Dec 19, 2018, 10:39 am
Last edit by: RedSun
IF YOU HAVE A PREPAID RATE, PLEASE READ THIS WIKI!
Recommended SNA Best Practices:
- According to the Marriott Lurkers in this forum (see post #220 in this thread), as confusing as it sounds, the SNA system is separate from the reservation system, so if a suite is showing as currently unavailable or available on the website, that does not necessarily mean it is currently unavailable or available for SNAs.
As of March 2019, there is an IT bug on Marriott's website that prevents SNAs from being applied to many if not all prepaid reservations. One member has identified a workaround that enables you to "trick" the website into allowing you apply SNAs to prepaid reservation. Several members have reported success using this workaround to apply SNAs to their prepaid reservations. Hopefully Marriott will fix this IT bug in the near future.- After SNAs are redeemed, they are removed from member's account. But they are in pending mode and will only be processed (confirmed or denied) about one week (normally 5 days) prior to actual stay. Any change to the reservation during this pending period may detach the SNAs. Check with reservation agent again to have SNAs re-attached again.
- After SNAs get cleared and confirmed, they are locked with the reservation. Any further changes to the reservation may break the confirmed SNAs. It is a hazard to ask agent to process SNAs again since the SNA processing window is closing
- If your SNA clears, be sure to take a screen shot of what suite category you are assigned in the app and be prepared to show this to the front desk at check-in. Several members have reported being confirmed in certain suite categories when there SNAs have cleared or during mobile check-in only to be assigned lower a category room at check-in. Members who have taken screenshots of their initial SNA assignments have had success in getting properties to honor those original assignments after initially getting assigned inferior rooms at check-in.
- If you are assigned a lower category of room than any of the options offered during the SNA application process and/or if the hotel refuses honor the representations they made at any point during the SNA process, be sure to submit a formal complaint to Marriott and ask for your SNAs used during your stay to be reinstated. If you have followed the screenshot best practice, your screenshot should go a long way towards getting Marriott to eventually refund your SNA, although it may take a long time for customer service to process your request.
Non-Participating Brands:
Not all hotels participate in Suite Night Awards. Suite Night Awards are not redeemable at the following brands (subject to change at any time; see Marriott Bonvoy Terms and Conditions for full details): The Ritz-Carlton®, Protea Hotels®, Aloft®, Element®, Design Hotels™, all-suite hotels, Marriott Executive Apartments®, Marriott Vacation Club®, EDITION®, Ritz-Carlton Reserve®, The Ritz-Carlton Destination Clubs® and Marriott Grand Residence Club properties. In addition, Suite Night Awards are not redeemable at select Participating Properties. Contact Member Support for individual hotel Suite Night Award participation.From post # 220.
The system is not checking what is available for sale at any marriott.com web site, so you should not be using the web sites as a guide for what is and is not available for SNA approval.
Best regards,
William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Marriott International
FOR ANYONE TRYING TO ADD SNAs TO PRE-PAID NONREFUNDABLE BOOKINGS THAT MARRIOTT IT
CURRENTLY DOESN’T SEEM TO ALLOW, HERE IS A WORK-AROUND. GOOD LUCK!
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30575978-post541.html
All, I believe that I've found a way of getting around Marriott's IT issue where SNA's cannot be used on advance purchase rates. It takes advantage of another error in the Marriott IT system (go figure) where changes in different windows are not handled properly. It seems to work for me - would be great if someone else can confirm.
For this to work, in addition to a pre-paid reservation where SNAs are disabled you need a rate at a hotel where SNA's are eligible - so go book a bog-standard fully flex rate at your local Westin or whatever which you can cancel later if you don't currently have any flexible rates booked.
Log in to Marriott.com and click on "My Trips" (obviously this won't work for people whose trips are still not showing). Open "View/ Modify" in a new browser window/ tab on the flexible reservation first, and then open "View/ Modify" in the non-refundable reservation in another new window/ tab. Go back to the flexible reservation and click on "Start Upgrade Request" and it should take you to a webpage for the pre-paid reservation where you can finally select your SNAs.
For this to work, in addition to a pre-paid reservation where SNAs are disabled you need a rate at a hotel where SNA's are eligible - so go book a bog-standard fully flex rate at your local Westin or whatever which you can cancel later if you don't currently have any flexible rates booked.
