montog

I've spent three hours trying to find a place I could use my Cat 1-5 7 night certificate in Europe for 2 adults and 1 child (16) in Europe. I gave up on city preference and tried them all - searched every major city (not UK) I could think of and several of the smaller cities. I can't find ANYTHING (March 5-12th, 2019). Problem is I can't find plenty of awards available, but none with two beds, any combination - king and a sofa, queen and a sofa, two doubles, king and a roll away, etc. that doesn't want to charge me a huge fee on top of the certificate. I'm willing to upgrade the cert to a higher category, that isn't the issue - no rooms at any category is the issue. I'm so frustrated! They should tell you when you buy a certificate (and I guess same goes for when you try to use your reward points because its reward points I'm searching by) that its worthless in Europe if you have a kid unless you spend more (frequently it was coming up 1k more, which is big deal to us). Any suggestions or advice, without paying more money? I'm Platinum Premiere lifetime too - no help there though that I can tell. Thanks!

cfischer

I randomly checked and I am seeing several available. Le Meridien Rome King + Single available, 2 doubles at the Marriott Berlin (a very nice hotel!) ... the list is endless, there were many others. 3 adults is not always easy, but there are plenty of places that you can get.
How are you searching?

jeanie

I seem to remember a thread a while back about hotels in Canada charging for the 3rd person. I was under the impression that the free rooms were for 2 people. In the US, many hotels probably don't care. But when I have traveled in a group internationally, they have charged for the 3rd person in the room.

It is common in Europe to have 2 twin beds or a king/queen per room.

Beltway2A

The US is really the outlier here. But it's not like any hotel chain is going to post a "warning" loudly proclaiming that most hotels in the U.S. don't charge an additional fee for adults beyond 2.

davidsc111

Some basic research ahead of time would have made this obvious. There are a few options, but in Europe most hotels limit capacity (fire code) to two people. The next 12 months will be full of people complaining about cat 1-4 7 night travel certs not giving them "outsize" value....

Happy

This.
Many people who dont travel outside US much often are "shocked" when they could not put 3 persons in a room. Most Europe cities have fire codes on how many persons can be in one room and it is strictly enforced. Hotels can be fined heavily if they do not comply.
In Asia, Japan's custom is to charge per person, on Pay bookings. Award booking actually often can get away from that with 2 persons in a room, but the 3rd person if allowed, would incur additional charge too. In Hong Kong where many rooms are not big enough even for a crib, let alone a young man of 16 years old.

mingzie

This is a bit of a silly complaint, hotel rooms are known for only allowing 2 people on base.

You'd run into the same issue if travel certs never existed so this has nothing to do with travel certs.

You could also say (1 room useless for 3 adults in Europe).

Kacee

Yep.

azepine00

lets not spread this myth without any backing
The restrictions if exist are on adding rollaways that may obstruct escape.
there are many countries where >2 occupancy is bookable; it is absolutely not limited to us..

Rowyourboat

OP, I'm not sure about legacy Marriott hotels, but on the SPG side the SPG Platinum people were able to waive the rollaway bed fee at the Sheraton Park Lane when I stayed there with points.

You could call again or ask hotels directly, but if I were you I'd just book the Le Meridien Rome like cfischer suggested. It's a great hotel in a great city, well located, nice rooms, and no fees for your kid :-)

GoPhils

funkbandit

I personally know hotels in Europe that will allow a third adult in the room if you pay extra for a rollaway bed. The charge should be around EUR 50 per night. If the hotel doesn't show this on their website calling may do the trick.

Often1

The issue here is that people are applying a one-size fits all approach to something which is not.

In the US, almost all new (since the 1970's) construction and renovation is of rooms which can accomodate 3-4 people quite comfortably, especially with two beds. There are, of course, suites, family rooms and other instances, but the general approach is the same. More importantly, few properties enforce their booking restrictions unless one is obvious about it.

Not so in Europe and Asia. Local fire codes may, but not always, play a role. Local custom may play a role and architecture, e.g. small rooms, may play an even greater role. More importantly, many properties enforce their rules. Even when there are fire codes, there may be larger rooms which meet code but are not bookable online or with a cert.

So, what to do? Pick up the phone and call the property. Not some reservations line, but the property itself. Explain the issue and find out what is to be done. Perhaps the property will book you a larger room for a premium (or not). Perhaps it has no larger rooms. Perhaps it will afford you a second room at a discount or come up with some other solution,

But, applying your local experience to any other place in the world, is a poor idea. The US is a big place, Europe is a big place and so is Asia.

azepine00

Book for 2 with a cert then email the property advicing them of 16 yo child travelling with you. They may be ok with it or offer a resonable upsell to triple occupancy room. If not - just book another place and repeat.

Happy

Actually NO. What I am trying to say is, far more often than not, you cannot pay more to put in an extra person to the basic standard room which more likely than not, the fire code forbids the hotel to do so.

You can only pay more to add person, IF the room allows 3 persons, i.e. met the fire codes. Many European hotels especially those built many years ago, have Very Few rooms allow more than 2 persons. Quite often, these are Deluxe rooms/Junior Suites or Suites, hence much more expensive than the basic standard room.

Sorry for the confusion.

Again, such obstacles can be avoided if the users have done some homework. A friend often needs 2 rooms to travel as they have teenager children. He ALWAYS emails the properties first to ask what kind of accommodation the properties can provide. One time he needed lodging at Helsinki for a St. Petersburg Line 72 hours no visa cruise to St. Petersburg that sailed from Helsinki. Radission has a property right by the pier where the ship docked, but quite far from Helsinki city center. Hotel was recently renovated and he knew there were "family style rooms" available but NOT for point booking. He emailed the property which was very accommodating, replied back they would give him a 2 bedrooms even with his basic point booking. Problem solved.

If you have special needs for your lodging, you seriously need to do your homework and not take it for granted that the world's lodging business works the same as in US/Canada. As Beltway2A said, US is really the Outlier here.