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Marriott Bonvoy Events program between Aug 18, 2018 and end of 2019

Old Dec 22, 2018, 4:05 pm
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Last edit by: rustykettel
As of January 1, 2020 the 10 night credit per meeting has ended. Events will only earn points after Jan 1. Room blocks will still earn night credits per T&C.

Rewarding Events offers points and nights for events/meetings booked at 25 brands of Marriott hotels


Marriott Rewarding Events


Participating brands:
Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, JW Marriott, The Luxury Collection, W Hotels, EDITION, Marriott Hotels, Sheraton, Marriott Vacation Club, Delta Hotels by Marriott, Le Meridian, Westin, The Autograph Collection, Renaissance, Tribute Portfolio, Gaylord Hotels, Courtyard by Marriott, Four Points by Sheraton, Springhill Suites by Marriott, Protea Hotels by Marriott, Fairfield by Marriott, AC Hotels by Marriott, Aloft, Moxy Hotels, Element

Non-participating brands:
TownePlace Suites, Residence Inn, Marriott Executive Appartments, and Design Hotels


How to Book a Rewarding Event

There is an online interface to get quotes for meetings. Or you can call the sales office of each hotel you are interested in directly for a quote.

Rewarding Events Online Booking


Rewards

2 points per $1 USD or 1 mile per $1 USD spent per qualifying event (base members can earn up to 60,000 points; while Platinum Premier Elite members can earn up to 105,000 points per qualifying event).

Get 10 Elite Qualifying Nights for the first meeting and achieve Silver Elite status automatically.

Earn one Elite Qualifying Night for every additional 20 room nights booked up to 20 Elite Qualifying Nights per contract.

Note: Money spent on events reportedly does not count towards the $20,000 spend needed for Ambassador status.


Changes from Old Program

10 elite nights are earned only for the first meeting every year. Previously, it was 10 elite nights per meeting.


FAQ

Do I have to show up? - Maybe. Some people have no-showed at events and still had them post. Others have had no-shows that did not post.

What is a good rate? - Around $100 is considered a good rate for a meeting that lasts an hour or two.

What should I ask for if book a meeting just for the 10 elite nights? - It is recommended to ask for a meeting room for 2 people for 30 minutes or an hour. You can say it is for an interview. No audio/visual or catering is needed, and the meeting time is flexible.

Which hotels have the lowest rates for meetings? - Typically, the lower priced brands like Fairfield, Courtyard, etc., have small meeting rooms that can be less expensive. But it depends on the location.
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Marriott Bonvoy Events program between Aug 18, 2018 and end of 2019

Old Sep 27, 2018, 7:34 pm
  #466  
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Programs: Aeroplan
Posts: 98
Update on my case.

After the 1000th call since my case was opened over 25 days ago, this week in one of my many calls, I was transferred to a supervisor, but i ended up hanging up by mistake. Later that day i saw my Marriott account had an extra 10k points, labeled 'goodwill'. Good. I called back that night and got another supervisor on the line. He tried calling the hotel, spoke with 2 managers, although not the one in charge of events. After 30 minutes on hold, he came back, apologized, and said that the hotel still wasnt able ( for some reason ) to credit my missing nights. He offered another 'goodwill' 30k points. And then he said he was emailing the event manager directly and CC me on the email.

2 days later i called Marriott again. This time during the day so that they could call and actually talk to the event manager at the hotel.

After around 30 mins the agent came back, apologized again, and said that the hotel couldnt award the elite nights anymore.... BUT he said the hotel had offered instead to provide me with Platinum status for my trouble and that it would be granted as of Jan 1st.

This is obviously an amazing outcome, but I am going to call back and get that in writing. My main concern, and i let the agent know, is what happens if the hotel doesn't honour this next year. I also questioned him as to how would the hotel grant me platinum status instead of Marriott. He reassured me that it was possible and that it was all detailed on my case file. He also said the case would remain open until the day i get my new status.

Unfortunately i had to hang up because i had been on the phone for a while, but my plan is to call back until i get it in writing via email.

In any case, i can only wait and see. My main concern is not working towards Platinum now, and then be surprised in 2019 with not getting it, as im counting with it for a couple of trips im taking.
coljung is offline  
Old Sep 27, 2018, 9:55 pm
  #467  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Programs: SPG Plat
Posts: 792
I've been following this for a long time, and I might just be short of 75 nights this year. Does any meeting count? Could I just book a room at a nearby Hyatt Place for two hours and get 10 elite night credits? This will be my first one if that is important information.
rooivalk is offline  
Old Sep 27, 2018, 11:26 pm
  #468  
mav
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: United States
Programs: Hilton, marriott, IHG, Club Carlson, United Airlines,timeshare owner
Posts: 213
Originally Posted by rooivalk
I've been following this for a long time, and I might just be short of 75 nights this year. Does any meeting count? Could I just book a room at a nearby Hyatt Place for two hours and get 10 elite night credits? This will be my first one if that is important information.
Hyatt Place is not a Marriott or SPG hotel. How many nights r u short?
mav is offline  
Old Sep 28, 2018, 8:45 am
  #469  
 
Join Date: Jun 1999
Posts: 217
I have been chasing getting a "Rewarding Events" meeting 10 night credit for the past three months. Hours spent on hold, many many emails, promises made and nothing being done.