Log in to Marriott.com and click on "My Trips" (obviously this won't work for people whose trips are still not showing). Open "View/ Modify" in a new browser window/ tab on the flexible reservation first, and then open "View/ Modify" in the non-refundable reservation in another new window/ tab. Go back to the flexible reservation and click on "Start Upgrade Request" and it should take you to a webpage for the pre-paid reservation where you can finally select your SNAs.
The link for selecting your benefit:
https://choice-benefit.marriott.com/
How to cancel an Award request:
Suite Night Award requests may be canceled until 2 p.m. local hotel time the day before you arrive, as long as the Awards have not already been confirmed for use on a reservation. Once your Awards have been confirmed, you must cancel the entire reservation to receive credit back for all the Awards; however, after 2 p.m. local hotel time the day before you arrive, a reservation cancellation will result in the forfeiture of all Suite Night Awards applied to the entire reservation. This is in addition to any other cancellation fees applicable to the reservation itself.NOTE: Always detach the SNA before cancelling a reservation. It's the only way to ensure your SNA is returned to your account immediately. Otherwise, you could be waiting hours/days to see your SNA again.
FAQ : Suite Night Awards - SNA - questions and discussion thread
Dec 10, 2018, 3:38 pm
#421
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: DFW
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Titanium, HH Gold, AA Lifetime Gold, United Silver, BA Gold
Posts: 864
I was able to get my Free Night Award expiring in 2018 extended. Quite happy with that. It was one of those up to 40,000 Point per night award.
Dec 10, 2018, 3:40 pm
#422
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Floating around
Programs: UA 1K (1MM), DL Gold (1MM), Marriott LTT
Posts: 10,346
Do confirmed SNAs count towards the room type guarantee for Plat Premier elites?
I have a reservation this week that I applied SNAs to. I got a confirmation that they were successfully applied. The email doesn't even mention the hotel name; just the dates and the reservation number. When looking at the website/app the hotel still shows me in the same room type I booked. If they don't honor the SNAs what is my recourse? Am I owed 90,000 points? Am I owed $100? I don't honestly need the SNAs back as I still have several that will expire this year.
Maybe they'll still give me an upgrade. I'll see when I get there this week. And since it's not a 'fancy' hotel I'm not overly concerned about not getting the upgrade only because I'd prefer the 90K points if I'm owed them.
Edit: I believe the 90,000 bonus points only applies if I get walked. The hotel is not full by any means. So I think only cash compensation would apply if they don't honor my confirmed SNA?
Thanks,
RM
I have a reservation this week that I applied SNAs to. I got a confirmation that they were successfully applied. The email doesn't even mention the hotel name; just the dates and the reservation number. When looking at the website/app the hotel still shows me in the same room type I booked. If they don't honor the SNAs what is my recourse? Am I owed 90,000 points? Am I owed $100? I don't honestly need the SNAs back as I still have several that will expire this year.
Maybe they'll still give me an upgrade. I'll see when I get there this week. And since it's not a 'fancy' hotel I'm not overly concerned about not getting the upgrade only because I'd prefer the 90K points if I'm owed them.
Edit: I believe the 90,000 bonus points only applies if I get walked. The hotel is not full by any means. So I think only cash compensation would apply if they don't honor my confirmed SNA?
Thanks,
RM
Last edited by RobOnLI; Dec 10, 2018 at 4:09 pm
Dec 10, 2018, 3:52 pm
#423
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 44
Does anyone have confirmation that SNA-cleared stays have the same 4-pm late checkout benefit? We know it was, as confirmed by lurkers pre-merger. But is it still the case since August?
And a post I inadvertently posted into the defunct SPG forum on this issue.
I was just met with the same issue here at Westin Osaka, today.
A SNA was applied and cleared 5-days out, but at checking was denied 4pm checkout and the FD agent cites and shows me a stack of printed terms stating late checkout is "based on availability [footnote 1]." I didn't quite inquire about the footnote and instead pointed to marriott.com that the terms clear says otherwise.
The agent then changed the argument to say the SNA and late checkout isn't guaranteed together. To me this also sounded strange, a guaranteed upgraded should be a guaranteed upgraded as if I have paid and booked the same category the SNA cleared into (if this is wrong, please do note and I happily stand corrected). Apparently, at least pre-meger it seems, I am right. After merger, I haven't gotten a response from Marriott itself, so I don't really know.
You know what? If they agent simply apologized and offered me other options, be it pathetic a devalued 1000-points or even just let me work in the lounge for those extra 4 hours, I wouldn't be posting here.
