Hi folks,

I just returned from the Renaissance M street hotel in DC. It's a teribble hotel!

After making my reservation on Priceline, I called Marriott Rewards and had my membership number attached to the reservation. As previously discussed on FT, if your membership number is attached to a reservation, you should be getting all benefits for your status level.

At check-in, I was told that I could not have a room with two beds (I was traveling with my mother), because the reservation was made on Priceline. After, I said that I wanted to invoke the Bed Type Guarantee, I was given the same Priceline excuse. No apology for the situation or even an offer to move me to a two bed room on 2nd or 3rd night of my stay!

Anyways, I called Marriott and was given the same story, so in the end I believed it.

However, now that I have read Marriott Rewards T & C's I see this:

So, it appears that if you get them to attach your membership number to your reservations, they cannot use the Priceline excuse?

Am I correct?

P.S. I want to pursue this with Marriott, as this is the most pathetic 4-star hotel that I have stayed at. Ate at the restaurant twice, got the wrong order the first time and had to flag down the waitress for refills both times. Breakfast in the restaurant was a joke, no hostess, dirty tables, and no refills on juice/cofee ever! This hotel really sucked!

Interesting fine-point argument, but when you bid through Priceline, by their own terms and conditions, you are not guaranteed a bed type. I'll bet if you reread Marriott you will find a booking channel reference proviso. Let the bed type go or the rest of your complaint will be laughed off. If bed type or other variable is an absolute, then book conventionally. Priceline can be great and first-half 2009 in New York it was, but its not worth it unless there is a large price difference.

Technically you paid Priceline..NOT Marriott, thus you were PL's customer.

As has been discussed ad nauseum here, you MAY get your amenity and points for incidentals, BUT I wouldn't count on it nor would I push the issue, which is why I rarely use PL or Hotwire.....

That said, I have been given, in Hyatt and *wood properties, points for incidentals and a welcome gift...and I was NOT given the worst room in the place. Actually I was upgraded to the Club floor at a Westin...(I was having a really bad day and I'm Plat there, and Diamond at Hyatt...I guess the desk agent did a combo of status upgrade coupled with just trying to be nice!)

If I want to stay at a Marriott hotel with all bennies, points, etc...I will book direct.

As for the overall lousy stay, contact customer service....I haven't stayed there, but I too have a REN property that I generally despise.....but sometimes it's pretty cheap....yet, you get what you pay for! (Not saying that in your case.....!)

That's not the way I read it. Elite status and bedding preferences weren't transmitted with the Priceline reservation. P'line, of course, makes no bedding type guarantee, and many chains deny benefits on P'line stays.

P'line had nothing to do with the restaurant experience, I am certain.

You have a vast number of Gold and Silver cards on your profile, and you book your mother with "Priceline" - Shame on You.

You may be right. But, other chains actually say that in order to get benefits you must book through them.

Marriott says that you can book with a wholeseller, as long as you attach your membership info to the reservation.

In regards to the hotel itself, I did a little digging through FT and noticed that no one finds this to be their favorite DC property. I now see why?

Another little thing that I noticed while at the hotel. They changed GM's (as I emailed the old one before my stay) and replaced the first page of the hotel info book. However, they did not bother to change the lounge opening hours from 5:00 to 5:30 PM. There must be some total breakdown at this hotel!

If you book through PL, you're PL's customer - all you're guaranteed through them is a room that allows for 2 people in the room (and technically, a double bed sleeps 2 people).

if the MR # was included in the record more than 48 hours before arrival the guarantee would apply

It was included a month prior.

Still waiting to hear back from Marriott.

Actually Priceline DOES basically make a gurantee. They are pretty clear that you are only guaranteed one bed.

Am I the only one who wonders WHY we would expect the chains to "reward" us with "loyalty" gifts and gurantees when we were willing to take the chance that we could be anywhere to save a few bucks.

Yes, I have used Priceline and will do it in the future. No, I don't expect to get "points", "gifts" and "upgrades" for my "el cheapo" room rate. (I will not however, take a subpar room. As I told the Shearton Chicago Manager, "I didn't MAKE you take this price, that was YOUR call, now I want a room where all the features work!" Mine had a heating issue. I was moved )

I dont understand these Priceline customer arguments.

Are you all saying that if I book on Expedia for the same rate as on Marriott.com, I should expect no benefits?

I wonder how the airlines treat priceline bookings, my guess is that you don't get miles, but you do get all benefits of status.

Not at all. I beleive that they are saying that if you book on Priceline for 1/2 the price of Marriott.com you sacrafice some benefits for that discount.

If you book a "name your own price" on Priceline and get Delta... then you don't get ANY of the benefits of status besides possibly getting to board in group one. You don't get the upgrade option, if your flight is cancelled you don't get 'Preference' on rebooking, etc..... I expect that the others are the same.

IMHO doing a 'bid' for a deal is not NEAR the same as booking on Expedia.com. You are paying the Marriott the going rate for the room on Expedia, Orbitz, etc... If you "name your own" price then you know that you are taking the "cheap" route for a gamble and you could easily get "Hotel Monica" instead of a Marriott, Hilton etc. It's not really a comparable booking IMHO.

actually the airlines are more harsh than the hotels...no seat assignment until check-in, no benefits of status (however I believe they would allow pre-boarding if you showed your card but no EUA, P seats etc), nothing other than travel from point A to point B

But, Marriott's T & C's dont distinguish between what wholeseller gets benefits and what does not.

The Marriott rep on the phone told me that Expedia bookings are treated the same as Priceline.