SPN Lifer

Hear, hear!

It is always highly amusing, the parade of horribles that some FlyerTalkers can conjure up to rationalize unilaterally surrendering run-of-the-mill earned benefits. SWAT teams! Incoming missles! Rapid-response urgent Covid-19 cleaning teams!

Carry on, remain calm, and leave at your usual 16:00 Platinum departure time.

Let the chips fall where they may. Beat Army, sir!

RedSun

As OP said, the police might come to escort you out of the hotel guest room during this pandemic. They are there to enforce the local ordinance from various levels of local governments and health offices. Hope OP can give us more details.

Yes, some lawsuits have been files. Like to know what kinds of outcomes people would expect....

cmd320

And as I said they’re welcome to do that. I’m not sure what local ordinance bans 4pm checkout but if that’s a thing in some part of the country then Marriott needs to have that noted at booking.

RedSun

OP clearly stated that police was involved with the late check-out or the sort. It is not usual. But take that into consideration. If someone wants to get involved, take your chance.

SPN Lifer

Having law enforcement called because a Platinum Elite checks out at the normal 16:00 time is extraordinarily unusual. It is literally one in a million, or one in ten million, or more.

When UA did that to a passenger it became worldwide news.

Yet those who easily cower in fear are free to leave as early as they need, to retain their composure. To each his or her own. We each have unique risk tolerance levels. It would be a very boring world if everyone were the same.

fliesdelta

I don’t cower in fear if the front desk tells me they can’t honor a late checkout. I’ll just get on with life, a few more hours in a hotel room aren’t worth that level of headache.

Plus getting LE involved might make that 4pm checkout take that much longer. What will you do then? Call a different LE agency?

clarkef

It seems to me that if a property cannot provide a published benefit it behooves them to disclose that fact at check-in thereby giving the guest an opportunity to conduct themselves accordingly. If at check-in the hotel says, sorry, we cannot honor the 4pm check out because of reason x, y, and z then I can make alternative arrangements if the 4pm check-out is important to me. It's also arrogantly presumptuous to state across the board that the late check-out is unimportant. What's not important to one person is critically important to another. Each person's circumstance is different. The most obvious one is that you have comorbidity and shouldn't be traipsing around in public for an extra two hours during a pandemic, particularly in an area where social distances and mask-wearing is not observed.

GVA

I'm surprised some people here think a late checkout is used only useful for watching TV.

For me it's the single most useful benefit with breakfast and I've basically used it either for working, taking a nap, keeping my belongings safe, taking a shower.

I'd also add that in the current COVID situation having your own room is a lot more hygienic and allows you to perform social distancing whereas if you're out before noon then it's 4 hours less of either.

I really don't get hotels refusing it either - they have excess rooms available right now, so just leave a room as it is until the following day and have it cleaned then. It's probably a lot safer for the cleaning staff to come in to a room a day later than the same day a person checks out.

Mr. Vker

I'm not sure if this link was provided,but Marriott has suspended all Loyalty Guarantees. This would included late checkouts as part of the Bonvoy program.

https://loyaltylobby.com/2020/03/31/...ty-guarantees/

cmd320

I agree and would take it a step farther and say that the property needs to be able to notify you at booking that published benefits will not be honored. By the time I'm at the hotel and checking in, it's too late.

I'm not sure I'll take some random CS representative's word that all loyalty guarantees are suspended. This should be a published policy directly on the Marriott website if it's true.

Intl359Widget

I have not encountered this in 20 stays where a hotel has tried to bow out of the Bonvoy program by saying that benefits have been suspended. In the rare cases it’s clearly understandable that they can’t provide breakfast due to supply chain issues but they are still offering other amenities such as points.

As for late check out, I haven’t been refused even at the full service hotels.

SPN Lifer

Since the original poster reported this highly odd occurrence over a week ago, there has not been a single reported instance of a Platinum Elite or higher Marriott Bonv°y member being prematurely ejected from a room in contravention of the 16:00 guarantee set forth in our Terms and Conditions.

That is to be expected, despite those FlyerTalkers who love to speculate about, discuss, rationalize, and defend almost non-existent violations by errant Marriott hotels.

As pointed out upthread, the prudent preparation to avoid being "struck by lightning" is to make it a habit and always use that door latch. Every single time. Bonv°y!

kklems

The property would have got more goodwill from the customer by extending the late checkout for the additional 2 hours. They offered a 2pm checkout. Why not just honor the last 2 hours and post a note on the website and check in going forward that due to the Covid situation they are no longer honoring late elite checkouts after x pm. I wonder if it was just a cost saving move. Ie last housekeeper leaves for the day at 3pm and there was no other work for her to do until the 4pm checkout due to the low occupancy. Staffing may be minimal for the next day as well so they wouldn't have time to clean the OP room. I imagine during these times they only schedule housekeepers based on the room occupancy and that might be too many rooms for one person to clean or require calling in another person.

ItsAnAdventure

I did not expect this discussion to blow up the way it did. Wow.

Quick update, I called today to follow up on my case. The original case notes said that the property had spoken with me and there were no further details on the case.

I got transferred to someone in Customer Care who the agent I first spoke with identified as a supervisor and they were phenomenal. The agent refunded the points used for the stay in full, and “forwarded the case on to corporate.”

Now that the matter is resolved, the hotel in question was the Courtyard in Cupertino, CA. I’m pasting the letter they sent me about the denial:

“Thank you for choosing us as your home away from home while in the Cupertino area. As discussed on the phone, we are not able to honor a 4 PM late checkout due to COVID-19. We have staffing on that does full deep cleaning of the rooms to help prevent the spreading of COVID-19 to ensure guest safety as well as that of our team.

Thank you and have a great day!!!“

Also, I did *not* have LE involved. On the really long late check out thread, someone else did, I believe, and that’s what I was referring to.

MSPeconomist

Absolutely.

If the hotel won't honor all (elite) benefits for those who are entitled to them, this MUST be clearly and prominently disclosed at or before the time of reservation and anyone wishing to cancel a nonrefundable reservation at that point should be given some grace period (perhaps a couple days) before the booking cannot be cancelled without penalty if the lack of elite benefits is not made clear in the beginning of the reservation process. Since e elite benefits require that the reservation by made directly with the hotel, through Marriott/Bonvoy or through AmEx PTS/CTS (for FHR properties), Virtuoso, etc., this should be easy for Bonvoy to implement as OLTAs, discount consolidators, tour operators, etc. aren't affected.

If the hotel doesn't intend to honor the benefits I have *earned*, I must be told in time to make other plans, including staying at a comparable competitor at a similar rate or even changing my destination if leisure travel is involved.