I specifically asked about the rate and whether it was going to change at check-in. We never had a discussion about a 'penalty' of early check-out that is referenced here. And it was a mistake on my part to book an extra day at the beginning hence I said that I am willing to pay for what I reserved for - ie I am not asking to pay the rate that is given for 5 nights for the 4 nights I stayed but pay the full amount that I reserved for - I would NEVER book this hotel for the more than $300/night I was charged for.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in small claims.

It is not unusual pricing for the travel industry, however. I can easily find examples of booking longer stays with lower costs, longer car rentals with lower rates or longer flights with lower fares. Many novice travelers complain about higher fares if not taking the connecting flight as booked even though the incoming flight is the same.

​​​​​​​Did you mention this at check-in or was this an afterthought?

Happens to me all the time - I book for 20+ days often and get a huge break, but if I check out early, they reprice to the 7 day or 14 day night discounts.

I also keep hotels for this stuff - If I am on a job and I am booked for 40 days, but have to fly to another job in the middle, I keep the first hotel because repricing to 2 smaller stays is normally more expensive than just keeping the hotel room for the 3-4 days i am gone.

Some hotels have started offering “Long term stay” discounts for as little as 3 days - IME it is well documented on both the rate details and the booking screen, but if you aren’t used to looking for it you could miss it easily.

There are many posters here with, frankly, little understanding of law who think any contract signed is legally binding whatever the terms. I honestly think there are FT posters who would say a contract selling someone into slavery was valid as long as it was signed.

If you are cautious on the billing you can always drop by FD the night before to check on your folio. I do this whenever I use a Marriott GC, because these days many properties would automatically bill the guaranteed card BEFORE you check out even though you told them you would settle the bill with Marriott GC. This happened to me 4 times over the past 3 years, incl one just recently. In one such case pre-pandemic, the GM was so apologetic that he offered to send me customer satisfaction points good enough for 2 nights at a Cat 4 without me ever asking for that (but he still managed to forget to post the night... and that was the last night I needed to requal...) I was shocked to see the courtesy points but also annoyed the eligible night not posted. I sent him a thank you email and to remind him my night was not posted yet... He never replied the email but the night popped up 3 days later.

The most recent one was in March. This property would automatically charged one night BEFORE you even check in! But the GM explained this well at check in, processed the GC, and told me the credit is sent to the original payment card. AMEX posted both the billing and the credit on the same day, though the billing showed as pending before I checked in.

For speedy check out if you already left, just call in saying you forgot to drop the key in the drop box on speed check out (or tray) now virtually every hotel has such a thing either a stand with box at the corridor or a tray at the FD window, advertisement on the elevators that you can take advantage of speedy check out so you do not have to stop by the FD

In fact if you have passed the check out time, housekeeping would most likely go in and then realize you have long gone. It is even easier to do that now given there is no daily housekeeping. So nobody even knows you have left a day earlier!

By the description of the OP, I think many here have the hunch (and may be correct assessment) that the OP KNEW checking out earlier IT WOULD AFFECT HER RATE. Else, if she is so innocent, why would she even tried to make sure that?! She just never expected the BAR could be this high.

Hotel obviously charged her the walk in rates on each of those nights. There are reasons why the majority of the posts here do not have much sympathy - because her intention was very clear, to save one night's rate. Hence she asked the FD at check in on whether her bill would change if she checks out a day early. Had the FD replied differently, would she still leave a day early? Now she sounded as she was being cheated... Actually it is more like a game played with wrong tactics then backfired badly. I myself honestly do not believe she asked the FD on check out early was out of common courtesy, as to "I will free up the room earlier so you can sell to another party." It is more like to make sure she would not be charged the 5th night on the reservation. Of course little that she thought that since she broke the T&Cs on the reservation, the hotel would do what the hotel entitled to do. Else just do the remote check out or leave without informing the hotel. After all your CC is on file for guarantee, and it should be billed according to the 5 nights booked.

Of course she must have gone on TA to voice her grievance and that just made the GM to deliver such a stern reply. She should try to work this out privately by direct correspondence with the GM to plead her case. Things might turn out a different way.

