New Hotel not declaring category until 5 March (peak rates) but selling rooms now
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2003
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New Hotel not declaring category until 5 March (peak rates) but selling rooms now
I've been wanting to make a reservation reservation at the new Academia of Athens Autograph Collection Hotel that is opening soon. Up until last week, the hotel wasn't showing ANY availability...neither paid or award. Since this past weekend it is now showing availability for paid stays but it still has NOT loaded the award category and thus has not opened up any rooms for award availability. When I called the Titanium Elite desk today, the agent called the hotel and they said they would not be declaring their category until 3/5/19 and would only be accepting paid stays until then. I find this totally ridiculous since we all know why the hotel would do this....pick a category on 3/5 BUT then also block out virtually all summer as a PEAK award redemption period thus screwing people wanting to redeem points to pay higher award rates. The supervisor on the Titanium line can't seem to do anything about this based on what she told me.
I'm at the end of my rope with Marriott...how can they let hotels get away with this?
I'm at the end of my rope with Marriott...how can they let hotels get away with this?
#2
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Hartford, CT
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Posts: 195
I've been wanting to make a reservation reservation at the new Academia of Athens Autograph Collection Hotel that is opening soon. Up until last week, the hotel wasn't showing ANY availability...neither paid or award. Since this past weekend it is now showing availability for paid stays but it still has NOT loaded the award category and thus has not opened up any rooms for award availability. When I called the Titanium Elite desk today, the agent called the hotel and they said they would not be declaring their category until 3/5/19 and would only be accepting paid stays until then. I find this totally ridiculous since we all know why the hotel would do this....pick a category on 3/5 BUT then also block out virtually all summer as a PEAK award redemption period thus screwing people wanting to redeem points to pay higher award rates. The supervisor on the Titanium line can't seem to do anything about this based on what she told me.
I'm at the end of my rope with Marriott...how can they let hotels get away with this?
I'm at the end of my rope with Marriott...how can they let hotels get away with this?
#3
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Cheers.
#4
Join Date: Apr 2003
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When I called the Titanium Elite desk today, the agent called the hotel and they said they would not be declaring their category until 3/5/19 and would only be accepting paid stays until then. I find this totally ridiculous since we all know why the hotel would do this....pick a category on 3/5 BUT then also block out virtually all summer as a PEAK award redemption period thus screwing people wanting to redeem points to pay higher award rates. The supervisor on the Titanium line can't seem to do anything about this based on what she told me.
I'm at the end of my rope with Marriott...how can they let hotels get away with this?
I'm at the end of my rope with Marriott...how can they let hotels get away with this?
#5
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: CT/ Germany - Ich spreche deutsch
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You are reading way too much into this. First of all, hotels very often do not open on time. Why would they want to take an award booking and then find the hotel is not going to open by that day? This would not do you any favors. With a paid rate, they can make an agreement with another hotel and walk you and negotiate for them to accept the same rate you are paying. Not so simple for an award reservation. They could simply say, you are out of luck--find a new place. It is not as if this is the only hotel in Athens--and staying at a hotel when it just opens is also opening yourself up to a potentially poor experience. The staff will be figuring out how to use the system, things may not be fully ready with all the facilities, etc. Given that you seem already upset before you even get started, it may be best to just stay at a hotel that is already open and has things working smoothly.
#6
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You are wanting to stay at a hotel that is not yet open. So until they have actually opened their doors, your complaint is invalid. Many hotels are delayed by months and even years by various issues which come up. So give them a chance to actually open.
#7
Join Date: Apr 2013
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There are plenty of legitimate reasons to be upset with Marriott... I'm not sure a new property (not yet opened) that isn't accepting point reservations for a couple more weeks is one of them. I'm also not sure it is even Marriott's call...I suspect the property is still deciding. If what you said about peak pricing happened to be true then maybe I'd agree with you but since it isn't you should just wait the two weeks and book then...
