Can Points be Negotiated?
 

Hi All,

I have negotiated room rates for my rooms many times. But, do any of the properties have the right to negotiate points for nights or is that just set by Bonvoy and the hotel has no say?

Thanks

Points can be negotiated. But it won't happen unless it is in a large scale.

Would like to hear your experience

In my case I met with a UK marriott hotel salesperson who was trying to increase rooms sold on Sunday and Thursday nights (pre-Covid, they were often sold out the rest of the week).
We were typically a team of 4-5 people staying Monday to Friday for a 20 week project if I remember correctly (total of way over 200 nights agreed).
I clearly told them that extra points would make us stay more as we had other options than their hotel and a further discount wouldn't impact our behaviour.
We got an agreed rate including breakfast, and an extra 3000 poins for every week that included a Sunday or Thursday night.

I may be mistaken, but I think the OP could be asking about negotiating (downwards, presumably) the number of points needed for an award night.

Clarification welcomed. :)

I might be Dead Wrong,but I took the OPs question to mean if the website says a night is 17500 pts can a hotel lower the amount. rather then the amount of pts that will be earned.

OP I dont think a hotel can lower the amount of points that MR says is needed, I guess they can indirectly by crediting a person back some pts after the stay for any # of reasons, personally I never did or tried this. Bear in mind a hotel is getting next to nothing as payment and when they need to credit points to a guest it doesnt come cheaply = I dont see why any hotel would be willing to lower an award stay. They do have alot of discretion when it comes to a Rev Stay

AFAIU - you can negotiate some benefits if you host a major meeting or book a block of rooms. In the scale is large, you may be able to negotiate some perks.

However - for 1 single room? No way.

Ids disagree with the no way for 1 room, if a person needs 1 room for say 1 month or longer Im sure a Hotel will be willing to work with that person

I guess the question can be interpreted both ways, but I think the answer's the same.

I've negotiated 50% point bonuses for project teams of 10-15 people staying for months at a time.

I'm sure a property could provide an award room at a lower points redemption rate. It may require you booking it at the regular (20,000, for example) rate from Marriott and then they'd credit you 2,500 or 5,000 back. But it would have to be associated with spend similar to the above, and it seems like an odd request. I can't imagine telling my project team that instead of additional points for everyone I negotiated cheaper award stays for myself. Or even for the team - it would require wanting to redeem an award at a location where you've stayed for an extended period.

negotiating points to redeem a night is weird?

typically hotels get a small $ from corporate (enough to cover housekeeping) , unless occupancy is above a certain percentage (95%?)
points go straight to corporate



don't think hotels will have much leeway in changing the redemption rate, other than offering free upgrades/benefits at the same rate

I have never negotiated the redemption rate down, but I have on a couple of occasions gotten a hotel to give me a "promotion"for staying a lot of weeks. My best deal was 5K for stays of 1-3 nights and 10K for stays of 4 nights or more at a Residence Inn, which helped negate the measly 5 pts/$ earning rate. I think I ran with that deal for almost 6-7 months before the individual left and the next person in her place refused to honor the agreement.

Theoretically, it's certainly possible. But, as someone that worked in hotels (including as a Revenue Manager at multiple properties), I think garykung is much closer to reality (at least in a non-COVID setting).

Negotiating a rate takes time and it must be done with someone at the hotel reasonably high up on the management food chain. In the places I worked, that was a Sales Manager, Revenue Manager, Director of Sales, or General Manager. No one else could change rates prior to arrive, in part because the salaries of those folks were tied to meeting revenue goals.

In a large hotel, it simply isn't worth the time to negotiate with a single person. At best, you're getting 365 room nights, with the majority of long-term stays by individuals being under 60 nights. Instead of spending time negotiating for 60 nights, a Sales Manager could be responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a 20-room group staying 4 nights with meeting space and catering. Or, the Sales Manager could be prospecting for a local company that might represent hundreds or thousands of room nights annually.

Similarly, a Revenue Manager's time is usually better spent investigating issues that the revenue management software can't understand. Fixing a potential problem (like identifying an event that is driving a lot of speculative reservations) could result in thousands of dollars of additional revenue.

Never say never. But, most adequately-run hotels aren't going to enter into negotiations with an individual traveler.

It would seem best if OP returned with the specifics of what he is looking for. E.g., is this one room for one month or 50 rooms for a year?

I negotiated a rate for 1 person (me) at a 900+ room, large chain hotel (not Marriott.)

I spoke to the rooms manager and was able to get a rate close to (but lower than) the Federal Gov't rate for low to moderate occupancy dates.

This was for multiple stays (of 3 nights to 4 weeks) over a 3 year period.

So it never hurts to ask.

What ever category hotel, and season (low/high/regular) they are in, there is no way you can negotiate points for nights as it is all set up by Marriott "certificate" system and the hotel need to have that "certificate" to get reimburse from Marriott

Another way is using your points for folio, 250 points = 1 USD, if you can negotiate the price down below their value. eg. JW Marriott Bangkok right now running THB 1,988++ (around 75 USD) they need 35,000 points on normal stay, you can use points to pay for room charge instead so that would be 18,750 points