Received the following email from a MR rep yesterday:
Hello Mr. jb

Thank you for your reply. I am sorry for the delay.

I spoke with our hotel support team about the Elite nights for your event on June 21. I was advised that on June 18, 2018 the Rewarding Event program changed, as well as the tools used to add the earnings for events at the hotels.

One of the changes that went into effect on June 18 is that members now earn 10 Elite nights for their first event during a calendar year. For each event after the first, members earn one Elite night for every 20 guest rooms booked as part of the event contract. We are not able to systematically add the Elite nights to your account.

We look forward to welcoming you for your next stay.

Best regards,

xxxx
Marriott International



So, per this MR rep, the Rewarding Events program happened to change on June 18th! Really?

Amazing how the program ended on June 18th and I received 10 nights for another event held on July 11th. I guess the folks there are just making thing up now to try to get rid of our concerns.

Also confirms new program terms.

I'm posting this on a separate thread in order to possibly get some attention from the lurker. NOT ACCEPTABLE!

jb

Last edited by jbarm; Sep 28, 2018 at 10:08 am
jbarm is offline  
Old Sep 28, 2018, 9:56 am
  #470  
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: South Florida
Programs: AA LTG (EXP), Hilton Silver (Dia), Marriott LTP (PP), SPG LTG (P) > MPG LTPP
Posts: 11,329
Originally Posted by jbarm
I have been chasing getting a "Rewarding Events" meeting 10 night credit for the past three months. Hours spent on hold, many many emails, promises made and nothing being done.

Received the following email from a MR rep yesterday:
Hello Mr. jb

Thank you for your reply. I am sorry for the delay.

I spoke with our hotel support team about the Elite nights for your event on June 21. I was advised that on June 18, 2018 the Rewarding Event program changed, as well as the tools used to add the earnings for events at the hotels.

One of the changes that went into effect on June 18 is that members now earn 10 Elite nights for their first event during a calendar year. For each event after the first, members earn one Elite night for every 20 guest rooms booked as part of the event contract. We are not able to systematically add the Elite nights to your account.

We look forward to welcoming you for your next stay.

Best regards,

xxxx
Marriott International



So, per this MR rep, the Rewarding Events program happened to change on June 18th! Really?

Also confirms new program terms.

I'm posting this on a separate thread in order to possibly get some attention from the lurker. NOT ACCEPTABLE!

jb
Hmmm, more made up facts? I seem to recall reading some getting their nights up until some time in August. Now maybe it's a situation where the GPT was not "updated" across the board on the same date. But it still sounds like excuses to me. Granted they do have the ability to change the terms at any time without notice, but this does fall into deceptive practice for those that have a contract that specifies the 10 nights.
RogerD408 is offline  
Old Sep 28, 2018, 11:10 am
  #471  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: GVA
Programs: BA Silver (OW Sapphire), A3 Gold (*G), Bonvoy LTTE, HHonors Diamond, LeClubAccor Silver, UA Silver
Posts: 1,765
Originally Posted by jbarm
So, per this MR rep, the Rewarding Events program happened to change on June 18th! Really?

Amazing how the program ended on June 18th and I received 10 nights for another event held on July 11th. I guess the folks there are just making thing up now to try to get rid of our concerns.

Also confirms new program terms.

I'm posting this on a separate thread in order to possibly get some attention from the lurker. NOT ACCEPTABLE!

jb
They got their dates wrong: Rewarding Events changed on Aug 18th along with everything else...
RafKa is offline  
Old Sep 28, 2018, 11:57 am
  #472  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Programs: SPG Plat
Posts: 792
Originally Posted by mav
Hyatt Place is not a Marriott or SPG hotel. How many nights r u short?
sorry I meant a nearby Marriott or SPG hotel. I am going to be 6 night short...
rooivalk is offline  
Old Sep 28, 2018, 12:37 pm
  #473  
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 211
Unless some one can have a conference call between (1) Hotel event manager (2) Marriott Rewards Supervisor (3) Marriott IT department Supervisor, otherwise this thing is just going to a black-hole and never ends.

