Dates of booking AFTER offer ends?
 

Was not sure how to explain this in the Title but here's the scenario...

I want to make a booking for October 11-14 and there is a pretty good deal with 25% of (the welcome back campaign) and the site let's me carry on with the actual booking BUT the text reads the following:

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...05913938c3.jpg

So, if I go ahead with the reservation (October 11-14) will it not be honoured due to the dates being AFTER September 30th even though the web will allow me to move on with the booking?

I don't know about your specific situation, but I once booked a rate that was limited to two rooms IIRC. I booked three rooms. (Honestly didnt see the discrepancy.) At check in, they had me pay a higher rate for the third room.

It is entirely possible that the rate will be honored or that it will not be honored. Anecdotes from some other property or some other rate will not help you. Thus, you have two choices:
1. Book and see what happens. Be prepared to pay a lot more at any time up to and including check in.
2. Call the property (not reservations) and see if it will honor the rate or give you some other roughly equivalent discount.

Bear in mind that while many properties are struggling, one way they are mitigating the damage is to close of floors, wings and the like. Thus, whether a property is "booked full" by the time you check in may only means that the 20% which it operates at are full.

I never had a problem getting these honored. It is not your job to read all the fine print. Marriott is offering this rate and you are booking it. You confirmation Email will confirm the rate. In no such instance have I ever been asked to pay more. That was even true when I booked a corporate rate way into the future and the hotel was no longer part of the program at the time; they still honored the rate which was confirmed at booking.

I just saw something similar on the Marriott booking website. I was searching for rates at a specific hotel for a Wednesday and Thursday night stay, but the website showed me a rate that apparently required a weekend night. When I clicked to see the rate rules, it clearly said that the stay must include a Friday or Saturday night. I didn't take the rate so I won't find out what would have happened upon arrival, but it looked like I would have been able to book the rate. BTW, it was an AAA Hot rate where the regular AAA rate was cheaper, so I was checking the rate rules to see what perks (none in this case) like breakfast or valet parking might have been included.

I had a similar thing for the Bangkok Summer Getaway (the staying period ends in Dec 2020 but I could book for March next year). I called Marriott explained the situation (I had already reserved my room) they put in a report and had the general manager email me. From there he did agree to honour what I was able to book despite the rate details showing the booking period as Dec ? 2020. This was kind of him as I am using it for hotel hopping (if I can even enter Thailand) for the extra points from the promotional rate.

OK... I went on and booked the room and nowhere is there antyhing in the mail I received, stating the rate is only valid up to Sept 30th... I shall add my findings after I check out on October 14th.

I just tried dummy bookings for London in mid-Oct, using rate code EZR, which is the code for this promo.

All the hotels offered the Welcome Back rate. Rate Details are exactly the same as pictured in the OP, except that there is no line which specifies date limits. I would guess that promo has been extended, but there’s still residual pockets of the website that still display the old date range.

Don’t think you have anything to be concerned about.

Many companies argue otherwise. I personally read any fine print I can find to avoid potential "got cha!" situations.

LAX

Agree. After the situation I posted above happened to me, I read the rate rules every time.

The law also tends to argue otherwise. Printed terms and conditions aren't just for fun.

I see there are a few comments on “legality” and the fine print...

So, at least in the EU, there are very stringent consumer protection laws when it comes to "false" marketing which this could then be flagged as, should there become any issues.

It’s no the consumers responsibilty to make sure the website is accepting or rejecting special offers that doesn’t seem too unreasble, but rather the supplier. In this case, I did not enter any discount codes - as mentioned earlier this specific seemed to telate to) so very little I could do.

Anyway, I’m more than confident this will fan out just fine in the end and agian I’ll get back with how it turned out in the end.

Happy Sunday and keep safe...

Did they honour Marriott Benefits too? And of course, you got your Marriott ponits & night credit(s) too, right?

I have had both award & revenue reservations at properties that de-flagged prior to the stay. The new owners honoured the reservations and rates. I canceled both because the benefits beyond the rate were not guaranteed.

James

So, what would the law argue in this case, where the "printed" T&Cs on the Rate Details of the booking engine differ from the "printed" T&Cs in the confirmation email ?

Hi Cupart,

We would like to look into this if you could provide the name of the hotel to us via private mail here or by email below.

Best Regards,

Christina Z
Specialist, Social Media
Marriott International

[email protected]

I would imagine the more "lenient" T&Cs would apply, especially if that is what's in the confirmation email. If the T&Cs specify expiration of a promotional rate, but the system allows a booking beyond the expiration, I think it's up to the property to honor the reservation. It's similar to "mistake" rates that some companies decide to honor while others don't.

LAX

I've been served UK specific ads for this promo, but stating the end of October, which makes sense as that covers the half term school holidays in late October.

It looks like they have extended the promo, but not updated the information in the booking screen. Personally, I'd have no concern booking on this rate basis in October as I am likely to be doing so for at least one stay.

PM sent :-)

So how did it go?

I recently stumbled upon this "Welcome Back" rate as well.
Looking to book something for next summer. The fine print for the rate I'm looking at say it is only good till Nov 01, 2020 though.

It would seem a bit slimy to me if they allow people to book using this rate for dates beyond the promo window, and then try to stick you with RACK when you check in.

Hey pentiumvi

So, no one as much as raised an eyebrow at either check-in or at check-out at any of the hotels, and we got charged the rate as advertised. We were also told at one of the hotels, that occupancy usually was extremely high (90% plus) and now it was around 10-20% and mostly down to missing APAC visitors. The concierge also told us that there were many hotels closing so it was looking grim, so maybe this is not the best of times for hotels to start arguing on lower nightly rates.

To also expand on this, the same happened to a different brand of hotel stay, where we got a "travel-agent" rate (on the normal brands booking site) and saved around 40% of the "normal rate"... Again no one reacted to it or asked for any ID etc...

Why? I would go for it, knowing what happened to me.

What's the worst that could happen?

1) The web site should NOT show discounted rates if outside the period with special rates given.
2) You would then just have to pay the difference between your confirmed booking rate and their official at the time given rate at check-in/out.

Slimy to me would be if the special rate's booking went through with dates outside the special rate period and THEN the hotel would charge you extra. That would be very speculative by the hotel and I honestly don't think (or hope) they would do such a thing...

I'm going to be in a similar situation in Istanbul as every hotel here is offering the welcome back rate through the end of NOV as far as I can tell if not into Dec for some. The rate details mentions no end date just 7 days a week but I'm sure I read somewhere that it was only extended to end of Oct only

Does the rate change if you do a "dummy" booking outside the "welcome back..." rate period mentioned OR is it still the same as had it been within the booking period?

no rate change it still shows "Welcome Back Members including breakfast available 7 days a week from stays from please specifiy your participation dates". For the other ones its the same minus the part about please specify participation dates

I'd go for it tbh... Nothing to loose really.

I've gone ahead and booked my hotel hopping till the 10th then switching between 3 night and 4 night stays to utilize the double points for weekend stays while still keeping things interesting with a switch of hotels

Quick update to the Marriott 25% off Welcome Back plus breakfast (for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) which was slated to the end of Sept which was then extended to Oct 31 has now been extended to Jan 17th 2021 (a random date?). This saves me from guessing where I want to be and I can play it by ear based on weather/location. Code: EZR

https://travel-dealz.eu/deal/marriott-sale/