FullFare

Several of our kids orchestrated a memorial for our deceased parents on the recent weekend in Paris, Marcy 9-12. Our children have been far more successful than I and my spouse and used Hotel Le Bristol for the headquarters of the 3-day reunion, well beyond my affordability.
Budget for spouse and myself was $1,600 for the 3 days at Marriott des Champs E'lysses. We have stayed there before and thought it an affordable, very nice location. When we booked last Dec 2022, I took the option of the $1,600 price for 3 days, which was non-refundable, no exceptions. The night before we were to go. from SFO to CDG, UA notified us that we were cancelled. Apparent reason was the labor strikes affecting France.
UA gave us no viable options to get into France from any USA vector with any other carriers before the memorial event, making the trip futiile. UA did refund us.

I appealed to Marriot, both corporate and their hotel site, to let us have credit to use in the future. Was turned down, emphatically I might add. A bitter lesson for me, spouse, children, and grandkids. Not much I can do except learn unhappily and suggest that others beware of French politics with them in rerving there in the future. I had my do own doctor clear me for the trip, but never figured on a strike in France screwing up air arrivals from SFO.

Won't ever book Marriott hotels again. Also, disallowed my employees from using them on expenses. Marriott got me on this one, but lost buy good will forever, as did the rest of France.

Xero

First, I am very sorry for your loss. Losing parents is never easy, no matter what age you are.

___

I know my reply below might be a little direct, but it is only addressing the situation. It has nothing to do with you on a personal level.

Hotel Le Bristol provided what you booked. You reserved several days at the hotel and they had your room saved for you. It is not the hotel's fault that you were unable to show up (whether strike, COVID, cancelled flight, etc). This is no different from a Basic Economy fare on an airline (no changes, nor refunds). Take this as a lesson learned, book cancelable rooms.

Of course, you have every right to see if the hotel is willing to provide an exception. They turned you down, which they had a right to.

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Under our capitalist system, you have the right to refuse to stay at a Marriott property and vote with your wallet. And you also have the right to post online about your dissatisfaction.

However, Marriott, being a huge operation, probably calculates churn, and they know that a certain percentage of customers will be disgruntled and will never stay with them again. So I doubt Marriott will be missing you and your company employees.

People have the right to refuse to go to work. I get it, you lost money, and I am sympathetic.

However, your loss is on you. You could have purchased a cancelable rate or got travelers insurance, but you chose not to.

France is the most visited country in the world. You have the right to refuse to visit France and have the right to post about your refusal to visit France in the future. However, I doubt the French will be missing your dollars.

___

Now that I got that out of the way. I will get to my personal level again.

Sometimes, a larger company should try to give some goodwill to a customer. At the end of the day, this is just a rounding error for Marriott. Accommodating you would have made you happy. Sometimes, you got provide customer service simply because it's the right and moral thing to do, especially when you are the bigger entity.

I do hate how profits are put above people and entities have become so inflexible these days.

margarita girl

How far up the chain did you go at the hotel? I had a similar situation at a hotel in Italy where I accidentally booked a non-refundable rate. Realized it 5 minutes later and contacted the hotel where the person who replied said “not cancellable”. I escalated to GM who apologized profusely and agreed to cancel the reservation.

I think you have a valid case. You just need to speak to someone in authority, not a lowly clerk who has to follow the rules.

Also, do you have insurance? That might be a good option as well.

nexusCFX

Sorry for your loss. But it Seems to me that the take away here should be not to book nonrefundable rates again, not to never book at Marriott hotels again. You would have likely had the same outcome with any hotel chain. France has labor strikes 375 days a year.

If you have travel insurance, which I would certainly pair with any nonrefundable travel bookings, you may get some compensation through that.

guv1976

OP: Did you use the same credit card to buy the UA flights and the Marriott room? If so, does that card offer trip cancellation coverage?

notquiteaff

Maybe, maybe not. As NHK reminded me earlier today, 12 years ago, Japan was struck by a massive earthquake. We were scheduled to connect at NRT to BKK and stay a night at the Grand Hyatt. We never made it to BKK, or even NRT, because our flight was diverted (quake was when were an hour before landing). We ended up spending the night at the Hyatt in Osaka and I rebooked our flights and BKK plans. I had sent the Hyatt in Bangkok an email from Osaka to let them know we wouldn’t make it. I didn’t expect them to refund the night, and they didn’t. Until a week later when we actually showed up for another stay we had booked. I didn’t mention the quake and the canceled night. It just wasn’t important given the scale of destruction we were seeing on TV every day. Anyway, long story short, one morning we found a note slipped under our door thanking us for staying at the Hyatt and that they would refund our missed stay from, now, 10 days ago. They didn’t have to do it, and I don’t know how they worked out that we had missed the stay earlier, but I know my next stay in Bangkok will be at the Hyatt again. (sad to think that we haven’t been back to Thailand or Japan in 12 years).

However, OP, I wouldn’t blame the French as a nation. They are just using their rights to protest policy changes that would have a massive impact on their lives.

yorkboy24

Would travel insurance cover strikes and cancelled flights plus the consequences (hotel)?

nexusCFX

Right. But, your experience was entirely at the discretion of the *property*, not the hotel group. The Delta hotel I booked around Christmas time this year refunded my nonrefundable prepaid booking due to the winter storms in the northeastern US and Canada. There's no logically sound reason to swear off an entire hotel group over this kind of situation, and I doubt anyone who claims they will do so will actually hold to it long-term as it's often simply impractical. It's entirely property-dependent whether the property owners will take mercy on you in situations like these.

FlyingUnderTheRadar

I do not book non-refundable hotel rooms more than a couple of days out. Booking non-refundable rooms a couple of months out is just too risky just for the reasons that happened to the OP. Expensive lesson.

gaobest

I like the idea of seeing if the credit card has cancellation insurance. Worth asking.

while non-refundable definitions haven’t changed, the OP should feel free to return to bonvoy when the numbers work. Thankfully until that time all of us can travel anywhere and we can stay almost anywhere outside of bonvoy.

Hawkeyefan

Should have canx the cc on file when the airline canx with no alternatives.

vilntrav

Once I was lucky with refund of a non-refundable Marriott stay, once I was not. As a Flyertalk reader I know the rule : "non-refundable is non-refundable". Regarding strike, it's a feature in France, like cheese and wine. If you don't like it better go elsewhere. But you had a compelling reason to go, of course. Anyway I try to avoid non-refundable stays even if it would save me money.

username

OP seems pretty well to do and an experienced traveller. I think it is totally reasonable for OP to expect some flexibility from Marriott in this situation. It is kind of strange that Marriott did not even offer a compromise (e.g. credit or at least some goodwill).

Like others mentioned, Credit Card coverage might be a good route to try.

Agent69

Struggling to understand the problem here.

OP booked a non refundable hotel room and then was a no show. The clue is in the title - 'non refundable'

williamluk

yes, they usually do, as long as you bought the insurance before they announced the strike.