Melodsal

I have an upcoming stay that I booked as connecting rooms (the room title is Superior Twin Bedroom Connecting Guest Room Bedroom 1: 2 Twin/Single Bed(s); Bedroom 2: Queen) The connecting rooms are essential as we’re traveling with an infant and a newborn. However it now shows in the Marriott app as just “Superior Twin Bedroom”. Does the ultimate guarantee cover it if they are unable to provide connecting rooms at checkin?

Jon Maiman

I don't know if the guarantee is that specific. Regardless this is a situation that demands calling the property in advance to explain your requirements. Since you booked the correct rooms initially, I imagine they will do their best to accommodate your requirements. In any case the last thing I would want is to arrive on property to the wrong room types and not have suitable accomodation for my family. Collecting the Ultimate Room Guarantee would be a distant second consideration for me at that point. YMMV....


--Jon

Melodsal

Thanks Jon!

It’s a nice hotel but has screwed up stays for me before (even with my ambassador making arrangements ahead of time, and me emailing to confirm) and that I generally find to be terribly managed. I’m currently half minded to cancel and just book another hotel rather than having a small chance that we later have issues at check in.

mjstallion

I arrived at La Concha Renaissance in Puerto Rico at 1pm on the day of my check in, and had an upgraded site that I used 5 SNAs on.

Their computer system had a problem and they had to process check ins manually. By 6pm and still no room, I contacted the Bonvoy Titanium line, and they called the hotel to prioritize my check in.

By 8pm, I still had no room, so I called the Bonvoy Titanium line again and told them i couldn't wait any longer (traveling with 2 infants) and need to stay at another hotel. At that point they couldn't cancel my reservation any longer since the hotel had already checked me in on their system, even though they hadn't given me a room, taken my credit card or anything like that. They opened a case to assure that i would be able to cancel without paying a fee, and the following day i did receive a cancellation email.

But i had to pay top dollar at a nearby DoubleTree to have a place to sleep. The hotel says I don't qualify for the Ultimate Reservation Guarantee because they had a room for me, and it was just delayed. I begged to differ as i
​​​spent 7 hours waiting in the lobby and never got a room.

What do you say?


​

hotelboy

No. You don’t. The hotel did not walk you. You decided to cancel. As simple as that.

TerryK

You don't qualify but you should receive customer service recovery bonus like some points.

Kacee

Actually I think this does qualify and I would push Marriott to make the resort pony up. Good luck!

cfischer

Agreed, they didn't honor their posted and acceptable check-in time but they did not walk the OP. A CS gesture is needed here, but I don't see how the UR guarantee would apply here since 'check-in time' is not covered.

cre95

I also agree that waiting for 7 hours and possibly longer since you weren’t actually in the room by then.

Having said that, however, what’s the actual published time for check-in by the hotel? Just because you arrived at 1pm doesn’t make it the check-in time.

Oxon Flyer

What communication did you have with the hotel between 6pm and 8pm, in particular what messages the hotel were giving you about the time your room would finally be ready ? That info would be helpful in shaping opinion as to whether you have a valid claim.

If this situation really is that simple, at what point in the evening would the hotel be deemed to have failed the “If for some reason we’re unable to honor your reservation” test ?

Kacee

Right. At a certain you've been denied the room you reserved, and it shouldn't matter what the property's excuse is. Personally, my feeling is that if you've presented yourself for check-in at the designated time, they need to get you into a room within three or four hours. A good hotel might extend that window by, for example, comping dinner while you wait.

The Road Goes On Forever

At the end of the day, yes, it is that simple. The URG does not apply because the OP was never told that they were not going to receive a room, period, done.
Now, if the argument is that the hotel should compensate the OP in some other way(s) for the extreme inconvenience that they were put through, fair enough without question.

This whole situation falls into a nebulous grey area. On one hand you have the program rule from the parent company that says the URG must be paid if you are walked. But if a room can be made available "at some point" on your check in day be it 7pm or whenever, there is nothing in the T&C that says that doesn't pass the basic litmus test for a room being offered. There is no arbitrary guideline of within a few hours or anything like that.

(By no means am I saying that I agree with the property, but I get what they're doing as I have been there before many times with telling guests who want benefits that it's not happening because a room will be made available at some point.)

Oxon Flyer

The only reference in the URG is “If for some reason we’re unable to honor your reservation”. There is no reference to “being walked”, so let’s focus on what the URG actually says, not what we think it says.

The Road Goes On Forever

My mistake as I typed in the wrong word. Let's also focus on the reality the situation which is that the OP still does not have a valid URG claim. These policies are intentionally written in a vague contextless way. There is no "at what point in the evening" scenario. If a room can not be offered then it applies. If it can, then no it doesn't.

Again, this doesn't mean that service recovery compensation shouldn't be offered because it should and then some, but it's still not covered by URG.

_fx

So, if OP is offered a room 90 seconds before checkout the next day, the URG doesn't apply? No US court would accept that. Obviously, there is a "point in the evening" at which a reasonable person would conclude the reservation is not honored. The question is when exactly that is. You can disagree that 8pm meets the criteria (personally, I think it does), but the reductionist interpretation offered above is simply wrong.