CCIE_Flyer

One could fly an A380 through this loophole Marriott has gifted to their property operators. I have begun to use my points for some business trips since their value for nice vacations at nice locations in nice weather has seriously diminished. All that a property need do is to designate a SINGLE ROOM as their "standard" and shut any additional bookings out. Likely a lot of maintenance closets got converted into "standard rooms" with the introduction of this little doozy.

And don't bother seeking any form of an exception - even an Ambassador will just parrot the loophole excuse.

fishy21

hhoope01

First, I do understand that the agents themselves can't and don't change a hotel's award inventory. But they can and usually will call the hotel on your behalf to ask. At least they have for me.

Plus in this case, I'm wondering if the hotel might have just mistakenly left the no-view rooms out of the award inventory. It is a lower level room than the Deluxe rooms they do have in their "standard" room inventory. Though I guess it could also have been on purpose. The New Orleans Pere Marquette Ren hotel used to have a room grade below their standard that they wouldn't put into the award inventory. Those rooms were all very small rooms almost in a basement level. They were actually a lot cheaper than the other rooms, but they didn't want someone to use points for those rooms. So on-purpose they excluded those rooms.

Without knowing more, there are a number of different reasons, with some of them possibly being valid reasons why they don't have the no-view rooms in the award inventory.

fishy21

Found this in the T&C. I find it misleading to say, "no blackout dates", EXCEPT....


The Company has a “No Blackout Dates” policy, which means that, subject to the limitations and exclusions below, Participating Properties have standard rooms available every day for Award Redemptions. These limitations and exclusions are:

i. Participating Properties from the following Brands may cap the number of standard rooms available for redemption on a limited number of days: The Ritz-Carlton®, EDITION®, JW Marriott®, Marriott Hotels®, Delta Hotels®, Autograph Collection® Hotels, Renaissance® Hotels, Gaylord Hotels®, Courtyard®, SpringHill Suites®, Protea Hotels®, Fairfield by Marriott®, AC Hotels®, Moxy® Hotels, Residence Inn®, TownePlace Suites®.

ii. The following Participating Brands allow only for Points/Miles earnings and do not offer Points redemption: Marriott Executive Apartments® and ExecuStay®.

iii. The following Participating Properties or Brands either do not participate in or do not fully participate in the No Blackout Dates benefit at this time:

● Boscolo Exedra Nice, Autograph Collection
● The Dedica Anthology, Autograph Collection
● JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn® Resort & Spa, Scottsdale, AZ
● Marriott Vacation Club and Marriott Grand Residence Club – all properties
● Participating Vistana properties
● Rome Marriott Grand Hotel Flora, Rome, Italy
● Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, Hawaii
● Wailea Beach Resort – Marriott - Maui, Hawaii

EuropeanPete

On the bright side, Starwood used to be a good programme on this, and the legacy Starwood hotels still should be (though without the old corporate compliance that used to exist).

cur

this has not been the case with a westin property in hokkaido that had standard rooms available but none for points. the marriott call center even said they have 3 remaining standard rooms. the marriott call center said the property will not budge. maybe if i called spg they would have done more? just an awful program, i'm a plat/lifetime silver and i'm ditching this sorry--- program

UA-NYC

SPG was our ally. Marriott is not our ally - they are the franchisee's / property owner's ally.

iowa guy

"We’re sorry. This property is not taking redemption bookings at this time. You can either book a cash reservation or search for another property."

That was the message that appeared when I was trying to book another stay at a Marriott in Greece. I made a redemption booking at the same hotel last week (for next September). I tried to book another stay today for different dates. Why would they not accept a redemption booking but they would accept cash reservation?

thanks

tonywush

I think there was a T&C update not long time ago - Marriott doesn't honor No Blackout policy for the legacy-Marriott brands. I guess many hotel owners pushed back to corporate which leads to this change.

Yah, this is what so-called "Unified Loyalty Programs". !@#$%

SkiAdcock

Isn't there a thread on this already, or is it being discussed in individual property threads where it's happening?

Cheers.

Mister Nice

GoPhils

Marriott always had a "No Blackout" Policy. But it just meant that they had to offer "some" awards. One those were booked, they were gone. Maybe that's what's happening here, but it doesn't really sound like it.

iowa guy

Don't hotel owners get any reimbursement from Marriott for redemption stays?

tonywush

Here is one link that summarizes the change.

3Cforme

They do. I don't believe it is anywhere close to market rates. Once the allocation of award rooms is gone they may prefer to hold out for cash. SPG allowed using more points for premium rooms but one had to call in.