SoCal Travel

They had given a temp credit when I first opened the dispute. The credit is now on my statement and the dispute center has it marked closed and says "As a result of our investigation, we have credited your account. This adjustment can be found on an upcoming statement." I believe the difference with mine and some of the others is this was a refundable deposit. Continue to be shocked I had to go through all this just to get my refundable deposit back. Apparently these Marriott hotels are owned by Ledra Hotels in Greece...I would be very careful booking with them.

LondonElite

Good result.

ckendall

The hotel suddenly realized that there was a problem with the original attempt to refund and they are trying again. Of course neither the alleged temporary Amex nor the refund show on the Amex app. Fantastic!

uscjeff

Ugh I am having a similar issue to some outlined here. Booked the Library Koh Samui late last summer using Citi Prestige 4th Night Free before they restricted that feature (have to book through OTA now - no elite benefits, capped, etc.) for a stay in 3 weeks. Saw the Marriott statement regarding Covid (obviously I am cancelling my trip) and of course in the fine print Design Hotels (which this is) are excluded. I have emailed the hotel who says they will "postpone" but now have gone dark on me. As this was not a cheap booking I really would like to be made whole here.

Any advice? I think best option may be to call Titanium desk and seek their help since hotel has gone dark. It may be too late to dispute charge on my Citi card since it was booked ~10 months ago

calvinoeh

Glad I found this thread. I think we are looking at the same Ritz in Asia that has really good prepaid rates. Willing to pay it if I can still cancel up to a day of actual date due to Covid but if the terms is that i have to cancel by June 2020... it's a no go..

ckendall

Things have gotten even weirder. After opening a dispute with Amex, I got an email from the hotel de berri claiming they needed my cc number to credit the refund (there had allegedly been a problem getting the money to me which they apparently forgot about until the dispute was opened). I give the cc number and nothing happens. Then all of a sudden a preauthorization charge from the hotel appears on my Amex for almost $10,000 (ten thousand dollars!). I get on the phone with Amex and they tell me, well it's just a preauthorization and so doesn't really turn into anything until it turns into a charge, but they will "watch" it. I email the hotel and they ask for my phone number. A few hours later I get a call saying that they have initiated the refund (with their bank) but to refund the money they had to open a new entry into their system, and that I should not worry about the preauthorization and all would be cleared up soon. So I am still waiting for a refund and not quite certain whether there is something really strange going on or whether the hotel is run by a bunch of incompetents.

Timeline: request to cancel (and approval) April 23
Apology for the delay: June 7
8700 Euro pre-authorization June 17

ckendall

Finally things worked out here and my refund arrived in my Amex account. Thanks to the folks at Hotel de Berri but this was an odd way to get a refund.

evergrn

I got an email confirmation from Marriott customer service that the Marriott phone rep above was incorrect and that I am indeed able to cancel such booking up until 24hs prior to arrival.

mccorry

Has anyone any recent experiences of dealing with Marriott hotels and cancelling non-refundable bookings? I have a prepaid/non-refundable booking made some time ago with the RC in Bali. Bali has announced that they are to remain closed to international visitors until the end of the year--now my booking is very close to the end of the year so I'm inclined to let it ride for the moment.

However, I reached out to the hotel to see if they had any clarity on dates and they indicated that if Bali is closed when I'm due to stay they would allow me to rebook for up to 6 months. Obviously, I would contest that offer and request a full refund based on my understanding of the policy. I was surprised that an RC would respond as such.

Just curious to hear what the current lie of the land is from Marriott from anyone else...

SoCal Travel

Well, a negative change of events for my issue with Domes of Elounda. AMEX had sent me an email saying they had positively resolved my dispute...then reversed their decision 30 days later. I re-disputed and it they once again turned me down citing Greek Law.

I guess I am mostly disappointed in Marriott how they never stepped up during this whole fiasco. They have the energy to go beg the financial markets and congress for money, but then won't step up and help an elite customer get a refund (keep in mind, my reservation was fully cancellable and refundable). So now I have given this hotel chain an 18 month interest free loan...and who know if I ever see it again. Just know that booking direct with Marriott does not mean Marriott will stand behind you. You are booking with some unknown hotel company. Probably not an issue in the US, but be aware overseas...they will not stand behind you. They are really not much more than a poor mans Kayak.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for getting me to book direct in the future. From now on I will only book with AMEX or an OTA from which I got refunds on every reservation I had. No reason for me to carry a Bonvoy card either. I'll probably stay at a Marriott again since they are so big I will have to, but it certainly won't be my top choice.

SPN Lifer

Outrageous treatment by AmEx!
The way AmEx treated you, I would never use them again!

"Greek law." What about domestic U.S. law?

If it were me, I would stop using AmEx, transfer any remaining reward points from that account, and refuse to pay AmEx the amount withheld by the Domes of Elounda for services not provided. And if AmEx reported a charge-off on my credit report, I would dispute it with all three reporting agencies.

AmEx seem at least as much to blame here for this gross violation of consumer rights.

Good riddance AmEx!

SoCal Travel

I should clarify...while AMEX did not support me on the credit card side...very disappointing and I do plan on canceling my card, they were good on the travel side. We booked 9 hotels on our trip, all cancellable and refundable. 3 in Italy, 6 in Greece. We had deposits at 6 of the 9 hotels. 5 of the 6 returned our deposits promptly, including four that we had booked through AMEX travel. They were very helpful in obtaining all refunds. I had three reservations with Marriott in Greece, the Domes of Elounda was the only one to withhold the deposit.

The major piece is that I am in the right. Cancellable and refundable deposit being held by the hotel despite cancelling within the specified time frame. Booked by US citizen with US company on a US website with a US credit card...being held up by Greek Law...it's just wrong.

Overall a pretty lousy experience. I just can't get over what a lousy decision even if I was in the wrong (I'm not) it was for Marriott. Piss off an elite customer who stays 15-20 nights a year and spends 40k on the credit card in normal times. Was the 18 months of interest on my $5,300 worth it? My guess is I'll cut stays to 3-5 nights (can't completely avoid them) and cancel my card. Seems dumb. Their CEO is too busy begging for money from Wall St and congress to run his business I guess.

LondonElite

I'm not trying to rub it in, but I think you'll find that, ultimately, your contract was with a Greek hotel and a contract that was subject to the local laws. I've tried to replicate a booking to check, but I can't. I do agree it sucks, though.

Kacee

The credit card T&Cs trump that.

LondonElite

IANAL but I'm not sure how credit card T&Cs override a national law. If Amex's policies are to refund you whatever the case, then that's one thing, but Amex can't force a counterparty to break a law.