Based on personal experiences, many times a GM would try to work with the customers when customers made mistake - provided the customers are not being antagonizing, and admitting the mistakes. This does not limit to Marriott but to many other programs. And it is not the program, but the individual property. Too many people want to blame this is Marriott services going downhill. They are balking at the wrong tree. Properties, literally in all programs, have a great deal of power on what they can do. When there are issues you should work with the GM of the property with courtesy. If you need others to help you, you need to be courteous and humble, play ignorance also would help. The last thing you want to do is to argue, and being hostile. That would never be a good way to get a satisfactory resolution almost on all kinds of matter.

Despite what the thread title said, OP was charged $1,036 for four nights, according to his/her own statement. The original reservation was for $750, which OP was willing to pay, hence the costs increased by 38%. I am not sure how this can be equated to slavery.

My personal experience was with Hertz. I once had a 5-day reservation and attempted to return the car after 4 as I didn't need it for the last day. I was quoted a much higher rate as daily rate times 4 was higher than weekly rate. I kept the car for 5 days and still came out ahead after paying overnight parking for a car which I didn't need (I was at the airport hotel).

Although the OP did not declare what she/he would have been happy paying I would guess most people would be happy to pay the original rate that was agreed $750 in this case rather than $1036 as eventually charged.

So borrowing from your example it is like saying you either take 1000 widgets at $1000 or 1 widget for say $1400.

I'm going to translate that slavery analogy for the benefit of those who don't understand hyperbole.

Just because something is in T&Cs does not make it legally binding.

OP should get advice from a consumer protection group or similar, who know fair pricing rules in the US, not from self proclaimed experts on FT who think that T&Cs are rule of law.

How about this:
How Can I Change or Cancel My Hotel Reservation?

• Quote:

  ---

  Modifying Your Reservation:

  • Changes to a Reservation such as Reservation arrival or departure dates, number of Guests travelling, Room type, etc. may result in a Rate change.
  • Changing names or adding special requests on an existing Reservation cannot be completed through the Marriott Bonvoy® Mobile App at this time, we apologize for the inconvenience.
  • After checking into a Hotel, a Reservation cannot be changed online or by a phone Associate. In order to extend a Stay that is already in progress, you must book a separate Reservation for the additional Nights or speak with Front Desk staff about extending your visit.

  ---

How about the following example:

The property is giving a 25% discount on the room rate if you stay 5 nights. So if the normal rate is $100 a night then with the discount it would cost $75 X 5 nights for a total of $375 for the stay. If you check out a day earlier then you do not meet the requirement of the discount so you would be charged $400 for the stay. A small claims judge would absolutely allow this, even though it would cost more to stay 4 nights as opposed to 5 nights with a discount.

If it is not illegal & you agree to abide by the T&C then it does make it legally binding.

Fair pricing rules? Kiki was charged BAR. Just like every body else who happens to walk in that day. The terms are there so people won't be Sniki.

Funny how people like to cherry pick which to follow on the conditions of sale. Don't think anyone would argue against a non-refundable rate being non-refundable. But when something like a change in # of days will change the rate (which is clearly in the conditions of sale), then it is now "well it is not legally binding".

Here's how to make this easier in the future:

1.) Get the Marriott app. You can see your dates and rate there. The hotel FD can make changes to the nights, your rates, whatever they want, directly - usually a Supervisor or above is required for such changes.
2.) If the FD did allow you to leave a day early, I would have verified this in the app, and asked them prior to check out why it wasn't updated.
3.) If they wouldn't, use this as the barometer to keep your original reservation. It's ok if you are not personally occupying the room on the last night!

Having said that, I am perplexed that the GM won't agree to charge you your original total and refund the overage (so you pay for 5 nights at $150, but it seems you were billed more). Do you have status? Did you propose this solution?

The thing is, American consumers like being able to select from a wide variety of rates and packages depending on their needs- breakfast included, AAA/AARP rate, extended stay, etc.

If I booked an AAA rate, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for the front desk to ask to see an AAA card at check-in even though it’s veery rare that I’ve had that happen. And if I couldn’t find my AAA card, it’s fair to then ask me to pay a higher non-AAA rate for my stay.