Simply because none of the 3 parties understand each other and what they are doing during the merger. We, customers, are in the dark since Aug 18th, 2018.
tonywush is offline  
Old Sep 28, 2018, 6:09 pm
  #474  
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Originally Posted by tonywush
Unless some one can have a conference call between (1) Hotel event manager (2) Marriott Rewards Supervisor (3) Marriott IT department Supervisor, otherwise this thing is just going to a black-hole and never ends.

Simply because none of the 3 parties understand each other and what they are doing during the merger. We, customers, are in the dark since Aug 18th, 2018.
If you spent tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on a few meetings, you'll notice the points received have doubled after the merger. You should be quite happy on the results. In addition, if you really need some status. You have the leverage to call the franchise hotel and ask the manager to BUY you Platinum Premier status. Hotel can do that for you. This happened even in far "less" leveraged situation, as shown as successful case #466 earlier in this thread and post #2882 (from Old $800 for Plat status thread). It's results in a net positive - you get double the points and the desired status (while losing the eligible nights which I presume is use to count towards Lifetime threshold).

Then there are the ones that spent thousands of dollars for small scale meeting. They are forced to take double the points and no eligible nights. Again, I think you can leverage that to the hotel manager and they can BUY you a lower status. The first meeting already got your silver, so I can imagine they can buy you Gold status or Platinum or give you some extra points using the ebonus tool. The franchise hotel is willing to do something because of the revenue you brought in. You do have some leverage.

Now we're down to the gamers who didn't spend much but want those eligible nights.... Franchisee hotel won't voluntarily buy you status because they would have lost money on the deal. They can't give you the 10 nights with their only tool - e-bonus because you didn't stay at the hotel. Besides, using e-bonus tool to issue 10 eligible nights without a person staying in the hotel is not only more expensive than the revenue the gamer brought in during the meeting, but also likely be a violation of franchise agreement and that is much more serious consequences for the hotel. I think these hotels are going to learn a lesson that deals (like free revenue with no one at the meeting) sounds too good to be true are indeed too good to be true. Some gamers without getting those nights will turn predatory and will issue charge back to their credit card and hotel are likely screwed. There was no hard contract. There was no meeting that took place.There was sometimes just email communications. How is the hotel going to win against a credit card charge back indicating no one showed up for a meeting in addition to put in the hours to submit stuff to the credit card company? The few retaliation tool the franchisee hotel can do in this case is to ask Marriott to shut down some members account - but Marriott Corp may just ignore it. Given those choices, the lowest risk option is to do nothing and if gamer issue a charge back, take the hit and reverse the transaction.

As for corporate level. You will have to convince Marriott these customers are worthy of spending the extra staff time and IT programmer time to resolve this issue. The merger is so far having lots of problems, they need to prioritize which customers get their effort and staff time first because resources is finite. Marriott probably evaluate if these gamer are really valuable enough compared to the other groups of customers that is having equally needy programs deserve staff and IT people's immediate attention. That's probably the reason why you don't see everyone scrambling to do anything regarding the transition of Rewarding Events.
yeunganson is offline  
Old Sep 28, 2018, 10:43 pm
  #475  
mav
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: United States
Programs: Hilton, marriott, IHG, Club Carlson, United Airlines,timeshare owner
Posts: 213
Originally Posted by rooivalk


sorry I meant a nearby Marriott or SPG hotel. I am going to be 6 night short...
Do you have a Marriott credit? Have a free night with it? Use it , the night will count as a 1 night stay. If you have a flying trip coming up, do a park and fly rate. Airport hotels usually also have very reduced rates on the weekend because business people usually aren't flying. Check out the airport hotels in your area on weekends and do a few weekend stays on a cheap rate and enjoy the hotels facilities. I am a 1 hour drive from Dulles, Virginia airport and have done this a few times to make status . The weekend rates at Dulles airport are very good
I have never tried this with Marriott, but have about 5 times with IHG during a promotion, I have searched the hotels within my area in a 10 or 15 mile radius for cheap rates, packed an overnight bag, checked in , stayed an hour. Fixed a cup of coffee with the coffee maker., used a bath towel wash cloth, and made the bed look like it was slept in, and left. When I checked in I had already mentioned I would be leaving about 4 am and was just going to leave the keys on the bureau in the room. I always received my stay credits. The front desk does not care as they are busy with their own life not watching what time I leave. Hope this helps.
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Old Sep 29, 2018, 1:58 pm
  #476  
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Join Date: Jan 2005
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Originally Posted by rooivalk
I've been following this for a long time, and I might just be short of 75 nights this year. Does any meeting count? Could I just book a room at a nearby [Marriott or SPG] for two hours and get 10 elite night credits? This will be my first one if that is important information.
Any meeting booked through the Rewards Events website "Reserve" button counts and paid for and contract "signed" (often "electronically signed", but sometimes you need to print/sign/scan) and attended counts. (Many meetings not attended may count too, but there's a chance they might not count., so if you want to be sure your one meeting counts, show up for it)

But in most areas, only a fraction of hotels have a "Reserve" button. Without a "Reserve" button, you have to request a quote, which is more complicated IMHO for a first time meeting.

