Pseudo Nim

Somewhere buried deep in the Starwood T&C there used to be a statement that said "if you no-show for a non-cancelable points reservation, you can elect to pay the cancellation fee in the form of points forfeited". I expect this carries to the new clusterf' that Starriott is.

CherylD

Have a 5 night award stay coming up in April. Emailed hotel yesterday asking for upgrade options. Noted it was our anniversary (it actually is). Response overnight was an offer of $369/night for an OVW! Way more than I anticipated. Wait and email again in another month? Respond that this is higher than I had expected? I emailed [email protected]. Perhaps another contact is preferable?

I'm Plat Premier - if that helps at all.

Thank you!

Woodsmit

Based on what I have read on upgrade offers in this thread and my own recent experience, the quote they gave you appears in line with general experience in high-ish season. maybe a bit lower per a couple post before yours in you go in more rainy season. You can always ask again but not sure it will result in a better outcome but i don't think this is a massive reservation team. Decent likelihood your end up with same person.

upgrade.me

All you can do is make your request known. I'm confident they don't confirm any upgrades pre-arrival. I received the same prices but never replied back to them. My room changed from a GV to a BV and they haven't mentioned it to me. So maybe a free upgrade for PP ¯\(°_o)/¯

There's no availability left in December, but I think the weather is a crap shoot at either of those times you mentioned. Hope for the best, it'll work out.

CPH-Flyer

On the flip side to that, I accepted their upgrade offer and the charge has been processed, yet my booking still shows the original GV. I don't always put too much emphasis on the room type shown by the website/app until very shortly before the stay.

Woodsmit

Same situation for me. Processed, still showing garden but they sent me a follow-up email confirming everything is set for the upgrade (checking in on Dec 25th).

kkl

Mr. Vker

Not according to a recent award stay I made. The rep reviewed the cancelation. She specifically said, you get all of your points back and pay $1300 if canceled 29-10 days out 10-2 days $3200 and 1 day out I forgot...but its a cash forfeit.

iluvdoco

It seems that if I were to no-show, rather than cancel, I would only forfeit the points paid for the reservation. Hopefully there are no weather interruptions!

iluvdoco

A question about paid room upgrades- the upgrade language states "Room upgrades need to be for the entire duration of your reservation". Can I make 2 separate reservations and only upgrade one of them?

MaldivesFreak

There's one post about it just a couple above yours. And there are quite a few posts discussing it a couple of months ago in this thread that are worth reading. You can use the Search this Thread function to find them.
In short, tipping expectations exist only in the US and in the Maldives you are already tipping because there is a 10% service fee added on to everything except the seaplane transfer. Some like to throw money around but really it won't get you anywhere at this property and in this country.

Artemio

So, I got the quote for an upgrade from 1 villa (which is the same one they quoted from 2 villas). I asked them to quote me again the upgrade from 2 garden villa thinking there was a misunderstanding at the first quote.
That's the answer I got:
Could someone explain it to me. For me, it makes no sense having the same upgrade quote for both options:
1) with only 1 garden villas booked. =1100 USD + taxes
2) with 2 garden villas booked. = 2x550 USD + taxes

Let me know if my interpretation is wrong.

jjakobv84

I'd agree Artemio that the explanation doesn't make much sense. It'd seem they're more keen to get $1,100 rather than more points compensation from Marriott. But does sound like a misunderstanding or they should just come out and say that they can't turn 2x GV into 1x 2BR.

luosrevo

Just came back from a 7 night stay in early December. The stay was wonderful though with some minor service issues (listed last). We'd still go back.

A total of 3 reservations made: first 5 nights was booked into OWV at 85k/night, and two more reservations with GV booked at 60k/night each. Was told that I can upgrade each reservation separately. Prices to upgrade the GV reservations are below (quoted in emails with the reservations team prior to arrival):

BV - $492.8 per night
SOWV - $492.8 per night
OW St Regis Suite - $739.2 per night

We didn't end up paying for any upgrade but were pleasantly surprised upon arrival to be upgraded to the 2-bedroom family overwater villa for our entire stay (I'm a platinum) - which has a great sunset view (exactly the same view as whale bar) and excellent access to the house reef snorkeling, though a smaller pool - it's honestly too huge for just the two of us and we barely used the second bedroom (only for nap time).

While it's always recommended to have all the spa/water sports/restaurant reservations made in advance, what we've found out is that you can still usually get what you want even if you're asking just the day prior.

There was a tip in the thread previously about having lunch at the Crust/Craft - it's really a pro tip - much cheaper than expensive dinners.

Also ask on when is the Alba buffet night - typically other restaurants won't be open that night - and the buffet is somewhat costly ($165++ per person, it's a pretty decent buffet) - you may be better off doing in-room dining if you don't eat much...

Minor service issues include: for the first at least 3 days consecutively we'd be served with the wrong item we ordered at breakfast (ordered mango juice but papaya juice came for example), fruit provided in the room but without utensils, sheer control didn't work (had to pull manually) and no communication after the first attempt to fix (problem still not resolved), etc... all minor things but becomes annoying when it all pile up close to the end.

iluvdoco

Thanks for confirming this! This was my exact question. Congrats on the upgrade!