Surely there are far cheaper ways of picking up an extra 7 elite nights than burning a Category 1-4 travel certificate on a mattress run.

About the only way it works is if you never intended to EVER stay at a Cat. 4 hotel, and just booked a travel package to get some miles and 7 elite nights eventually. But you could have also spent 240k points on 100k miles and then spent the remaining 90k points as you wish.

Although I understand that having separate reservations for a consecutive night stay is a problem for some, it isn't something that I have ever considered an issue. My wife and I both have Marriott personal and business cards and we frequently use the award nights for have back-to-back reservations. I simply ask the front desk to keep us in the same room when checking in. The only inconvenience is getting the keys reactivated when a room goes from one reservation to another.

On the positive side, we sometimes have to cut a day or two off a reservation and it is easier to cancel a reservation that hasn't stared than to cut one short after arrival.

Also, I believe it is more likely that I will receive and upgrade upfront on a shorter reservation than an extended one. On several occasions, I have been upgraded at the beginning of a reservation and allowed to keep the same room for later ones. Although, I have done this with a single reservation, it is simplier if the reservations are separate. Since the possibility of moving during a stay isn't ideal, this may not be something that others would appreciate

actually, marriott already tried this a long time ago pre-pandemic. not sure what happened to the pilot program, but maybe marriott will bring it back. would be interesting.

http://www.cntraveler.com/stories/20...t-goes-virtual

correct. thank you for looking up the T&Cs. award nights alone would not count. but mixed cash + awards/points would count.

https://frequentmiler.com/official-w...-double-credit

yes. youre totally right. i would rather not burn the TP on a mattress run, but i have multiple that will expire 08/01. no way im going to staycation at marriott for several months under current restricted travel. that would be a terrible waste. so im really hoping marriott extends all TPs. thats why booking TP 7 night + 1 paid could be useful w/ 16 EQN under the promo. but i cant seem to find an agent to allow this.

back in the day, i was playing for the potentially huge arbitrage during pre-merger when there was speculation that marriott may convert all TPs into points, but that didnt happen. such a shame.

https://frequentmiler.com/potential-...-before-august

appreciate the comment. my inquiry was specifically related to qualifying for the current marriott promo that awards double EQN for stays with at least 1 paid night. thats why i wanted to book an 8 night stay w/ TP. consecutive separate bookings at the same property linked to the same room would not work. but maybe thats YMMV.

Does anyone know if the travel packages are book by or stay by their expiry date?

Stay by.

If only!

I suspect as we head into Summer, queries and concerns re. an extension for these TP’s will continue.

Just called customer service to book a stay with a 7-night cat-4 certificate (QP83, converted from legacy, extended/reissued multiple times). The agent did not seem to know how and escalated to a supervisor, and I let him complete the booking.

The certificate was gone from my "Activity" page on Marriott website, and I was assured that the certificate has been attached.

However, I am a little skeptical about it since I am still seeing points shown with the reservation and no indication of "certificate has been attached". My question is
1) Is there a delay to see the update on the website?
2) What's the evidence that I can check online to show the booking indeed has a certificate attached?

TIA

You just can't see it.

Marriott still has a broken system. The agent can see the certificate attached, but you can't see it. The reservation may still show not paid with points. But if the agent says the TP is attached, then it is attached.

RedSun is correct. My certificate is apparently attached and my booking shows the same status as yours. I'm hoping we will all be okay :eek:

Thanks for confirming!

I found previous posts worrying about the same issue back in 2019. I also received the multiple email confirmation regarding this booking. The first confirmation simply looks like a pure points advance booking, while the last one does mention the following (you have to click "View entire message" if viewing in Gmail in order to reveal the section of "Summary of Points")

Anyway, I think I am confident enough to keep this booking with finger crossed.

That said, it's still not ideal if something unexpected happens. Fortunately in my case I don't have sufficient points as of right now to complete this booking if it's a point advance. Worst case should be that the booking gets cancelled 15 days prior to check in.

Managed to attach a CAT6 cert to a reservation after 3 calls!

Why was it so complicated?

1st Cert wasn’t attached properly.

2nd agent didn’t know anything about travel certs

3rd knew exactly what to do. Done smoothly

What number used to call on making this reservation? Is there any magic words to say to the phone agent in order to get the "right" person in case the first rep seems totally confused?

If they’ve never heard of a Travel Package, that’s a bad start! I’ve found the US agents more competent with these types of bookings over their European Counterparts.