freed0m

MePlatPremier

If the hotel had put OP as a no-show or late cancellation, a cash penalty fee would have been charged and OP would have gotten points back, as everyone now knows this is Marriott’s policy for award stays late cancellations. I suspect there was a misunderstanding between OP and hotel about what “cancelling without penalty” means—for the hotel it meant not cancelling the reservation in the system and keeping the points (i.e. being reimbursed by Marriott for the stay) without charging OP for a late cancellation penalty; for OP it meant cancelling without a penalty fee and also getting the points back.

Diamondback

I've been in this situation a few times - where I need to cancel an award res within cancellation penalty period. These have usually been due to some adverse situation during travel where I need to make last-minute changes to plans. Each time I've called the Marriott res line and explained the situation. They've put me on hold and called the property to explain my issue and request to cancel without penalty. And, each time they've came back with the property agreeing to allow me to cancel and the res agent gets me a cancellation number immediately.

I have been also been in a similar situation where I book within the 24/48 hour cancellation period. A few times within minutes or maybe an hour or so, I decide I don't want the res but I've stuck with it as I don't want the hassle. It would be nice if there was a policy that allowed for cancel if you decide within a short window that you don't want the res. I've wondered what would happen if I cancel and they subsequently charge my card a penalty if the Chase MR card would allow me to charge-back.

freed0m

ksucats

27 hours later, still no return call from the hotel manager. I will give him another day or two before I call back. This is obviously small compared to the issue on the other thread about Aspen St. Regis, but it really irks me. I wiped out pretty much all of my points for this stay, so if I don't get them back I am very likely to cancel my Marriott credit card before it charges the annual fee in May and just stick with Hilton/IHG. I am partly to blame for not getting a cancellation number, but I trusted the person on the phone and at the time was more concerned with my car and getting it back home. Like I said before, if the person had told me I would lose my points, then I had time and would have borrowed a car and went on the trip.

MSPeconomist

I'm starting to think that this is a "be careful what you wish for" situation. Starriott could return the points and charge the OP rack rate for the night.

It would be interesting to check whether the stay posts with a night credit.

GrayAnderson

The issue here is that you have a verbal agreement with an employee who seems to have had implied authority (let's face it, if a hotel employee tells me they can do X and X does not seem unreasonable, I tend to believe them) to abrogate (cancel) your booking. Nothing there seems untoward. So I'd say that following up with the hotel is your best bet...there's no sign of any bad faith, etc. here.

ksucats

You see it the way I see it. I contacted the hotel and asked for the manager on Monday morning. They put me to his voicemail. I left a brief message about what happened and asked for a call back. Here we are 4 days later and no call.

yjc281

From my experience it is usually much easier to reach a hotel manager while you are still onsite than phone calls.
It is always easier to solve an issue on the spot.... I had a billing issue with a Marriott in the Dallas area which was a reward stay but they billed my credit card for dinner by another guest who checked into the same room afterwards. It took a whole month and many phone calls to get it resolved. It was outrageous because my balance was $0 when I checked out but they charged me on an e-mail receipt one day later----with a "dinner" on the day of check-out.... Good luck..and make sure you get a confirmation e-mail next time if you were to cancel a reservation...

HNLbasedFlyer

That isn't exactly surprising to me - I suspect as soon as the message was being listened the delete button was immediately hit -

ksucats

I imagine that to be true. The part that makes me the most upset is if the person I talked to told me that they couldn't cancel without penalty because it was past the deadline, I would have borrowed a car and been there later that night. I will try calling one more time and if no call back will reach out to Marriott one more time. I have a few weeks before my annual fee is charged, so if this isn't resolved to my satisfaction by then, I will cancel the card and just focus on IHG and HIlton properties.

MarkCron

If I was you I would call back until I actually get the manager on the line (no more messages). Waiting for manager to call you back won't work, and speaking to the manager is your best bet.

MSPeconomist

ksucats

I just tried to do that. The manager I asked for wasn't in today. They wouldn't let me talk to the one on duty, but did take my name and number. If he doesn't call me back today, I will start calling daily until they call back or let me talk to somebody.

ksucats

The manager who I left a voicemail for on Monday called me back today. Was very apologetic for not calling me back sooner. He said he had been on hold with corporate trying to get my points returned and got disconnected. He said he would try again, but it may have to wait until Monday when corporate is fully staffed.