DFWsakp

I booked a reservation at the Marriott Cancun Resort for 4 nights.
I had 2 certificates of 35K each and 1 for 40K and 1 for 50K
The hotel is cat 5, but has rooms available for 44K a night (ocean view). These are listed as available rooms (nothing of a point upgrade etc.)
The system allowed me to apply all 4 certificates.
It additionally wanted 36,000 Points + $120 for resort Fees
So basically, what it did was valued each of my certificate for 35K points (even though I had 2 of them at a higher value) and then tacked in an additional 9K for the difference (44K per night)
I called Marriott Customer Service to explain that for the 40K certificate, I should only be charged 4K more and for the 50K one, there should not be any additional ask.
Marriott does not agree with my reasoning.
I am at a loss as to why then would the 50K certificate say that I can use it anywhere up to 50K Point room.
I wasted about a hour of my time and then gave up. I am basically charged 13,000 points more (4K + 9K).
Am I correct? OR Is Marriott correct here.

Will08

Did you not try booking the 50k cert on its own to see if you were charged anything for that night?

margarita girl

I think the important thing to note here is THE TOP UP FEATURE HAS BEEN ACTIVATED!

GoSh4rks

Not seeing it if you want to book a standard room. Ie a 50k room with a 35k cert +15kpoints. Cert options don’t show, just points.

swag

Try booking 4x 1 night stays?

myperks

because certificates I believe can only be used for standard rooms. So standard rooms here go for 35k. So you are paying 140k with the 4 certs regardless of what the “up to” value is… the 36k is the difference between your upgraded room type and the standard room.

which means the top up feature apparently started to trickle in.

Horace

Sadly, Marriott is correct. Free night certificates only apply to the base point rate, not to any upgrade fee (points or cash) for a higher category room.

For example, if an available room shows as 35K + additional 15K for a higher category room (total 50K), the certificate only covers the 35K -- regardless of whether the certificate is "up to 35K," "up to 40K," or "up to 50K." This is the case even if there are no 35K rooms available at the time.

Along similar lines, the Marriott's "Stay for 5, Pay for 4" feature only works for the base rate. In the example above (assuming the same rate for five consecutive nights), a five-night stay would be (4 x 35K) + (5 x 15K) because the points to upgrade must be paid for all nights, even for the free night.

Actually, the soon-to-happen "top off" feature is not at play in the OP's case. It has not yet been activated.

cfischer

Actually it must have ... how else could you use a 35k certificate at a 44k hotel?

Horace

It's not a 44K hotel. It's a "35K hotel" that offers higher category rooms for 35K plus a cash upgrade fee -- or for 35K + 9K for a total of 44K.

But you asked a good question... and I don't have a good answer.

Yes, I agree something has changed with the system. I'm not sure this is the full "top off" functionality yet. But, in the past, Marriott.com would only have accepted the free might certificate for a standard room, not a room requiring more points for a higher category.

Going forward with the elimination of categories, the question is whether Marriott Bonvoy will still have base points and upgrade points -- or simply dynamic point rates for various categories?

In other words, if there's a hotel with standard rooms for 35K and junior suites for 50K, will I be able to use an "up to 50K" certificate to pay for the junior suite? Or will the certificate still only cover the 35K portion of the 50K junior suite?

DFWsakp

I did not try the same and once reserved, I was a bit reluctant to try it again considering the capabilities of Marriott IT Systems.

The Top up is definitely not working. I tried to use these certificates at the JW next door and only the 50K Certificate showed up in the list (the others 35K, 35K and 40K would not show up which is what really the Top Up is supposed to do).
Normally the Hotels show up with Upgrade Certificate or something. But, in this case, they showed up as total points needed for the room. There was no mention of needing any additional certificates or anything.

Once the top up is enabled, I am hoping this issue should go away and I should be able to use my 50K Certificate for any room that costs up to 50K and if more points needed, then it should take only those above 50K