RBirns

Looking to stay tomorrow night, using a free night award, and my preferred choices are not showing up on search. I am Platinum. Is it possible to call my preferred hotel and see if they have something for me? Or would the Platinum Elite Support number have more success?

tjk1976

They say the plat desk sees the same availability as what's shown on the website, but who knows if that's actually true. Hotels often keep extra rooms on hand that aren't published, so it doesn't hurt to call the property and ask.

LoganFlyer

Your status isn't likely to magically make a room available with less than 48 hours notice, but you have nothing to lose by asking.

RBirns

Platinum support line was not successful.

1mileman

paying cash may yield success but you'd have to pay rack rate by using plat override if its not a special event day, not using the FNC

hotelboy

As a hotel owner/operator I can say this is a very untrue wives tale. Hotels will sell every room. We do not "often" if at all keeps sellable rooms not for sale.

tjk1976

Depends on the hotel and on how you define often, I guess. I know for a fact that it happens because I've been offered such a room myself on several occasions.

RCyyz

You can use the Platinum guarantee, but then you have to pay rack rate. Unless you're super-desperate, that's usually not worth the expense.

sethb

Doesn't the Platinum guarantee require more advance than "tomorrow night"?

hotelboy

Yes. 48 hours.

iknowthings

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The 48-Hour Guarantee is only available to Titanium and Ambassador. It also has blackout dates.

https://help.marriott.com/s/article/Article-22363

tjk1976

I love how Marriott uses such vague T&Cs: "Forty-eight (48) Hour Guaranteed Availability may not be available on certain limited dates (e.g., special events)."

"Certain limited dates" could mean literally anything they want, making this guarantee not much of a guarantee at all. Kind of like how there's no clear policy on what defines a conference hotel, a designation that properties can cite to deny late check-out to eligible elites. Sometimes, it honestly feels like they just make things up on the spot to deny benefits.

stant

"You must be logged into your Marriott Bonvoy® Titanium or Ambassador Account to see your 48-hour Guarantee benefit availability and complete your booking."

what does this mean? i have often times seen properties that were sold out, and i never saw any option for a platinum override while logged onto my account as ambassador, i always thought you had to call in to get a room.

DJ_Iceman

Back in the Marriott Rewards days, I used to really appreciate this benefit. On those times when I really, really needed to have a room I knew I could book it at rack rate at a Marriott and get it. Exceptions/blackouts were VERY rare, by design.

I don't even consider it a benefit anymore, to be honest. There are simply too many times I'm looking at bookings far enough in the future that the guarantee should apply (if necessary), and properties simply show up as "sold out".

There are many things I dislike about Hilton, but one thing I do like is when searching hotel availability and prices it explicitly says "this room is exclusively available to you as a diamond member" or something like that so I know the benefit is being used.

Kacee

Hyatt will also show "Guar Availability" at sold-out properties.

The thing about sell-outs is, the inventory often changes, and I've been able quite a few times to score a room at a regular rate (even for same day arrival) by continuing to search semi-obsessively.