sincx

I just booked a "non-refundable if cancelled more than 1 day after booking" hotel on Marriott.com, and filed a LNF claim immediately afterwards.

The reservation confirmation says "Changes to your reservation are not permitted. Please note that you may cancel your reservation for no charge until May 24, 2017."

Does this mean that I'll have to cancel the reservation by 11:59 PM EST tonight if I don't hear from LNF by then? Are they likely to get back to me by then (about 9 hours after submission), or do they usually take the full 24 hours?

nacho

I called Marriott regrading the rule and they said the time is local time of the hotel.

Muerz

Am I the only one to find it increasingly frustrating dealing with the new staff in the LNF department? I kind of get no claims approved since a few months. They can't even find a claim where the link directly sends them to the booking page. They deny the claim because the lower rate isn't available anymore yet when I open the link it is... This once was the best BRG in the business but now it's time to staff this department right or close it altogether and lose business. I'm disgusted in all the time it takes to always get negative replies these last times and even on mainstream sites like the really big OTAs.

cfischer

Very confusing post. You should not book a 2nd room on another site ... that is not how it works. The only time you book a 2nd room is when you want to compare Marriott against Marriott.
You can most certainly call them out on the original rate. However, with pushing this out to 23 hours you are now essentially in the situation where the comparison rate is no longer cheaper than the rate on Marriott.com, so I can see how they can make that argument. The rules are that the comparison rate must be available and cheaper at the time they validate the claim for which they have 24 hours after you submit the claim.

cfischer

You have more than 24 hours with this rule and the LNF team can waive these fees anyways.

funkbandit

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my post.

Agree. Complicated case...

I know. I only did this, because Marriott could influence the rate on both sites and I wanted to have some kind of evindence that there was such a difference. Since both rates were fully refundable I was willing to take that "gamble".

Yes, what happened in the end was that the LNF team compared both booking confirmations and awarded the LNF rate.

edwardchanchiwa

Same experience here.
The new staff denied my claims as they determined that a valid Marriott reservation cannot be completed using the comparison site. I am now trying to complete the reservation on the comparison site as my proof so that I can beat the price.

horizontal

I was charged in a similar circumstance and had to call in to get it waived. During the process I pointed out that I had initially cancelled within the 24-hr period (after the LNF failed to clear) and was nonetheless charged. While the hotel eventually refunded the cancellation fee, I was informed that the refund was a one-off special exception. I didn't feel like pressing the point but it seems to me that in the worst case you may be stuck with the fees if your LNF doesn't clear and you want to cancel after 24 hrs.

ibonez

On my experience in LNF, the policy of cancellation (free canceled or non-refundable) depends on the original reservation of yours. In other words, the room you booked is non-refundable,it won't change to free cancellation,even if the message on the website shows that you can cancel reservation without
any forfeit.So you have to follow the rule of the original reservation ( free cancel before 1 day you reserved on local time of the hotel.)

tropikey

Hello,

here's my situation: the same type of room for the same dates is a little cheaper at hotels.com than at marriott.com, so it seems to qualify for LNF. My doubts result from the fact that there's VISA promo in Europe at present, which gives complimentary breakfast in case of payment with VISA cc at marriott.com. Does this complimentary breakfast have any influence on LNF claim? They might say that the same type of room is cheaper at hotels.com but does not include breakfast, however, this breakfast at marriott.com is free of charge, so in fact it does not affect the room rate. What do you think about it?

I haven't booked room at marriott.com as I'm not sure whether I should take advantage of VISA promo or better, in order to avoid any doubts, book a room without this promo? As MR Gold I'll still have breakfast in the lounge but would prefer to be have access also to the restaurant.

mahasamatman

For LNF purposes, I always book a room with no promos for comparison. It eliminates a lot of the guesswork.

Smiley90

What's the LNF rules for rooms that are unavailable on marriott's own site, but available on a 3rd party site? I've just booked the next-higher tier room and put in an LNF with a link to the available room but I'm not sure if it even qualifies.

nacho

No, you can't do that, you need a confirmed Marriott reservation. But if both sites have higher category rooms then you can file a LNF for that room category.

Smiley90

the higher category room isn't cheaper on the 3rd party site though

In that case I'll just cancel my refundable Marriott booking and go with the 1/2 priced lower-category room from the third party site then. savings too big for me to care about missing out on points.

Thanks!

Smiley90

-spits out drink-

I stand corrected! (and so do you, apparently. Maybe I just got lucky?)

Just received this e-mail:

"Hello!

I have approved the claim you submitted for Marriott's Look No Further(SM) Best Rate Guarantee!

I modified your reservation to reflect the following rate:

Rate:108CAD plus taxes
Reservation Confirmation Number:

Your room rate now reflects an additional 25% discount for submitting a successful claim according to the terms of Marriott's Look No Further(SM) Best Rate Guarantee."

So something like:

Reservation on Marriott.com: 326CAD (lowest room rate/category available)
3rd party price: 170CAD (lowest room available, which was a room category NOT available on marriott.com)
Approved LNF rate: 130CAD

The room WAS "downgraded" to the "not-available-on-marriott", so it's definitely not a case of an agent looking at the wrong room rates. Looks like it's totally possible to LNF not available rates? Or did I just find a unicorn agent?