Gigantor

Platinum Member:

In September 2019, I made an advanced purchase reservation for an upcoming hotel stay in January 2020. I saw this morning that the rate had dropped since September and I called Marriott Reservations this morning to inquire if I was eligible to take advantage of the new rate. I had informed the reservations agent that it was a Member Advanced Purchase Rate and had confirmed that my credit card had been already charged for the room in September 2019. The agent told me that he would be able to cancel the old reservation and issue a new reservation at the new rate. He also said that my paid charge would be refunded. I agreed to this offer. He went ahead and cancelled the existing reservation and created a new reservation.
He then told me that he needed to speak with his supervisor in order to submit the refund. He asked me to hold. Some 25 minutes later, he never came back to the call.

I called back and spoke to a supervisor who told me that advanced purchase reservations cannot be changed, regardless of any rate change. I explained to her what had happened and she told me that I would be charged for the cancellation and the new booking.

I have called back again and this time a case has been opened and will be fully investigated.
I have received a case number and expect to receive a status within the next 24 hours.

I expect a resolution to this mess.

Jon Maiman

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Give Marriott some time to straighten it out and do the right thing. Since your stay isn't until January you do have some time. Might also want to PM the lurkers so they are aware of your issue. If they don't come through, then it is probably appropriate to take it up with your credit card company (e.g. dispute it as basically a "duplicate charge" and succinctly explain what happened on the MR call). Hopefully it won't come to that and at a minimum Marriott will credit back the charge for the reservation the call center just made for you. E.g. you wind up paying the original advance purchase rate you booked the room at.

--Jon

P.S. For the record, I am not a fan of disputing credit card charges as a primary way of resolving disputes with a vendor. In fact I have only done it for fraud or very, very rarely for a duplicate charge (only had that happen once or twice over the years). E.g, you should always work with the vendor until there is no other realistic recourse before disputing a charge. My two cents... YMMV....

Gigantor

I completely agree with you. Since the merger, the quality and knowledge of the reservation agents have dropped dramatically. It is like I am dealing with a completely different company.

I am looking for a correct solution.

craigthemif

Sorry for the lack of sympathy, but there's a really incredibly simple solution to your problem... don't book prepaid rates so far in advance!

Then you can cancel and re-book when the rates almost inevitably go down before your arrival.

There is no rational universe where you can book a non-refundable, inflexible rate (at a discount that reflects the inflexibility) but then expect to receive a refund if the rate goes down later.

Gigantor

I did not expect anything! I called to inquire if it was possible and the reservations agent provided incorrect information and took incorrect action.

margarita girl

This situation has come up many times on FT (prepaid rate that goes down in price). The advice is always the same. Reservations can’t do anything. You need to call hotel direct to see if they can help. These are the options:
1) adjust the price
2) offer a credit for the difference
3) do nothing

clublounger

All of my prepaid reservations DO have a cancellation policy of .....until midnight the day after booking the reservation.

I don't know why a supervisor wouldn't know that.

Reinstating a cancelled reservation should be pretty standard stuff.

Regarding attempting to get a lower rate when one has prepaid in advance, I don't understand even the phone call to inquire about or request it.

craigthemif

And I suppose you'll find out whether a massive corporate behemoth cares about their employees providing incorrect advice, having trained them themselves...

Newman

What is it about the (hyphenated) word "non-refundable" that is unclear.
You wanna play the game, you should play by the rules.
As one of the posters said earlier. the simple solution is not to book prepaid rates. This is one of the reasons I never do it, even when the prepaid rate is really tempting, which I suspect may have been the case with you.
Caveat Emptor.

Newman

Often1

Do nothing. You have spoken with Marriott, been advised that you will be contacted within 24 hours to discuss a reservation which is not until January. Wait and see what happens.

While the agent gave incorrect advice, you also called and asked a question which was clearly answered in the terms of your booking. Thus, be pleased if Marriott reinstates your original reservation at the original rate, ecstatic if the lower rate is honored, and chalk it up if you are SOL.

Oxon Flyer

Folks, just a a reminder that the topic of the thread is “Marriott Reservations employee agreed to waive the cancellation penalty, then didn’t”, and not “Finger-wagging lectures on the wisdom of not booking pre-paid rates”. @:-)

Horace

If I buy a nonrefundable airline ticket from American Airlines for $900, and the price later drops to $400, I can call American and get $300 credit voucher ($500 fare reduction minus $200 change fee) toward another ticket.

Last year, on a non-refundable international American Airlines ticket, I received a voucher for hundreds of dollars, and there wasn't even a change fee because of the fare rules for that particular route and fare. It was pre-paid. It was non-refundable. But the fine print in the fare rules allowed vouchers to be issued.

Sure, American is an airline company, not a hotel company, but the situations are similar.

OP simply called Marriott to find out what Marriott might do for customers in such a situation. The Marriott agent, instead of answering that Marriott's rules for Advance Purchase rates do not allow any flexibility whatsoever, provided misinformation and messed things up.

It's good advice to avoid Marriott's Advance Purchase rates. The savings over flexible rates tend to be small. But I don't understand the need to declare a lack of sympathy and to tell the OP that such advice is a "simple solution" to the OP's current situation. It's not. It's only advice for the future.

stant

i cant agree with this.
I save probably thousands a year using prepaid rates, and in RARE situations where I do have to cancel and or change travel plans, marriott and spg has always let me. but these cases are things like hurricanes, accidentally booking auckland instead of oakland, that sort of thing.

But one word to the wise: when using the web site you will find three rate categories at the top of the list of rooms available: regular rates, members rates, and packages. always check the packages. sometimes you can fins a special package rate that is LESS (or at least on par with) than the prepaid rate, but is fully flexible and can be canceled with no penalty.

margarita girl

If I were in OP's shoes, I would certainly give it a try. Unfortunately, he used the wrong channel by contacting Marriott reservations instead of the hotel. You'd be amazed at what I've managed to get away with by asking nicely. The worst they can say is no, and they might actually say yes.

TerryK

Trouble with Marriott IT is that even cancelled flexible reservations can come back to haunt you.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...rrible-cs.html