Hey everyone - so I booked two rooms (in Canada) using my corporate code that is eligible for personal bookings. Upon check-in, I showed proof of employment; however, they said that I could only have this corporate rate applied to one of the two rooms, and the second would have to be charged at the walk-in rate, which of course is much more expensive. I read the T&C and nowhere stated this restriction; when I booked the room, there was no notification or prompt informing me of this.

Any thoughts on this or am I out of luck? Thanks!

I did this a few weeks ago but YMMV. IDK if I was technically allowed to or not

Check with your employer's travel department. They will know the answer.

That sounds correct to me. Very few rates (senior rates often do) allow booking more than 1 room under the discount unless there is more than 1 discount holder present. Now ... this is rarely enforced, but neither is checking eligibility in the first place.

I had a debate once at the Marriott in Berlin on a senior rate (where the rate rules clearly state you can book 2 rooms) and they certainly looked into that and only then accepted it.

Thanks for your feedback! Lesson learned I guess � definitely my fault for not checking ahead of time; albeit a very expensive one. If this is the rule, I will respect it; however, it�s the lack of transparency that really gets me. Every email correspondence they sent me confirmed both rooms at the discounted corporate rate as long as I provide a corporate ID and they allowed me to book both rooms at a discounted rate - presume Marriott�s IT at work. Then of course having to swallow a very expensive walk-in rate for one of the rooms. If I had known, probably would have split into two separate reservations ahead of time. Anyways, let�s see if I can work some magic on the basis of �I didn�t know� goodwill (probably not) haha.

I think that the hotel was making up policy on the hoof.

I would have insisted they honour it while humbly apoligising saying you know for next time.

Honor what? The OP booked 2 rooms under a corporate code and the hotel confirmed it ... assuming there are 2 eligible customers.

Where would you say is the limit? 2 rooms, 5? 10? Unless it is explicitly stated you can book more than 1 room under a discount scheme you should assume it is 1.

Completely disagree with you. Why should you assume it's only 1 room? You are bringing them the business no matter what.

If you are booking and paying for the room, you should be eligible.

There are some rooms, such as the Friends, Family and Associate rates that do state that a maximum of two rooms are only allowed to be booked under that rate.

When I had family gathering a few years ago (arguably it was under Starwood) I booked close to 15 rooms using a corporate rate. Nobody at the property batted an eyelid.

In my case my corporate travel code is definitely valid for personal and business travel, so speaking or checking with the corporate travel department would be the best route. My firm is big though (100ks people globally). I am quite surprised by the original hotel response, and it seems to be incorrect and worth a complaint if you feel strongly, after checking with the corporate travel department policy. I suspect it was some local hotel implementing their own interpretation that a well worded complaint where you screenshot the corporate code rate terms, plus your agreement with Marriott for the corporate code, would hopefully bring in an apology. If the hotel feels strongly enough then they can get someone to edit the "standard Marriott rate rules" on every corporate code on their system.... Some hotels do that, for things like "5 miles to office", they can write in "only one room per booking", and then you could name and shame them, or avoid giving them the business in the first place.

Personally I do this reasonably regularly, now that I have a family and need more space, however you can imagine lots of valid scenarios for booking multiple rooms with corporate codes where for example junior employees can't expense rooms.

Update: Ended up reaching out to my global travel procurement team (who probably at this point blacklisted me for giving them so many headaches) and they subsequently reached out to the hotel's business rep to no avail (OOO). The hotel sent me one of those surveys, to which I took the opportunity to express my thoughts. The front desk manager replied a few hours later and confirmed their policy (i.e. one employee per corporate room rate). Out of goodwill and this learning opportunity, they refunded me the difference of about $550+ CAD for the two nights, which I sincerely appreciated. Win win.

Similar question but when I use my corporate booking code I only see King rooms. When I use AAA there are double queen rooms but quite a bit more expensive. It was not that way pre-pandemic -- any experience calling in to hotel? This is a leisure trip, but I've used my corporate discount code on non-work trips with no problems -- although again, that was pre-pandemic.

Book the King and in the "Any special requests or needs?" box, type "Titanium Elite request switch to Double Queen". Then call the hotel during business hours, ask for a front desk supervisor or manager and ask him/her if your reservation can be modified to a double.