bennos

At the Chicago Magnificent Mile. I checked in before the new policy went into effect, so they could not have asked me. I went to the FD after the new policy went into effect but before the day of checkout, and they denied the request saying I should have asked at checkin (which of course was not possible). I will try again tomorrow morning (day of check out), escalating if need be.

I'm assuming this isn't a convention hotel? (FD tried the "subject to availability" line before saying I should have asked at checkin.)

As an aside, hotels that get the weekend breakfast exemption are generally on my short list of "annoying to deal with when it comes to elite benefits", so I can't say I'm surprised.

joshua362

I'll second that about this property. Stayed here a year ago and will never again. No to every request no matter how simple. Avoid like the plague.

ohmark

Not surprised at this response from this particular property; my last choice in Chicago.

SkiAdcock

So other than Chicago Mag Mile (which pretty much we all agree sucks in terms of bennies), other properties seem to be honoring the 4pm checkout.

Cheers.

bennos

Just to follow up, after being lied to and misled by the front desk ("subject to availability", "we're sold out tonight" -- uh, have you heard of the internet?) I managed to extract a 2:30 checkout, which was all I really needed anyway. Still, unnecessarily unpleasant.

Boghopper

I'm curious to see how this shakes out. Undoubtedly there will be properties trying to weasel out of it (as happens with SPG). The question is whether MR will crack the whip or whether properties will find they can play games with it.

swintec

Not to play devils advocate but we know that generally, if you become a different status or become eligible for a benefit DURING a stay, but after checkin, you will not typically receive those benefits until your next checkin so I would be on the fence about expecting to receive the benefit if the benefit technically did not exist when you checked in.

I have never stayed at the property but sounds like they have a history of screwing around with benefits.

The way the properties are acting...it seems that the success of this benefit depends on whether or not guests will actually say at checkin if they will need the late checkout and not wait until an hour before they leave to say they indeed want 4 PM. I assume this is now being worked into daily staffing for housekeeping and what not so planning in advance is what is needed (for them)

bennos

Just to be clear, the official T&C say nothing about needing to make the request at checkin.

crjask

We stayed from June 18-20. I requested late checkout prior to arrival and confirmed at check-in. Left room at 4pm yesterday. No problems.

CWAL

Anyone with a rule-subverting tint to their personality will realize that even if there was, the workaround to this is to check out the day before, make a new reservation, and check back in.

This also gets you another welcome gift.

Bonus points for just explaining this to the front desk if they give you a hard time about asking for a late checkout...

joshua362

Brilliant if needed on multi day stay. But if this is truly needed (requesting at check in), Marriott is going to shoot themselves in the foot operationally as many will simple invoke the 4pm max in advance, regardless of actual need. And leave without saying goodbye leaving a lot of rooms needing cleaning at 4:01.

If I was a property manager, I'd ask that requests be made by a certain time, i.e. Midnight before checkout, so I could staff properly. After that on a case by case basis.

Glad to see the compliance at the FS+ level but still thinking its going to be an issue below that in lesser populated locales on weekends.

CJKatl

Only if someone makes a mistake. I do this probably five or six times a year so there are separate folios for a personal night and a work night, but most of the time, there are only bonus points on the first check-in. Sometimes the hotel goofs, but most of the time the hotel only gives points for the original check-in. Otherwise, we'd all check in and check out every day.

VickiSoCal

If I know my flight/departure time, why wouldn't I ask at checkin? Seems like that's going to give the best odds of getting what I want.

Jon Maiman

In my case, for almost all of my business travel, I am driving rather than flying. Sometimes during my stay a last minute need for a late checkout will happen (e.g. need to take a conference call in my room before departing). So having the flexibility to ask the evening before the scheduled departure date would work well for both the hotel and I. Otherwise as someone else up thread already said, I may just proactively request late checkout at check in time just to hedge my bets in case I turnout to need it.

If you know for sure in advance, than by all means ask at check in time and give the property as much advance notice as possible. YMMV....

--Jon

dank0014

If you are ok with it, I would be more than happy to connect with the GM there. We are long time friends and can happily share this feedback from them to make some improvements.

As a side note, their AGM from this hotel was just promoted to corporate and is now in charge of the SPG/Marriott Rewards merger expected to fully be combined in 2018.