Eventually a different agent offered to move me to a room in the same category with different bed configurations, with 4pm late checkout honored. This is nice, but still, there was no apologies, nothing. The second agent just kept typing on the keyboard and barely looked at me, so yes I am still writing this post. And reading a few posts above about the Starguest profile, I wonder what he might just be typing.
A SNA was applied and cleared 5-days out, but at checking was denied 4pm checkout and the FD agent cites and shows me a stack of printed terms stating late checkout is "based on availability [footnote 1]." I didn't quite inquire about the footnote and instead pointed to marriott.com that the terms clear says otherwise.
The agent then changed the argument to say the SNA and late checkout isn't guaranteed together. To me this also sounded strange, a guaranteed upgraded should be a guaranteed upgraded as if I have paid and booked the same category the SNA cleared into (if this is wrong, please do note and I happily stand corrected). Apparently, at least pre-meger it seems, I am right. After merger, I haven't gotten a response from Marriott itself, so I don't really know.
You know what? If they agent simply apologized and offered me other options, be it pathetic a devalued 1000-points or even just let me work in the lounge for those extra 4 hours, I wouldn't be posting here.
Eventually a different agent offered to move me to a room in the same category with different bed configurations, with 4pm late checkout honored. This is nice, but still, there was no apologies, nothing. The second agent just kept typing on the keyboard and barely looked at me, so yes I am still writing this post. And reading a few posts above about the Starguest profile, I wonder what he might just be typing.
Dec 10, 2018, 4:26 pm
#424
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: La Jolla, CA
Programs: Marriott Ambassador, Lifetime Titanium, Delta Plat, Hilton Diamond , Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,615
Just received this message from the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe:
Good news — your Suite Night Awards™ request has been fulfilled and an upgraded room is awaiting your arrival.
I was a little worried about this one since I just applied it a few days ago (I usually try and apply my SNAs way in advance)
As I mentioned I really have had crazy good luck with my SNAs over the years.
I just tallied it up and out of 60 SNAs to date 34 have cleared for Suite Upgrades, 6 technically "failed" at Suiran but the hotel upgraded us to the Presidential Suite for 8 nights,
15 are pending now for 2019. Our only actual fail was 2 months ago at the Grand Bretagne when we had the bad luck to visit right when German President Steinmeier was meeting at the hotel with Greek leaders. The hotel was fully committed and turning away guests and we were happy we had reserved a Specialty Select Junior Suite for those 3 nights. I believed them that there were no suites available.
I think those are pretty good stats, especially since 20 of those SNAs upgraded us at St Regis Hotels and 9 were at Luxury Collection properties.
(That's conservatively $10,000 worth of upgrades -- 29 x $345-- many were much higher value than that)
I know that there are a lot of complaints about SNAs but this last one worked exactly the way they are supposed to. I didn't want to bother my Ambassador so I made my award reservation through the app and was easily able to apply an SNA. I was given a much larger list of potential room upgrades to choose from and I only selected the best Suite option. And that's the Suite I see now in my reservation.
I know that every person's experience is different. I've never had great luck with Your24 (I have found just reaching out to the hotel works much better) but I am pleased with SNAs.
Good news — your Suite Night Awards™ request has been fulfilled and an upgraded room is awaiting your arrival.
I was a little worried about this one since I just applied it a few days ago (I usually try and apply my SNAs way in advance)
As I mentioned I really have had crazy good luck with my SNAs over the years.
I just tallied it up and out of 60 SNAs to date 34 have cleared for Suite Upgrades, 6 technically "failed" at Suiran but the hotel upgraded us to the Presidential Suite for 8 nights,
15 are pending now for 2019. Our only actual fail was 2 months ago at the Grand Bretagne when we had the bad luck to visit right when German President Steinmeier was meeting at the hotel with Greek leaders. The hotel was fully committed and turning away guests and we were happy we had reserved a Specialty Select Junior Suite for those 3 nights. I believed them that there were no suites available.
I think those are pretty good stats, especially since 20 of those SNAs upgraded us at St Regis Hotels and 9 were at Luxury Collection properties.
(That's conservatively $10,000 worth of upgrades -- 29 x $345-- many were much higher value than that)
I know that there are a lot of complaints about SNAs but this last one worked exactly the way they are supposed to. I didn't want to bother my Ambassador so I made my award reservation through the app and was easily able to apply an SNA. I was given a much larger list of potential room upgrades to choose from and I only selected the best Suite option. And that's the Suite I see now in my reservation.
