Tantamount to blackout at Delta Royal Canadian of Banff May 1--Oct. 19?!
Jan 24, 2019, 3:57 pm
#1
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Tantamount to blackout at Delta Royal Canadian of Banff May 1--Oct. 19?!
As I experienced in 2017 and Mwk190 reported in Post #22 of https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marriott-rewards/1886590-less-reward-availability.html, the Delta Royal Canadian of Banff once again has zero award availability for 5.6 months in and around this summer by designating only a few rooms as Standard Queens and the rest as "Premier Queens," many of which have fireplaces!
Sometimes 1--3 nights beforehand, this hotel will deign to offer an award room or 2, but other than that, forget it! Plus, with the Fairmont gone over to Accor, all hotels in Banff except for the Best Western are independent non-chain hotels which rent only for revenue, which pretty much means no award stays in Banff!
Now at the dawn of Bonvoy, will there be somebody with the task of bringing this hotel into compliance?
Sometimes 1--3 nights beforehand, this hotel will deign to offer an award room or 2, but other than that, forget it! Plus, with the Fairmont gone over to Accor, all hotels in Banff except for the Best Western are independent non-chain hotels which rent only for revenue, which pretty much means no award stays in Banff!
Now at the dawn of Bonvoy, will there be somebody with the task of bringing this hotel into compliance?
Jan 24, 2019, 9:28 pm
#2
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OT but if the goal is a good place to stay near Banff, Lake Louise and other nearby areas might be considered, especially since one would generally need/prefer a car in Banff anyway.
Alternatively, the Banff conference center (up the hill from the town but connected by a walking path as well as roads of course) sometimes rents unoccupied rooms to the general public. It's a fun place to stay, especially if you want to see elk, for example on the grass outside of the breakfast room and separated from you only by big windows. The place has a hotel-type front desk, evening bar, and offers most mid-tier hotel services. Lunch and dinner on the property might be possible.
Alternatively, the Banff conference center (up the hill from the town but connected by a walking path as well as roads of course) sometimes rents unoccupied rooms to the general public. It's a fun place to stay, especially if you want to see elk, for example on the grass outside of the breakfast room and separated from you only by big windows. The place has a hotel-type front desk, evening bar, and offers most mid-tier hotel services. Lunch and dinner on the property might be possible.
Jan 25, 2019, 2:41 am
#3
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What do you think compliance is? The practice of designating rooms with special characteristics as other than Standard awards (room type, view, high floor) goes back at least fifteen years with SPG. I'm not surprised they have a separate inventory of fireplace rooms. IIRC there was a California resort which had just four standard rooms according to Lurker.
Jan 25, 2019, 11:10 am
#4
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Good catch. I was looking at this very property recently and noticed that too. I honestly thought they were exiting Marriott or doing a renovation or something.
It is outrageous that they do not have to play by the Marriott rules! How nice that it appears to be at the hotel's discretion...
It is outrageous that they do not have to play by the Marriott rules! How nice that it appears to be at the hotel's discretion...
Jan 25, 2019, 12:10 pm
#5
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It's Marriott...they don't care and they aren't going to enforce unless the bloggers get involved and/or we can raise enough ruckus w/the Lurkers to help us
Jan 25, 2019, 12:20 pm
#6
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I'm afraid that we don't have much we can do about the legacy MR brands since they are allowed to limit the number of award rooms they offer.
3.2.n. 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®.
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[email protected]
3.2.n. 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®.
Best regards,
William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Marriott International
[email protected]
Jan 25, 2019, 12:36 pm
#7
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Yup - aware that the change to the better SPG terms promised to us got walked back pretty quickly...I guess I was thinking more of the cases of hotels who are saying "no rooms available for awards" or the like.
Jan 25, 2019, 12:38 pm
#8
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Jan 25, 2019, 12:43 pm
#9
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Still not what I was thinking about 
I was thinking more along the lines of the Al Maha and JW Guanacaste brouhahas of recent weeks (which I guess aren't really about award space, but rather getting hotels to actually comply w/the Marriott rules)
I was thinking more along the lines of the Al Maha and JW Guanacaste brouhahas of recent weeks (which I guess aren't really about award space, but rather getting hotels to actually comply w/the Marriott rules)
Jan 25, 2019, 1:01 pm
#11
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For award availability, SPG properties operate under old SPG rules and Marriott properties operate under old Marriott (fake "no blackout") rules under the "integrated" program?
I could have sworn I read somewhere the new integrated program was adopting the positive features of the SPG program. I guess I'm mistaken.
Jan 25, 2019, 1:11 pm
#12
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I looked at the Delta option when I was in Banff, but honestly it's really not even a good option. The number of points needed are way too high for the area and cash pricel. Plus I'm not even sure what the breakfast situation is since it's a Delta. I was able to find much better options for cheaper in Banff.
Jan 25, 2019, 1:15 pm
#13
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Jan 25, 2019, 1:39 pm
#14
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Jan 26, 2019, 8:05 pm
#15
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Re: Lurker & CPRich above: The zero availability at Banff is continuous from May 1--Oct. 19, which is (3x31) + (2x30) + 19 = 172 out of 365, plus maybe some more around Christmas & New Year's! Which does not sound like a "limited number" of dates to me. At worst, if they required an extra 5000 points per night for a "Premier Room," that would be tolerable.
SP03, you're probably right in low season! But given that rooms there fetch ~C$400 a night ++ in summer, and most other hotels >C$300, 35K Bonvoys per night is a better option IMO.
SP03, you're probably right in low season! But given that rooms there fetch ~C$400 a night ++ in summer, and most other hotels >C$300, 35K Bonvoys per night is a better option IMO.