I'm fairly new to the Bonvoy program and not familiar with all of the benefits. I was at the Renaissance in Beijing a few days ago and at check-in, I was given a list of things that I'm entitled to including 1000 Bonvoy points.

Fast forward to today and I just checked into the Renaissance in Shanghai. I got the late check-out and one category room upgrade. The rep confirmed lounge access and free breakfast. It didn't occurred to me that I'm missing a welcome gift until I entered my room. So now what? Am I entitled to some form of compensation? Should I go back to the front desk and ask? Is the onus on me to ask or it's the rep's responsibility to offer me something at check-in?

If they didn't offer you either 1000 points or a F&B amenity, you are technically entitled to $100. Good luck getting that from a Chinese property. (Also, it's not clear to me what you mean by "breakfast" - that should be in the lounge. If they're giving you a restaurant breakfast, that's above and beyond and I personally wouldn't complain about the forgotten amenity.)

Also, what's with "one category upgrade"? That's not within the rules. It's best available room at check-in, including suites.

Why do you say good luck? They're going to find every possible loophole to avoid paying me? It's 12:34 AM in Shanghai. Not sure what to do right now. Go downstairs and demand something?

The rep told me in Chinese, and I'm pretty sure I heard her clearly that I can eat at the lounge or the restaurant on the 2nd floor.

I booked the cheapest room for the night. She said I'll get the next level up. I forgot the name of the room. It's on Marriott's website. No other rooms are available as they're all booked up.

So I went downstairs to discuss this with a rep since the original one went home for the night. [MENTION=659374]Kacee[/MENTION] is probably right. They're not going to make this easy for me. After spending 5 min discussing this with a rep, it got escalated to the manager. He was very polite and told me he can give me the gift now. I said it's pointless now cuz it's like 1:30 AM and I'm getting ready to sleep. Then he asked me if I'm sure that the rep didn't offered me a gift. I was like, why would I lie and how many people would say no to a gift? Doesn't make any sense. He asked me if 100 RMB would suffice as the last offer and I said no. He said he'll pass my complaint to the morning crew as they may be in a better position to assist me when I check out. This is starting to feel like the best rate guarantee. What's the point of having rules and guarantees if the hotels can pick which ones to observe? Totally disappointed with this hotel. Didn't expect this level of BS from them.

I would not use the argument of �why would I lie� in this situation. 100rmb is probably as good as you are going to get and I personally would have just taken it. My take on this is that if the rep doesn�t offer at check in, I would ask and most of the time they get embarrassed and offer something in addition which seems like a win win to me but I get a lot of people like to hold the hotel to it. I don�t like the feeling of �i know you are suppose to offer and you forgot and I�m not going to remind you so I can claim the compensation.� Nothing wrong with that but not my thing.

100 RMB is like US$14. Again, no point of having a guarantee if BS like this is happening.

I wasn't planning to do this. When I checked in at about 11:30 PM, I was already pretty tired. It didn't ocurred to me something was wrong until I got to my room. It's not my responsibility to make sure I know everything right? That's the rep's job. Is it not?

If you did OLCI, it automatically defaults to points as your welcome gift.

There are quite a few bonvOY hotels that do some pretty sneaky, underhanded, and egregious things to deny elite guests entitlements. This just doesn't sound like one of them. When they fail to offer me an amenity, I ask for it. Ask for the 1000 points. If they then deny you... game on!

If the hotel is all booked up, I don't know where that suite is going to come from.

I was going to say this.

Also often when I check in, the front desk will say something like "thank you for being a platinum member, we'll give you 1000/500 points" saying it in a declarative way, or something like "we'll give you 1000 welcome points if that's alright," rather than giving me a set of options to select from. (Which might be easily missed as the Welcome Gift offer for someone less familiar with the options). Usually that's fine and IMO I consider the welcome gift fulfilled in that kind of interaction, but once in a while at the non-full service properties I'll interrupt and ask for the F&B voucher instead if it's not explicitly offered.

The only time I ever claimed the $100 was following a stay at JW Mall of America. I also arrived very late at night and was offered nothing (no upgrade, either). No 1000 points posted. I wrote in, and received a $100 credit back to my card.

While it does seem a little petty to chase the $100, I'm sure Marriott's intent in offering it is to motivate properties to follow the rules. Good chance all FDAs at this particular Ren are going to receive some refresher training thanks to OP.

Compensation for not getting 2 apples and a cookie or two left on your coffee table?

All the more reason the property should just follow the rules so this won't be an issue.

Hi lsquare! I saw your post and would like to follow up on this for you. Please private message or email us at [email protected] with your full name, reservation confirmation number, and contact information, and we'll contact the hotel's management about your arrival gift.


Thanks,

Robert V.

Social Media Liaison

Since everyone is being polite, I will be the evils advocate and just say this:

Not taking the 100 RMB compensation and instead wanting $100 USD IS PETTY.

Yes rules are rules blah... but in reality you lost nothing yet. The hotel can still give you 1000 points or a welcome gift of 1 apple and 1 banana.

AND the hotel already offered to let you eat at their lounge or restaurant. This is above and beyond Marriott rules. They only had to offer you lounge access. The breakfast at restaurant is technically one option as welcome amenity, but hey they gave it to you for free. I suggest you not to eat at the hotel restaurant if you are such sticker for rules.

Shrugs

I totally agree, dude but in reality you lost nothing yet. The hotel can still give you 1000 points or a welcome gift.