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
Jul 21, 2019, 7:48 am
#1186
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 417
So I'd like to confirm.
I'm using all 10 of my suite night upgrade for a dream vacation in France and Spain. In the suite upgrade options I see 10 different upgrades and I only select 1 and they upgrade me to something else that wasn't in my list would i get my suite upgrades returned and be given that as a complimentary for my titanium status?
I'm worried they would just put me on the "Deluxe" room and use up my certificates!
I'm using all 10 of my suite night upgrade for a dream vacation in France and Spain. In the suite upgrade options I see 10 different upgrades and I only select 1 and they upgrade me to something else that wasn't in my list would i get my suite upgrades returned and be given that as a complimentary for my titanium status?
I'm worried they would just put me on the "Deluxe" room and use up my certificates!
Jul 21, 2019, 8:05 am
#1187
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 138
So I'd like to confirm.
I'm using all 10 of my suite night upgrade for a dream vacation in France and Spain. In the suite upgrade options I see 10 different upgrades and I only select 1 and they upgrade me to something else that wasn't in my list would i get my suite upgrades returned and be given that as a complimentary for my titanium status?
I'm worried they would just put me on the "Deluxe" room and use up my certificates!
I'm using all 10 of my suite night upgrade for a dream vacation in France and Spain. In the suite upgrade options I see 10 different upgrades and I only select 1 and they upgrade me to something else that wasn't in my list would i get my suite upgrades returned and be given that as a complimentary for my titanium status?
I'm worried they would just put me on the "Deluxe" room and use up my certificates!
Jul 21, 2019, 8:27 am
#1189
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 138
Just choose options you would really like, however many that might be. It's a judgment call on your part. We just used our SNAs at three properties. Property one, the SNAs were denied and we were not upgraded at check-in. Properties two and three, they were granted around four days out.
Jul 21, 2019, 9:25 am
#1190
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,461
Jul 21, 2019, 2:17 pm
#1191
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 417
Jul 21, 2019, 3:36 pm
#1192
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,461
Jul 21, 2019, 7:51 pm
#1193
Join Date: Jul 2018
Programs: Starriott Plat Premier
Posts: 258
He wrote in to dispute this hence as a "good-will" the property allowed him to keep Room "Type B" and got his SNA refunded.
So yep keep your documentation!
Jul 22, 2019, 6:01 am
#1194
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: BOS
Programs: DL DM 2MM, Marriott LT Titanium, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 15,198
What is still extremely frustrating and disappointing, is how many properties do not offer an actual suite in their SNA choices... and instead only offer a marginally improved room view or location, such as a higher floor. These are things that elites should be getting anyway with a preferred view or floor preference etc, so why do hotels get away with offering these side-grades as SNA?
Jul 22, 2019, 6:18 am
#1195
Join Date: Apr 2004
Programs: AA Plat/2MM, DL Silver, UA Silver (via Marr), Marr LTT, HH Gold (via cc), Hyatt Disc
Posts: 1,039
This year I used my SNAs on a family vacation with awards nights as the underlying "rate" and we enjoyed a nice upgrade. However, between SNA's unpredictability and what appears to be a trend to only offer the most basic room available for reward nights, I have decided not to push to get to 50 night level to secure SNAs. I just don't feel comfortable booking the basic room and hoping that the SNA comes through for a room we would enjoy. Net, Bonvoy is losing nights since the "carrot" at 50 nights is no longer compelling to me.
Jul 22, 2019, 3:52 pm
#1196
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: None - previously UA
Posts: 4,866
As a Titanium, if your SNA's don't process 5 days out, does that drastically reduce the chance that they will actually clear? There are multiple suites still for sale, and they can't be that many Titaniums or higher using SNA's the exact day I want to use mine can there?
Jul 22, 2019, 8:10 pm
#1197
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
Posts: 5,050
As a Titanium, if your SNA's don't process 5 days out, does that drastically reduce the chance that they will actually clear? There are multiple suites still for sale, and they can't be that many Titaniums or higher using SNA's the exact day I want to use mine can there?
The explanation under SPG was always that SNAs were capacity controlled -- i.e. just because there are 5 Ocean View King Suites (or whatever) left for sale doesn't mean all 5 are available to have SNAs clear into them, even if that type of room is available for SNA selection -- but the details of SNA clearing were done by a system and not in the hands of the hotels. So, I always took that to mean clearing within 5 days was pretty unlikely; it wasn't like there was someone manually deciding whether to clear the SNAs who might change their mind between day 5 and day 3. A late-clearing SNA would back then presumably only happen if another cleared SNA request cancelled, or something else happened to trigger the system to open up additional SNA-eligible rooms. (Someone canceling a paid stay is not necessarily enough, since not all paid rooms are available for SNAs, but maybe multiple paid stay cancellations would have done it if 50% of paid rooms were available for SNAs, or something like that.)
