milemonkey

As a Bonvoy Gold I know I receive 12.5 points when staying at a Marriott hotel. However, I'm not exactly sure what charges earn points. Is it just the base room charges and items charged to my room? Do I earn points on taxes, resort fees, tips?

Does anybody have a breakdown of what charges actually earn points? My statements only show totals so its difficult to decipher.

Radiation Station

I believe it�s your room rate, minus taxes, plus any eligible expense charge to your room. For example, on my recent stay at W Amsterdam, I received points for the room rate, minus taxes, and the cocktails and Duchess restaurant meal I charged to the room. Well, I had to chase them because they accidentally gave me half the points but I calculated what it should have been and Bonvoy kindly gave me the correct points within 36 hours of asking. I am Gold, so I received 12.5 points per USD on the room and eligible food and beverage charges.

You should be able to ask for an itemised bill, so you can calculate the correct points and compare with your final tally.

Kacee

Marriott is super tight on what earns. No to resort fees, no to taxes. Dining if operated by hotel is supposed to earn, but often does not. Sometimes spa will earn, that depends on region and property. Anything else (parking, car service, etc.) is typically a "no."

MSPeconomist

Laundry and dry cleaning usually don't earn points either.

Minibar items should earn points, but it's unclear if someone buys something from a market area near the front desk. Purchases at most shops in the hotel shouldn't earn points, but if you buy something at the spa, if should earn points if spa services do.

The SPG rule was that restaurant meals that were charged to your room would earn points, but this is no longer true under Bonvoy, even in legacy Starwood properties.

Asking front desk agents/supervisors/managers does not result in (correct) information.

Zorak

As a starting point, the Bonvoy T&C:

https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/terms/default.mi#earn

but there are a lot of paragraphs/clauses and vague language that there's still a lot of details that could vary from one location to another.

littlevoices

I was pretty sure restaurant meals counted, and never had any problems, e.g. at the The Westin Verasa Napa my meal at La Toque was multiples of my night rate and posted without problems. I realise at some of the cheaper brands that isn't the case, but full service should be counted, except if for some reason the restaurant is operated by a third party, which is fairly rare. SPG used to not count transportation costs (I found that out once by mistake and was fairly annoyed), whereas Marriott (and as far as I am aware Bonvoy) does count such costs if charged to the room bill. Heck, at the moment in Asia you can earn Marriott points for eating in a Marriott hotel (including self pick-up) as long as you spend more than USD10.

My general view is that if it goes on your bill and it isn't going to a government or state then you should be earning. Then again, I always presumed resort fees earned points, can anyone find me a rationale why they wouldn't? This is from the Marriott website:
I do remember some places it mentioned you can't earn points on alcohol due to state law, so that may be one caveat that is fairly US specific.

Kacee

They're supposed to, but I've had lots of problems getting restaurant spend to credit.

That's not correct. Parking is specifically excluded under the T&C, and Lurkers have confirmed that car service is also excluded. I can confirm that based on personal experience, with only one exception (Essex House,).

mahasamatman

That'll have to wait until someone can come up with a legitimate rationale why these deception fees even exist. Eventually, hotels will have room rates of zero and everything will be charged as a deception fee so you won't earn anything, and award rooms will cost as much as regular reservations.

MSPeconomist

I've had problems premerger with dinner in the Westin Providence (Rhode Island) not earning points and post merger at the Westin Cincinnati. OTOH, I've routinely earned points in other Bonvoy hotels where I'm sure that the restaurant has independent tenant status. I can't think of examples at the moment, but I would generally assume that Michelin starred restaurants are independently operated, while restaurants in JWs have strict brand standards, with Marriott even putting restrictions on their wine lists even if the required type of wine doesn't sell.

Resort fees are just scam charges that reduce the "price" shown when making a reservation while still being mandatory money the hotel collects. It costs the hotel less if it can avoid paying points on resort and destination fees. One could argue that if the hotel wanted to give points on this revenue, it would roll the "cost" of providing various facilities into room rates.

littlevoices

I should have made it clear I was referring to airport car pick-ups (limousine services would be the term in the US), I rarely drive on vacation hence this is more important to me. But happy you've clarified. I earn plenty of points on car services in Asia, so perhaps it is loosely enforced if you think I shouldn't earn points.

LAX

Taking a page out of the airlines' play book.

LAX

Kacee

None of the places I've stayed in Thailand give points for car service, including SGS and Athenee.

Eujeanie

Based on this thread I've got a question: If I'm staying at a CY, and eat at the Bistro, and can't get points if I charge the meal to the room, can I pay for it separately? This would work out better since my Chase Marriott cc is offering 10x points at restaurants, but only 6X at the hotel, but does the Bistro count as a "restaurant"? (I've never walked in off the street and eaten at one, always when staying when there was nothing else around).

FQ415

1. Is the bistro belongs to hotel? Or managed by third party? If belongs to hotel, most likely you can earn points if you charge to your room.
2. You can still earn points if u pay the bill separately, you just need to provide your membership number upon payment.
3. Monitor is the points being credited. I got a lot missing points when I dine or take away from Marriott's restaurants and able to claim back after.

Nash_Andrew

Dealing with this issue with a property from a stay last weekend as we speak. Taxes and resort fees are excluded from earning points, but F&B spend at outlets owned by the hotel should absolutely earn points. In some cases it appears that alcohol can't earn but I haven't been able to get a hard and fast answer on that particular question. That said, Bonvoy customer service line was very clear that F&B spend at hotel-owned outlets billed to your room should absolutely earn. If it doesn't, call the customer service number and they will address it and give you a case number. My opinion is that hotels sometimes "unintentionally" or "accidentally" don't credit those points unless you follow up, since most folks don't know better, as a way to save money.