sinfonia

I had a reservation at a Marriott-branded hotel for one night. I arrived around 8 PM to check in and was told that the hotel was oversold and was given a walk letter along with directions to the hotel I was supposed to go to. The night's stay was paid for. My frustration with being walked was because I had signed up for a promotion that would have given me a free night after this stay, and I obviously got no credit for a night's stay after this. Of course, this was, effectively, a free stay, but not the free stay I was looking for.

I am curious if Marriott has a policy as to how to handle walking guests when it comes to what is normally covered. I have read before in other threads that sometimes, a taxi ride is offered (it was not for me). I assume it is standard to pay for the night's stay. But what about in terms of points and promotions such as in this case?

Thanks for the input.

SanDiego1K

Do you have any status with Marriott? If so, they have a written policy by brand as to what you get if you are walked.

Marriott walk policy

I see no mention of stay credit, but suggest you ask Customer Service.

am13

It's entirely up to that property's discretion, unless you are an elite. If so, there is "guaranteed compensation," though I doubt they'll ever walk an elite unless there is a royal mess-up. If you weren't an elite and were walked, it's fair to ask for the hotel to cover your transportation to the hotel, the bill at that hotel, and local phone calls (historically)/internet access charges (more relevant today).

AM13

hhoope01

For anyone (Marriott Rewards member or not) walked, the hotel should pay for the first night and pay for transportation to the walked hotel. I would call MR Customer Service and ask them about getting your night/stay credit (as you had a guaranteed reservation at a Marriott and showed up for your stay.) The policy used to be that you should still get your night/stay credits, but you will probably have to call and ask for them. And per the link provided by SanDiego1K, if you are a MR elite member and your MR# was in the reservation, you could also be in line for more benefits from being walked.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...lk-policy.html

MSPeconomist

AmEx used to have a rule that if the reservation had been guaranteed with an AmEx card, you were entitled to a free night in an equivalent or better hotel, transportation (taxi) to and from the new place, and long distance phone calls to tell people your new hotel. I don't know the current policy, but they were very good when I was placed in an inferior hotel (sketchy neighborhood and cockroaches!) or one located on the outskirts of the city of my booking (during a blizzard, so than driving into the city for my meeting took several hours in the morning).

sinfonia

Thanks for the information and advice. This is helpful info. I am not any status with Marriott other than just the basic level, but I will call CS anyway and see if they can do anything about the promotion.

Thanks again!

CJKatl

First hand experience: This is inaccurate. The last person to check in will usually be walked, in the hopes the person does not show up and nobody has to be walked. Fortunately, the only time I was walked it was across a parking lot from maybe an SHS to a CY, in, perhaps, if memory serves, Louisville.

This seems to be the one advantage to OLCI; for late arrivals I will both call the hotel to let them know and check in online so that my room will show as having a guest. While I'm not sure this is accurate, I have not been walked when I've done OLCI yet.

Call, and if you don't get a good result, elevate. You should get credit as this was no fault of your own.

One more piece of advice if this happens to anyone else: If what the front desk is telling you doesn't sound right, but it's late in the evening, call the Marriott Reservations line. Many of the agents have experience with this type of thing and can call the hotel to make sure the right steps are taken. I once had a front desk manager at the Fair Oaks FS tell me, "That's not going to happen" when I made a reasonable request for them to correct their screw-up. Rather than argue, I called Marriott Reservations. They called the hotel and the same manager came out a few minutes later and apologized for my misunderstanding her. Another time, a Hilton phone agent was able to call the hotel assistant manager who came in and corrected a situation the front desk was getting wrong.

The phone agents will not always be able to help, but I've had success when getting them involved.

Absolute

I agree, I've been walked as a Gold before, checking in late at night. In my case it was south Austin, with a Marriott, FI, SH, CY, and RI all sharing the same parking lot. Unfortunately I didn't pursue the Marriott walking policy for compensation!

winstoda

I booked a stay at the Springhill Suites Flamingo Crossing in Orlando this past week. My reservation was changed to the TownePlace in the same complex without any notification - they changed the reservation number and everything. I wasn't pleased as I booked the Springhill expressly for the room layout - the TownePlace didn't suit me as well. Would this qualify as being walked? I'm Gold if that factors in...

I'd avoid Flamingo Crossing by the way - not ready for prime time... we had several issues. But that's for another post.

MSPeconomist

If you booked one hotel and somehow you ended up staying in a different hotel, I would call that wa walk, especially if they didn't send you an email saying that your reservation had been moved to a different property. It doesn't matter if they're in the same building or just a parking lot away, you have been moved to a different hotel and a different brand, despite having chosen the first property. I'd also fight the idea that someone magically changed by our booking to a different confirmation number at some different hotel. This is just wrong.

CJKatl

Did you book directly through Marriott? Or through a third party?

OU812

When did you find out about the change to your reservation, (not that it matters since they didn't notify you) when you showed up at the hotel?

As long as your MR Gold # was in the reservation, I would definitely pursue the Ultimate Reservation Guarantee. They should pay your first night's stay, give you $100 + 90,000 points. In addition, you need to make sure you get 10 points per $ that you are entitled to at SHS vs 5 points per $ at the TPS.

Regards,

RIP...

llachance

OLCI with confirmation and got walked to a non-marriott property at 11:00 pm at night in Orlando. Had several phone calls and emails for Marriott to pick up the room for the night. Not everything is as easy as it might be. This is a copy of the email:

I would like to take this opportunity to Thank You for your loyalty to Marriott.
Marriott Customer Care Had forwarded your Issue to us about the reservation being canceled. Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconveniences we caused you with that. We have immediately addressed this issue to our Front Desk to make sure it is corrected right away so we do not repeat the same experience you had again.

We apologize and we truly hope this unfortunate situation would not prevent you from staying with us again. We already contacted the Hotel you stayed at and requested to credit your American Express Card and Direct Bill the Hotel, we also purchased 90,000 points and we mail you a money order for $100.00

My fault BTW for not following up on the $100. And the reservation wasn't cancelled we were told when we went to get the room that they had oversold the hotel.

MSPeconomist

The English in that email is pretty bad.

blakeIV

Ah memories. My first business trip I was walked. My boss (gold) and I showed up at midnight in Paris and guess what! no rooms.

We had a 45 minute cab ride to near Versailles. Yes everything was paid for including mini bar. But it was super annoying. We got to the new hotel at 2am (had to wait almost 1 hour for the taxi).

My boss never got his night credit (we stayed at a non-Marriott hotel). We were both awarded 30k (free night stay at the hotel) points after emailing Marriott and received a nice apology from the hotel owner.

Working the next day on 3 hours of sleep was awful. My boss actually left the meeting at one point to take a nap, leaving me the newbie in charge. Good times!!!