It doesn't even have to be two hours, I did only one hour meetings (back in July) and they all counted. And I didn't even stay for the whole hour, just long enough to make it "seem" like a "two-person" meeting started and ended already.

Btw, at some hotels the cost goes down for short meetings and/or at some hours compared to other hours or certain days compared to other days (for example, if the hotel has two meeting rooms differently priced, and the lower priced meeting room is already booked on a given day at a given time, it'll show you a higher price then compared to other times when no one has booked any meetings yet).
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Old Sep 29, 2018, 2:40 pm
  #477  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Programs: SPG Plat
Posts: 792
Originally Posted by mav
Do you have a Marriott credit? Have a free night with it? Use it , the night will count as a 1 night stay. If you have a flying trip coming up, do a park and fly rate. Airport hotels usually also have very reduced rates on the weekend because business people usually aren't flying. Check out the airport hotels in your area on weekends and do a few weekend stays on a cheap rate and enjoy the hotels facilities. I am a 1 hour drive from Dulles, Virginia airport and have done this a few times to make status . The weekend rates at Dulles airport are very good
I have never tried this with Marriott, but have about 5 times with IHG during a promotion, I have searched the hotels within my area in a 10 or 15 mile radius for cheap rates, packed an overnight bag, checked in , stayed an hour. Fixed a cup of coffee with the coffee maker., used a bath towel wash cloth, and made the bed look like it was slept in, and left. When I checked in I had already mentioned I would be leaving about 4 am and was just going to leave the keys on the bureau in the room. I always received my stay credits. The front desk does not care as they are busy with their own life not watching what time I leave. Hope this helps.
Awesome - this is helpful.. I just need to find rates cheap enough! Thought I could just do a meeting since that'll take 1 trip instead of 6

Originally Posted by sdsearch
Any meeting booked through the Rewards Events website "Reserve" button counts and paid for and contract "signed" (often "electronically signed", but sometimes you need to print/sign/scan) and attended counts. (Many meetings not attended may count too, but there's a chance they might not count., so if you want to be sure your one meeting counts, show up for it)

But in most areas, only a fraction of hotels have a "Reserve" button. Without a "Reserve" button, you have to request a quote, which is more complicated IMHO for a first time meeting.

It doesn't even have to be two hours, I did only one hour meetings (back in July) and they all counted. And I didn't even stay for the whole hour, just long enough to make it "seem" like a "two-person" meeting started and ended already.

Btw, at some hotels the cost goes down for short meetings and/or at some hours compared to other hours or certain days compared to other days (for example, if the hotel has two meeting rooms differently priced, and the lower priced meeting room is already booked on a given day at a given time, it'll show you a higher price then compared to other times when no one has booked any meetings yet).
This is very helpful. I will explore and see what I find. Thanks
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Old Sep 29, 2018, 9:10 pm
  #478  
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,522
Originally Posted by sdsearch
But in most areas, only a fraction of hotels have a "Reserve" button. Without a "Reserve" button, you have to request a quote, which is more complicated IMHO for a first time meeting.
What are some hotels you're still seeing this on? I can't find any anymore, I thought maybe this feature disappeared with the website revamp.
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Old Sep 30, 2018, 4:08 am
  #479  
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 2,542
What is the email address to inquiry about missing Elite nights?
broadwayboy is online now  
Old Oct 2, 2018, 4:46 pm
  #480  
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Join Date: Jan 2005
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Posts: 25,927
Originally Posted by nall
What are some hotels you're still seeing this on? I can't find any anymore, I thought maybe this feature disappeared with the website revamp.
Perhaps it did disappear. I haven't done any meeting searches since Aug 18, since I already did meetings in Jul and early Aug for 10 nights each, and that means I can't get nights any more this year from meetings.

If there's really no way to see the price before sending an inquiry, that's really painful. I have several dozen Marriott family (even before adding in Starwood family) hotels within a dozen miles or so of my work, and the rates at them varied tremendously ($100ish to $500ish for a one-hour meeting), and I have no idea how I'd find which had a good rate for a meeting without something equivalent to that Reserve feature. It was that ability to see the price before booking, even more than the other aspects of the Reserve process, that I liked so much.

Sorry if i misled based on outdated info.
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