#8
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Yep, this isn’t abnormal. As said, newly opening hotels often make agreements with nearby properties to accept bookings “at par” in the event of opening glitches, but that’s not really possible for redemptions. The new peak rates don’t come out on 5th March. There’s no grand conspiracy here and nothing to get twisted about, but hey, this is Flyertalk, so of course it’s a dastardly plot by crooked hotel/airlines we all so hate yet remain seethingly loyal to.
Let me add a few Gosh, now that feels like FT to me!
Let me add a few Gosh, now that feels like FT to me!
#9
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I guess the consensus is that it is ok for a hotel to sell revenue rooms and not open up award rooms then. I think we need to take the "a hotel can open late and it's easier to relocated revenue guests" out of the equation because it just does not apply 3 months after the opening date (which is in March). If the opening was to be delayed much further they should have updated it to another date by now.
Let's look at this from another perspective then...the hotel is currently selling the base room which is also the award room. With only 60 room in the property, I think it is safe to assume that they will not have a ton of award rooms on a given night. If they are allowed to sell rooms several weeks out before they declare their award category it stands to reason that they may sell some of the rooms which would be part of the award pool. I personally do not think this is ok but I guess others seem to think it is....that is until they are impacted by something like this.
Let's look at this from another perspective then...the hotel is currently selling the base room which is also the award room. With only 60 room in the property, I think it is safe to assume that they will not have a ton of award rooms on a given night. If they are allowed to sell rooms several weeks out before they declare their award category it stands to reason that they may sell some of the rooms which would be part of the award pool. I personally do not think this is ok but I guess others seem to think it is....that is until they are impacted by something like this.
#10
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I guess you didn’t read about the saga of the Playa Largo Autograph then! I booked for early April 2015. Slated to open in July 2014 it was postponed to December. I was safe till March when they suddenly cancelled my April booking putting their opening back till July 2015! That cost them dearly as I was a 7 night TP which they had to pay to upgrade to enable me to be walked!
#11
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I guess you didnt read about the saga of the Playa Largo Autograph then! I booked for early April 2015. Slated to open in July 2014 it was postponed to December. I was safe till March when they suddenly cancelled my April booking putting their opening back till July 2015! That cost them dearly as I was a 7 night TP which they had to pay to upgrade to enable me to be walked!
#12
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: CLT
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I've been wanting to make a reservation reservation at the new Academia of Athens Autograph Collection Hotel that is opening soon. Up until last week, the hotel wasn't showing ANY availability...neither paid or award. Since this past weekend it is now showing availability for paid stays but it still has NOT loaded the award category and thus has not opened up any rooms for award availability. When I called the Titanium Elite desk today, the agent called the hotel and they said they would not be declaring their category until 3/5/19 and would only be accepting paid stays until then. I find this totally ridiculous since we all know why the hotel would do this....pick a category on 3/5 BUT then also block out virtually all summer as a PEAK award redemption period thus screwing people wanting to redeem points to pay higher award rates. The supervisor on the Titanium line can't seem to do anything about this based on what she told me.
I'm at the end of my rope with Marriott...how can they let hotels get away with this?
I'm at the end of my rope with Marriott...how can they let hotels get away with this?
edit: although on the other hand if its supposed to open in a few weeks one would think they know how close they are to opening
Last edited by GoPhils; Feb 22, 2019 at 7:51 am
#13
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I guess you didn't actually read that post. His booking was for 9 months after the scheduled opening. You're saying it was unreasonable for him to expect his reservation to be good, while your booking three months after the "opening" isn't?
#14
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When the hotel hasn't actually opened yet, yes.
I guess you didn't actually read that post. His booking was for 9 months after the scheduled opening. You're saying it was unreasonable for him to expect his reservation to be good, while your booking three months after the "opening" isn't?
I guess you didn't actually read that post. His booking was for 9 months after the scheduled opening. You're saying it was unreasonable for him to expect his reservation to be good, while your booking three months after the "opening" isn't?