Happy

kkl

mahasamatman

When you're short on points for one award, and you're sure you'll have the points in time to pay for it. It's not for people to make dozens of speculative bookings that block up space more deserving people should be able to get. I have zero empathy for people who are being affected by this. If you have the points, you should have to use them all before being able to "borrow" ahead.

Who says it's a glitch? Maybe Marriott is finally trying to stop the abuses? It would be far better to completely remove PA than to keep it in its current form.

margarita girl

nexusCFX

For the record, I am NOT advocating that someone do what I am about to describe. You could basically accomplish the exact same thing by booking refundable cash rates for the room you want to book with points. As long as the hotel isn't seriously overbooked for that room type, the room will go back to inventory and open an award again. If it's a property that only makes a subset of base rooms available with points you could probably just book three rooms. So points advance doesn't really open up a new method of gaming the system. Of course, this would not protect from a category change in the meantime which is a different matter.

Jon Maiman

There are two separate questions/issues here:

1) Is the current policy for points advance reservations a good one or should it be updated or eliminated? There are varying points of view on that question all of which are valid. Everyone is entitled to an opinion on what they would like the policy to be.

2) The second question/issue is implementation of the current policy. With the current policy if you haven't already ordered a certificate seven days in advance of the start of the reservation, the system is supposed to automatically order one for you. I am intentionally not addressing the boundary case of where someone still doesn't have enough points for the reservation at that time. In my case and I infer many of the other posters cases, the system just ordered the certificates for those awards regardless of how far in advance of the reservation it was. That is a glitch because it doesn't comply with the current seven day in advance policy as published by Marriott.

What is abuse and what is flexibility is a gray area. For me, I tend to plan a few key stays through the year (winter vacation, holiday visits to the family a couple of times a year, and summer vacation) from a few months to a year in advance. While I know the general range of days I need the specifics can vary a bit and I may not have my logistics locked down until a month or so in advance. So when needed I book a few (2 or 3) reservations well in advance and then about 1 month or more in advance of my stay, I will cancel the one(s) I don't need. I don't consider that abusive.

On the other hand if someone literally books dozens (or even a dozen) points advance reservations speculatively and holds on to them until the last day available for cancellation, I would consider that abusive. Where should the line be drawn between mu current practice and the dozens of advance reservations to not be abusive is difficult to define. While it doesn't always happen, I think it is best when people just act reasonably and respect other people. I.e. your actions should reflect how you would like to be treated. I find that to be a far better practice than trying to precisely define reasonable behavior with all the potential boundary cases in a set of rules. Each to their own...

--Jon

s0ssos

I guess it wouldn't make a difference if people like rooivalk exist then. Who obviously has enough points to make speculative bookings anyway.
The difference if you cannot use points advance is that points poor people cannot make speculative bookings while points rich people can. A class divide, if you want to call it that.

rny321

With the exception of having to email myself confirmations, which I now need to do, I have been using a spreadsheet for personal travel for many years. In addition to creating a travel itinerary with details like costs and record locators, I include alternate flights in case of disruptions. Unfortunately, what began as a tool of convenience has become an instrument of necessity. I am not defending Marriott for clear failures, but the number of times I have needed to fix problems has increased elsewhere.

Happy

I do exactly the same - it has been a habit for several years because each of our trips tend to be long and complicated, 30 to 45 days long, often multi-Continents, multi-award tickets and pay tickets, train / long distance buses / ferries... can all be in the mix on some trips. I need a way to organize it and be able to tell where we would be on which date/day of the itinerary.
A spreadsheet goes by date/day of the trip and the "event" of the date, such as flight and rental car pick up, together with hotel reservation details. Yes, I too have alternatives listed as well.
On top of that I make a word doc just for hotel reservation details AND the logistics on how to get to the hotel.
The 3rd doc is for lounge access information for the trip, which lounges are available, the locations at the airports, how to get to them...

daloosh

It's funny, when you are ignorant, things aren't alarming. I just got to the 240K I needed for a February trip a week or so ago, so when the points all went out and the certificate issued, I figured that was normal. But instead I learn it's a sweep to fund certificates months out! Thanks for all the info!

aCavalierInCoach

Looks like the Ritz HMB pushed through a reso I had specified as "points advance" ( I had enough points, though I intended to use them elsewhere)... is not applying points even when you have them against the rules? what happened here?

mahasamatman

Marriott lets you make as many reservations as you want, regardless of how many points you have. However, some people are seeing sweeps where Marriott does take the points for a PA reservation if you have them (without notice).

aCavalierInCoach

Thanks. Looks like that's what hit me.

andrewstahl

myperks