shorthauldad

Wanted to try out redeeming one of my shiny new Nightly Upgrade Awards for this weekend.

One week out I book a standard room, under the NUA option I select (only) the highest room category Sheraton Club Suite, Club lounge access, Suite and wait.

Three days out I get an email confirming the upgrade, room type changes to Sheraton Club Suite, Club lounge access, Suite. Nice!

Yesterday I check in using the app, room type shows Sheraton Club Suite, Club lounge access, Suite. Looking forward to it.

I pull up the app this morning and overnight the room has been silently downgraded one category and is now showing Junior Suite, Suite.

Just checked and the Sheraton Club Suite category is still on sale. Really annoying when properties try and pull this trick, and not the first time I've had this happen.

Guess I now have to either a) suck it up, or b) gear up for an argument at the front desk when I arrive there after a long day travelling.

What a way to frustrate and disappoint your customer before they've even arrived at your hotel.... <sigh>

iknowthings

Sorry that happened, but do make sure you get your NUAs back.

BRITINJAPAN4

Guess I now have to either a) suck it up, or b) gear up for an argument at the front desk when I arrive there after a long day travelling.

What a way to frustrate and disappoint your customer before they've even arrived at your hotel.... <sigh>[/QUOTE]


Why wait, give them some time to rectify !

billdokes

Why wait, give them some time to rectify ![/QUOTE]

Exactly, call the property, ask for the front desk, explain exactly what you described here and ID that they are still offering the room type they confirmed for sale...although I'd probably start out with 'I think there's been a mistake and I'm hoping you can help me' vs. looking for an argument out of the gate.

Keyser

Definitely call the property & ask to speak with a manager. Send the manager the upgrade confirmation email as well.

iknowthings

Slightly off-topic, but things like this aren't necessary.

Every single change to a reservation - from creation and beyond - has a history attached to it that can't be fabricated nor altered. Sending in "proof" is never necessary.

The hotel (and corporate) knows what happened, and it knows what email confirmations you received. The room type change, after the NUA approval, was done by a human and done intentionally. Sending in screenshots, forwarding emails, etc., does not strengthen your case. It's akin to you trying to tell a story to the person who wrote it.

I'm in no way discouraging anyone to contact a hotel over situations described in OP, but I encourage you to just use factual language such as "My room type was downgraded after a confirmed NUA" rather than attempting to prove what you know happened through screenshots and emails. You know it, the hotel knows it, anyone who has access to 'h in MARSHA knows it, which is everyone. I can tell you with high confidence that your screenshots did not factor into any part of your outcome. If the screenshots made you feel validated, though, by all means carry on.

littlevoices

Yes, I had a similar problem when I had selected only a "good" suite type, the property (whether maliciously or not, I would presume poor staff training and they gave away my room on the day). They did give me a lesser "premium" room - but I did have to ask for the NUAs back manually as the system had already allocated them based on the upgrade clearing ~2 days out (not on the fifth night at the time). This is when they were SNAs though!

For the OP - I don't know if a NUA really gives you a guarantee of that room 3 days out - probably too early to really tell if corporate expects that. Hence as usual I presume that iknowthings, as always, knows things on his advice on how to approach this , and do let us know how it goes.

Keyser

There is a world of difference between screenshots you take yourself & a confirmation email sent by someone else. I would never use screenshots in such a scenario but the confirmation email is the simplest & best way to communicate your point.

Send an email with a simple message like 'Attached is the confirmation email I received showing that my Nightly Upgrade Award was redeemed to upgrade to a Sheraton Club Suite. The app now shows me in a different downgraded room so I request you to either put me back in the room the award was redeemed for or make arrangements to have Marriott return my Nightly Upgrade Award.'

Short & sweet.

Marriott Bonvoy Lurker II

Dear shorthauldad,

We are sorry to learn about this. You may call our Loyalty Support hotline listed here https://www.marriott.com/help/loyalt...mer-support.mi for immediate assistance. Our call representative will help to review and follow up for you timely.

Best regards,

Carrie L
Specialist Social Media Care
Marriott International
[email protected]

iknowthings

I stated "sending in screenshots, forwarding emails, etc." In my post but didn't want to keep repeating that for the sake of brevity, so I repeated "screenshots" a couple times. Both are equally unnecessary. When a confirmation email is sent to you, a line is inserted into the reservation history recording that it was sent, including a time stamp, who sent it, and which email it was sent to.

There is never a situation in which you have more information about your reservation than is visible to a hotel or corporate.

shorthauldad

Thanks to everyone who responded, sorry if I let my frustration show in my initial post.

I have now reached out to the property directly using the app's chat function .... let's see what happens! 🤞

Keyser

There is no doubt about the fact that we will never have more information about the reservation than is visible to the hotel but I have lost count of the number of times a hotel has given me incorrect information to try & brush aside an uncomfortable situation.

'No sir, this is the room you had originally booked', when I know I had booked something else. 'We have upgraded you based on your status', when I have paid for the upgrade. Most of us have faced similar situations over our many years of travel. A confirmation email eliminates this unnecessary communication to get to the point in question.

I have even come across a few instances where the hotel asked me to send them the original booking email to confirm what the payment terms were during booking, the most recent situation being last year.

So you may feel the email confirmation is unnecessary but it can be more necessary than you think.

Kacee

I take it you've never actually been through this with a Marriott property. They will deny you were upgraded into the higher room type unless you show them you have proof. Sometimes they will continue to deny it even after you show them the proof.

kaizen7

Personally, I would just ignore any changes in the app prior to check in.

But then if they still downgrade you at the check in then demand the original suite and show them the NUA confirmation.

In my experience, the FD either upgrade youback to your original suite or make all available lame excuse under the sun to make you keep your downgraded suite.

As for email proof, everytime I have issue with my reservations, whether its SNA issue or Your24 or downgraded from the room type you booked with cash, the FD always ask for one.

I guess it was the easiest way to deny anything if the guest somehow failed to show the proof on their end regardless the history shown on their own system.

kaizen7

Even more off topic, what would happen if NUA was approved but then a human at property level downgrade it intentionally? would Marriott do anything?