Hi all,

I have a 7-night OC8 TP booked before August this year for a stay in Tokyo in April 2019. The property has now become a new cat 6. Two questions:
1. I realized that the reservation is booked for one person. Actually there will be 2 of us plus a baby. What will be best way of correcting the occupancy without screwing up the TP cert?
2. To further complicate things, I'd like to change the reservation date by one day earlier if possible. Would that be even possible without converting the OC8 to NC6?

Thanks in advance!

You cannot alter your reservation now. If you want to change it, you'd be subject to the new category. If this is Prince Sakura you will not find seven days of award space in April so you couldn't move the dates even if the certificate wasn't an issue (I'm there in April and also thought about shifting a day). If it's Tokyo Marriott you may or may not be able to move depending on the dates.

Japanese hotels are sticklers for occupancy. They often charge less for single occupancy. It's not guaranteed that a front desk agent will recognise that a travel certificate booking could have been for two at no extra charge.

In my experience, it is really quite an easy process to have a Marriott agent change the number of guests from 1 to 2, without requiring a new reservation.

Upgrading from current cat 6 to cat 7
 

How many points should I expect it to cost if I am able to get someone to agree to upgrade to from a current cat 6 to current cat 7?

What codes should I be using when speaking to them.

Sina Villa Medici, Autograph Collection

It looks like the "Superior, Guest room, 1 King" is the point option for random dates in September, and the same room is available for cash in October, but not for points.
"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."

What do I do then? Wait? Call?

What dates in September are working for you? I tried a few and couldn't find anything open for awards throughout 2019. In fact, I can see award rooms every night through end of Dec. 2018. After that I haven't been able to find even one night with award availability. I'm wondering if they forgot to do something to get award rooms loaded or something similar?

You might try reaching out to one of the Lurkers to see if they can check on it for you.

Maybe I was just getting lucky, I started with Sept 17-24. Moving forward in 1 day increments on the check-in and check-out date, the last working date is Sept 22-29. Sept 23-30 does not work. I haven't reached out to a Lurker before but perhaps I will look into that. Thinking calling would be a waste of time on this? Thanks

Whatever you do it will take time. How badly do you want it? I would start with Marriott Rewards, explain the situation, and see if they can help. If the agent is clueless ask to speak with a supervisor. HUCA a couple of times. Reach out to the property directly. They likely are playing games with their inventory but rather than have you expose them to Corporate they may help you out on an individual basis (make an award reservation for you on your preferred dates) to prevent being outed.

When I was trying to book a 7-night ski vacation last year, it appeared that at least one day each week was blocked. I spoke with the head of reservations at the hotel, who quickly booked a 7-night points advance award. Afterwards, Marriott customer serviced attach my certificate to it.

Pardon the ignorance - what is the downside to changing to new categories? Have OC9 right now - but want to change dates on existing reservation. Understand this will change cert to NC6. What is the downside of this?

You have to detach your cert to convert and once you do you will have to rebook under the new rules (current hotel category and fees) and obviously award availability must be available for the dates you are looking for. If the hotel has gone up in category to an NC7 you would not be able to use your NC6 to rebook it. Cert expiration will reset to a year from NC conversion and probably no further extension of expiration will be possible so if you want the furthest expiration date on your new cert you want to wait to convert it until just before your old cert expires.

Thank you for your support I will try emailing the property first.

Unfortunately, there is no availability for 7 nights. The agent wasn't able to attach the cert for 5 nights booking. Gotta try other hotels...

Did you try making the booking first and then calling in to attach a cert or did you ask the agent to make the booking and attach a cert at the same time? If it were possible I would suspect it might be easier to book it yourself then call and ask the agent to attach the cert.