a few "stickie" threads and that the number has been slowly growing over the years. Also, it seems most of the other hotel/airline forums have a "master" FAQ thread at the top of their forums.

So I thought it might be a good idea if we tried to put together a Marriott Master FAQ thread. I have started one below with some general topics (I admit that I looked at the Hilton and the Starwood FAQs to get some ideas.)

My thoughts are that people could chime in with suggestions on additions, topic areas, etc. Whatever anyone thinks would be helpful.

So don't be shy. Let me know your thoughts (even if you think I'm totally doing it wrong.) :D


Marriott and Starwood Merger Threads


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This is a wonderful idea!!!!! And a great start, too. I'm impressed.

Bruce
Moderator

I've gone through a bit of the recent history to pull out some possible "master" threads for locations. I will continue to try to add more posts for locations that currently don't have anything listed yet.

If anyone has any possible suggestions, feel free to PM them to me.

Once we have a good running start, I'll ask Bruce to clean up this thread a bit and probably lock it in a similar manner that the SPG one is locked.

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Can one earn Marriott Reward points for dining when you are not staying at the hotel? I had dinner at Duke's at the Kauai Marriott and when I inquired, the restaurant manager said they just lease space from Marriott. I imagine that hotel guests might be able to put dining on their hotel bill and get points thru that but my question is about a non-guest situation.

Look in the first post above at Points in Restaurants.

Thanks-I missed that when I read the FAQs.

When I used to travel with my former boss who had Marriot gold status, he would book multiple hotel rooms. When we got to the hotel, my coworkers and I asked the hotel to put the rooms under our name and marriot reward #. We got the bill under our individual name and got the points but also enjoy the lounge access and free internet (we did this everytime we travel together). I was wondering anyone knows how exactly the mechanics work? I have a trip coming up where I can apply this if someone knows how this works.

Any time you use your Marriott Visa to charge your Dinining charges, you will get points, even if you are not staying at the Marriott hotel!

all Marriott Visa Premier card charges earn points..........restaurant charges, whether at a Marriott or your local McDs earn 2-points/US$ so I really don't understand your distinction for Marriott dining

What is your distinction, or how does it differ from what i said:confused:
Note I said: "any dining will earn points" :D

If I choose FF miles under my earning preferences, does that mean I am foregoing all Marriott Rewards points, even as a platinum? I guess I'm not sure why anyone would choose miles over points with the platinum bonus. I read some of the other threads and am not aware of any current mega-miles promotions. Thanks

Well, one little ramification of a forum name change is that it screws up all the link titles. :eek: But I think I've gone through and fixed them all now.

This might be a good one to add to the list.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18416744-post11.html

Any Marriot co-branded credit card in India
 

deleted

Hi everyone,

I'm a Marriott newbie and am looking at booking either the brand new Courtyard or the Stones, both in Bali.

They have two offers... one is called "You Stay We Pay" with the Courtyard and the other one is a regular "Marriott Rewards Special" with The Stones.

First offer basically gets US$100 credited per booking to be used for F&B, airport transfer, upgrades, etc...
Second offer get free breakfast and 2000 bonus points.

Considering that we earn 10 points per $10 spent, I'm assuming that those 2000 bonus points would require me to spend $200 to earn, is that correct?

So I'm doing a very dumb comparison here:

$100 credit or 2000 points?

I'm thinking the 2000 bonus points is a better deal? FYI, the rate difference is only $16 for the entire stay.

How much is the "free" breakfast worth to you over your stay? How would you use the $100 credit? I'm not familiar with The Stones or the CY there, but in general an Autograph Collection hotel would normally be a step up (or 2) from a CY. But CYs outside of NA are sometimes FS hotels even with lounges. But even there, I'm not sure a non-NA CY would be comparable to an Autograph Collection hotel.

In general, I tend to look at a Marriott point as being about $.01. So 2K points would be worth about $20.

Personally, I'd probably be leaning toward The Stones as it is probably a nicer hotel.

Thanks for your input. I've been to The Stones as my friends were staying there once. It's a nice hotel but nothing spectacular I would say. Legian would also not be my preferred spot compared to Seminyak but as I said, for a tiny difference, logic would be to go for an Autograph Collection property rather than a CY :)
But this CY looks really nice, nothing like those old ones in NA that I've experienced before.

I will be out of the hotel diving from 7AM till 5PM so I don't absolutely need a gigantic room and I realise that my valuation of the 2000 points was not that right haha.

I'll probably go with the CY, both reservations I made are flexible anyway. Save a few bucks and use the $100 for a massage or drinks at the bar.

If I book a hotel for next October with points now for 2 nights and in a few months form now add 2 more consecutive nights with points, will I still get the 5th night free?

From what I know, all those need to be in the same booking..

