Points for very long term stay after a fire?
 

My mother may have to stay at a Residence Inn for 6-8 months while her house is being repaired after a fire. She's been unable to find an apartment on a month to month basis, and needs to stay in the general area. (This Residence Inn apparently houses a lot of executives long term.) If the insurance company arranges this with the hotel, I assume my mother won't be entitled to points? Thanks.

It really all depends. If she books a public long-stay rate (available at most Residence Inns on stays of 2+ weeks) and insurance reimburses her, she'll still get points/status. If the insurance company negotiates a rate and pays directly the insurance company could negotiate to not have points credited as part of the rate, but they also could negotiate a rate and not negotiate points in which case she may still get them.

Long story short, as it sounds like she won't have much choice in the matter if insurance is handling the arrangements, she should add her Marriott number no matter what and see what happens.

P.S. Sorry about the fire. Can only imagine that it was devastating. Hope no one was injured.

If everything is arranged through the insurance company, the likelihood of getting points is probably low. An insurance company would probably negotiate a special rate. It would be odd to have them specifically ask to have frequent guest perks eliminated in order to get the lowest possible rate.

That said, it's impossible to know without any details.

Thank you! I will sign her up, and let her know to at least add the number and see. And thanks for the good wishes dcstudent. Her pets unfortunately didn't make it, but all the people did.

Insurance rates are simply a negotiated rate with master billing. In that case, almost certainly no points, but also no hassle or out-of-pocket while invoices are submitted.

On the other hand, if she has some say in which property the insurance company books at, she then has some negotiating leverage with the property's general manager. Forget about the rate, what might they do to earn her business. Perhaps no points, but are there some features which they could offer?

I am currently 6 weeks into what will likely be 10 weeks of hotel stays being paid by my insurance company.
For me, the travel company that the insurance company uses made the reservations, emailed me the confirmation number and details, and I then added my Bonvoy number to the reservation.
All my stays (4 total so far, as I have switched hotels a few times) have posted points and EQN's including the current promotion (one stay that straddled the promo dates required some customer service). I have gone from Bonvoy zero (well Silver) to Platinum, and will be Titanium when I check out this week.
I have even been able to get insurance company to allow me to change hotels for a week at a time, so I am getting 3 free weeks of lodging in the Arizona sun during my home construction.

I can do that
 

Cool, you have just given me a great idea..

Insurance companies have travel companies do this. And they don't have time to "negotiate rates."
This is my experience anyway, I am sure this is ymmv

The negotiation is usually done periodically in the same way that any other large corporation will periodically negotiate their travel with airlines/hotels/car rental agencies/other travel related providers. Some companies (usually larger corporations with lots of travel and conservative expense policies) will negotiate away loyalty scheme rewards and many other things. Some will just contract out to Expedia and the like and then since it’s a 3rd party booking you wouldn’t get any rewards.

It’s not that uncommon.

If there's already an active claim with the insurance company, then I would have thought the best way would be to call them and find out exactly how alternative accommodation - be it an apartment or a hotel - is arranged and paid for.

Some insurance companies/policies seem to permit one to make one's own arrangements and be reimbursed.

Note that in many jurisdictions, there's no tax on hotel rooms for stays exceeding thirty days.

Unfortunately, in many jurisdictions, after 30 days you become a tenant and evictions become extremely difficult and expensive. So some hotels have policies prohibiting long stays.

Which for an RI would be an interesting tack to take considering it is an extended stay brand. And per the OP, there are executives for some local companies already staying there for extended stays. So I doubt there would be a 30 day limit in this case.

And FWIW, no amount of points / elite status credit will compensate for the aggravation of funding a long hotel stay yourself and then getting the insurance company to reimburse. If the insurance co. will pay direct, jump on it!

:( My condolences to her on the loss of her fur babies!