But I don't think we know for sure if the system works the same way now. I would however be very confident that the capacity control part remains in place, so even if there aren't any other Titaniums looking to use SNAs, you might conceivably still not get the SNA. And worth noting that it doesn't necessarily matter if the competition is checking in the exact day you are -- if a bunch of people get them for multiple-night stays checking in the few days before you do, they could take up all the inventory before your SNAs even have a chance to clear. (For this reason I've long suspected that Saturday check-in dates are particularly unlikely for SNA clearance since weekend stays are likely popular uses of SNAs and many weekend guests are likely to check in on Thursday or Friday and tying up upgrades for the whole weekend.)
Jul 22, 2019, 9:37 pm
#1198
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: None - previously UA
Posts: 4,866
I don't remember for sure but I think I have had a case (under Bonvoy) where an SNA didn't clear at 5 days but did then clear a day or two later. Under SPG that was a highly unusual outcome; I'm not sure if it's changed under Bonvoy.
The explanation under SPG was always that SNAs were capacity controlled -- i.e. just because there are 5 Ocean View King Suites (or whatever) left for sale doesn't mean all 5 are available to have SNAs clear into them, even if that type of room is available for SNA selection -- but the details of SNA clearing were done by a system and not in the hands of the hotels. So, I always took that to mean clearing within 5 days was pretty unlikely; it wasn't like there was someone manually deciding whether to clear the SNAs who might change their mind between day 5 and day 3. A late-clearing SNA would back then presumably only happen if another cleared SNA request cancelled, or something else happened to trigger the system to open up additional SNA-eligible rooms. (Someone canceling a paid stay is not necessarily enough, since not all paid rooms are available for SNAs, but maybe multiple paid stay cancellations would have done it if 50% of paid rooms were available for SNAs, or something like that.)
But I don't think we know for sure if the system works the same way now. I would however be very confident that the capacity control part remains in place, so even if there aren't any other Titaniums looking to use SNAs, you might conceivably still not get the SNA. And worth noting that it doesn't necessarily matter if the competition is checking in the exact day you are -- if a bunch of people get them for multiple-night stays checking in the few days before you do, they could take up all the inventory before your SNAs even have a chance to clear. (For this reason I've long suspected that Saturday check-in dates are particularly unlikely for SNA clearance since weekend stays are likely popular uses of SNAs and many weekend guests are likely to check in on Thursday or Friday and tying up upgrades for the whole weekend.)
The explanation under SPG was always that SNAs were capacity controlled -- i.e. just because there are 5 Ocean View King Suites (or whatever) left for sale doesn't mean all 5 are available to have SNAs clear into them, even if that type of room is available for SNA selection -- but the details of SNA clearing were done by a system and not in the hands of the hotels. So, I always took that to mean clearing within 5 days was pretty unlikely; it wasn't like there was someone manually deciding whether to clear the SNAs who might change their mind between day 5 and day 3. A late-clearing SNA would back then presumably only happen if another cleared SNA request cancelled, or something else happened to trigger the system to open up additional SNA-eligible rooms. (Someone canceling a paid stay is not necessarily enough, since not all paid rooms are available for SNAs, but maybe multiple paid stay cancellations would have done it if 50% of paid rooms were available for SNAs, or something like that.)
But I don't think we know for sure if the system works the same way now. I would however be very confident that the capacity control part remains in place, so even if there aren't any other Titaniums looking to use SNAs, you might conceivably still not get the SNA. And worth noting that it doesn't necessarily matter if the competition is checking in the exact day you are -- if a bunch of people get them for multiple-night stays checking in the few days before you do, they could take up all the inventory before your SNAs even have a chance to clear. (For this reason I've long suspected that Saturday check-in dates are particularly unlikely for SNA clearance since weekend stays are likely popular uses of SNAs and many weekend guests are likely to check in on Thursday or Friday and tying up upgrades for the whole weekend.)
Jul 23, 2019, 9:26 am
#1199
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 85
Jul 24, 2019, 10:45 am
#1200
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
So here's something that should leave you scratching your head, but confirms what William has said time and time again, namely:
I'm staying at the St Regis FLR next week with some friends. We are arriving on different dates. We both applied SNAs to our reservations. The website was showing zero suites available for our dates except for the Presidential Suite, yet both of us cleared at 5 days out! ^
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.