If you have a current reservation and add enough nights where a '5th night free' award could be used, I would call MR customer service to get the 2 reservations combined and they should also be able to refund your original award and order/use a '5th night free' award.

Here's a noob question: I have a cert that expires on the 4th of Jan. Can I make a booking now for a room in March? IOW, do I need to make the reservation prior to the expiry date, or do I need to stay by the expiry date?

Thanks!

Need to stay by the expiry date.

Bruce

Marriott's system will allow you to "link" a valid cert to a reservation even if that cert will expire before the actual stay. The problem is that when the cert expires, it will disappear from the system and leave the reservation without a valid cert. Then about a week before the actual stay, the system will automatically try to deduct the required points from your account to order and link another cert to your reservation.

If you don't have enough points, Marriot may try to contact you to see how you want to deal with the reservation (pay for more points, convert the reservation to a paid stay, etc.) If they can't get ahold of you, you might be on the hook for what ever cash rate the hotel wants to charge you (which might well be more expensive that you would want to pay. :eek: )

Of course if the cancellation date has past and you can't get a valid cert attached, you will be on the hook for the cancellation fee.

Did not see this above in the index and on the MR.com website cannot seem to find the answer....


I used all points to book a stay.....for the dinner charges to my room do I earn point whilst on a reward stay?

The answer is, it depends. And whether its a reward or paid stay doesn't matter.

The issue is 2 fold. Additional room charges can only generate points at a few of the Marriott chains (FS Marriotts, Rens, etc.). You can check the Marriott website which lists out the benefits you can receive at each chain. But none of the non-FS hotels allow points for the extra spend at the hotel, only for the rate.

The 2nd part is if you are at a hotel chain that does allow points for extra spend at the hotel, then it will depend on that hotel and whether the restaurant is actually considered a part of the hotel or is it owned by a 3rd part vendor that has an agree with the hotel for its restaurant. So some restaurants might not get you extra points. If it is a normal Marriott restaurant, then you are probably OK. If not, you might want to call the hotel and ask.

Really sorry should have given more detail:

Stayed at Marriott Vacation club in Phuket Thailand.

Room folio is generated from JW Marriott (next door where check-in is located - not that this matters at all).

PAID food on a credit card from my room folio - did NOT use points for the food bill.....

hope this helps.

I am pretty new to Marriott. Just recently got the Ritz-Carlton credit card, which gives Gold-level status. The Marriott webpage says Gold benefits include: Lounge Access/Free Breakfast - Free daily continental breakfast, light snacks and beverages for members and one guest in the Executive Lounge*. (* At JW Marriott®, Autograph Collection®, Renaissance® and Marriott Hotels®)

In spite of this written assurance, Marriott, in reply to an email I sent them, wrote: "The breakfast amenity is offered within the United States and Canada only."

Which is correct?

There is a breakfast guarantee for Gold/Plats worldwide, but I do believe it may be a bit different for different regions. And that may have confused the Marriott agent who replied to you. :eek:

The applicable T&Cs: " For JW Marriott®, Autograph Collection®, Renaissance® and Marriott® Hotels in the U.S. and Canada: any time the Lounge isn’t open, Platinum and Gold Elite members are entitled to a choice of continental breakfast for two in the restaurant or 750 points daily. In Europe, hotels without a lounge offer a choice of breakfast for two in the restaurant or 750 points daily. If Concierge/Executive/Club Lounge Access and complimentary continental breakfast is not offered, Elite Members will be compensated $100 USD for the inconvenience. Hotels outside the U.S. will pay the equivalent in local currency."

It looks like in NA Gold/Plats are only guaranteed a Continental breakfast, where in Europe you get a full breakfast. And I've never been to an Asia FS hotel where I didn't get a full breakfast.

I didn't want to make a new thread for such a simple question, but I haven't been able to find a definitive answer.

I will be staying in NYC at a Marriott property for the entire month of March (26 nights). I just opened a Rewards account so obviously I have zero nights. My company required me to book the entire 26 nights in one booking, but now I am wondering if I am going to get jipped out of 16 nights at the Silver level bonus.

Considering this is such a large outlay and so many nights, will the Front Desk be able to bump me up to Silver after the first 10 nights of the reservation so that I can accrue more points in the final 16? If so, will this automatically occur or do I need to nudge them along?

My gut instinct is that all of the nights won't post until after the reservation concludes and I pay the bill, but I stand to miss out on about 8,000 bonus points for those 16 "silver" nights

Thanks!!

I didn't know where to put this, but I was upgraded to Platinum for hosting my wedding at Ritz Carlton. Wedding is 2016 and the RC paid for my confirmed upgrade to Platinum for the calendar year. I'm only a Gold member via the RC CC.