I know that every person's experience is different. I've never had great luck with Your24 (I have found just reaching out to the hotel works much better) but I am pleased with SNAs.
Dec 10, 2018, 4:33 pm
#425
Join Date: May 2012
Location: YOW
Programs: UA*1K, Marriott Titanium (LTP), Hilton Gold, Hertz PC
Posts: 1,665
For UA, yes, you can extend a maximum of 2 GPUs until the end of April 2019.
Dec 10, 2018, 4:38 pm
#426
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: La Jolla, CA
Programs: Marriott Ambassador, Lifetime Titanium, Delta Plat, Hilton Diamond , Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,615
Dec 10, 2018, 4:53 pm
#427
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: HKG • Ex SFO, NYC
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP; Marriott Amb; Hyatt Globalist; Shangri-la Diamond; IHG SpireAmb; Hilton D; Accor G
Posts: 3,319
I asked my Ambassador about this today, he said I shouldn't count on it, but I can always ask again after the new year.
Dec 10, 2018, 7:16 pm
#429
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Denver, CO, USA
Programs: Former 1KMM now free as UA Gold MM, former HH D, Marriott Lifetime Plat
Posts: 1,121
Thanks--they did post over night and I did succesfully apply them to one reservation. I was pretty disappointed that the "upgrade" options included a few rooms that would be actual upgrades, but it also included the room type I've already booked and rooms below the type I've already booked. I didn't select them, but surely would be unhappy if I was "upgraded" to a worse room.
Dec 10, 2018, 10:35 pm
#430
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Toronto
Programs: UA 1K, AC MM E75, Marriott LT Ti, IHG Dia Amb, Hyatt Glob
Posts: 15,521
Dec 11, 2018, 2:18 am
#431
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Bangkok
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, BAEC Silver, TK Miles & Smiles Elite
Posts: 2,210
Although, for a free night at a HK$2000 per night hotel I did get tremendous value from it: a quality evening meal for two that would otherwise have cost about HK$400 each, breakfast that would have cost HK$280 each and four hours of Prosecco, Negronis and Cosmopolitans in a smart HK bar that would probably have retailed for at least HK$100 a drink so that's at least HK$800 each resulting in a total value of HK$2960 so I don't feel too aggrieved.
Dec 13, 2018, 2:34 pm
#432
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Programs: AC SE100K MM, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, Accor Diamond, National Emerald Club Exec Elite
Posts: 1,085
I just had a strange one. I have some expiring SNAs with not enough stays left this year to use them all up, so about a week ago I applied one to a one night stay I have at a Four Points tomorrow night. It was approved. However, I cancelled that reservation and rebooked yesterday using a free night certificate that is also expiring and I need to burn. I reapplied for the SNA yesterday and this afternoon received the email saying that they are unable to confirm the upgrade and returning the SNA to my account. The website still shows the SNA upgrade room type available so I figured I'd call the hotel to see why it was rejected, more out of curiosity than anything else. They looked at my reservation and said that the hotel hadn't actually generated the SNA decline on their end and they don't know how it would have been sent out. The woman said that she was going ahead and confirming the upgrade anyhow in advance for me.
Dec 13, 2018, 6:19 pm
#433
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Las Vegas
Programs: American Airlines Plat Pro, Marriott Titanium, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 207
I applied 4 SNAs to an upcoming night at the Renaissance Long Beach, and today my SNAs were rejected. I checked online, and the Executive Suite, Hospitality Suite, and Junior Suites were all still available. What gives?
I tried to re-apply my SNAs to the reservation but the website is giving me errors and isn't allowing me to use them anymore.
I tried to re-apply my SNAs to the reservation but the website is giving me errors and isn't allowing me to use them anymore.
Dec 13, 2018, 6:38 pm
#434
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 502
Dec 13, 2018, 8:59 pm
#435
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Toronto
Programs: UA 1K, AC MM E75, Marriott LT Ti, IHG Dia Amb, Hyatt Glob
Posts: 15,521
I think this bears repeating.
Post # 220:
Post # 220:
I'll say it again for probably the 100th time...the system is not checking what is available for sale at any marriott.com web site, so you should not be using the web sites as a guide for what is and is not available for SNA approval.
Best regards,
William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Marriott International
[email protected]
Best regards,
William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Marriott International
[email protected]