SkiAdcock

Am I the only hoping Marriott audits the OP's account?

Cheers.

controller1

With all you've said in this thread, I would love to read the notes that have been entered by FDCs and Hotel Management on your Marriott account!

ac/elite

FuryRoadWarrior

There is actually a Supreme Court (I think?) case that determined that FF miles are not legally "property" as the airlines can take them away at any time for any reason or for no reason. My guess is that any Platinum amenities would fall under the same category.

Zelucifer

You should go read the actual SCOTUS decision, Northwest Inc. V. Ginsberg. That's related to suing an airline frequent flier program, although I have a feeling you're referring to American Airlines, Inc. V. Wolens et al. Which is an earlier decision again relating to an airline FF program. Wolen involves changing the value of program rewards. Both these cases are decided under the ADA (Airline Deregulation Act), which has no bearing on hotel programs. Furthermore, even if your metaphor held water, and you could apply the same standard to both Hotel and Airline programs, you're comparing the value of a point redemption, not the benefits derived from the programs stated guidelines. In the sense that, Marriott could arbitrarily rewrite the benefits, as they have done, and continue to do fairly frequently, you are correct. However, this thread is more about the enforcement of the current contract and program terms, not changes therein.

MDtR-Chicago

When I was a desk clerk, we made sure to take care of guests like the OP. We would ensure they had exactly what they were entitled to: the $5 voucher to the snack bar and the slight upgrade to a room with a robe, which was all the rules said we had to give them at the time.

For guests who decided to treat the staff like people and not reference a rule book throughout the stay, we would actually take care of them... extra food, wine to the room, panoramic view in a double sized suite, etc.

I have always remembered that difference between compliance and care.

FuryRoadWarrior

Yep - those are the lines I am thinking along. I vaguely remember in reading those cases (but law school was so long ago...) that the finding was that the miles did not constitute "property" and furthermore that participation in the FF program did not constitute a "contract" that could be enforced.

EDIT: Really dredging my memory now, but wasn't there a further provision that because FF miles are not "property", they couldn't be considered taxable income?

Travellin_man

[QUOTE=C17PSGR;30638925]In many jurisdictions, the answer is yes, you do need to ask permission. I'll throw out California, Canada, Germany as examples.


Wrong - rules in Canada vary by province. Legal to record a conversation in Ontario if one party is aware.

D

SkiAdcock

I would hazard a guess most FDC are like this. I know some very well at different full-service properties (including int'l/ROW). I don't want to get any of them in trouble, but one int'l property told me if an elite did a DYKWIA the elite got only what they were required to do minimally via the program. If an elite was polite, etc, etc, they tried to do a lot more for the elite if they were able to do so.

FWIW - IMO the OP has hutzpah in his attempts to do the 'gotcha' thing.

Cheers.