As I noted earlier the rep was incorrect - you do NOT need to call, it wont improve your chances as an elite for an upgrade

Given Socrates' reply, this is most likely a misinformed or over zealous phone agent. As always, I'm not sure I would take as gospel what a single phone agent tells someone during a phone conversation.

I guess you could try calling the elite line for ever reservation you have this year and then let us know if you noticed any difference in your upgrades.

If you (or anyone else for that matter) need to impress your wife with Marriott plat status, you have far greater issues to attend to than the one that is the subject of this thread. I would suggest that anyone in this position spend a little less time haunting the FlyerTalk boards and a little more time with family.

I am, of course, not saying that this is the case with your marriage. In fact, your use of the phrase, "if I wouldn't have," implies that it is not the case. Therefore, in your case, the platinum arrival gift and additional 25% point bonus should suffice to make you whole. If you receive the same 10 elite night compensation that ediemac1 did, I would suggest that it is of greater value than the arrival gift and the (educated guess here) additional 1250 MR points you would earn as a plat on your weekend stay in New York. After all, the 10 nights will help in your march toward the goal of lifetime status, and just think how much that will impress your wife.

If you would prefer the arrival gift and points, I expect that MR could take back the 10 nights and give you 1750 points (1250 plus the 500 point arrival gift). Or if you really need the wine and cheese to make you happy, I guess they could send it via UPS. Having had the wine and cheese, I think you'll be better off with the points, though I guess status cheese may taste better than ordinary cheese. It has that extra bouquet of respect so lacking in common, supermarket cheese.

I fully qualified for the last Megabonus - hit the 25K miles offered to me. Not sure how that's relevant, though.

You are correct in that if the matter had to be decided by a judge, they might think that someone claiming to think their Platinum status was real (i.e., not reasonably suspect it to be an error) was full of it if they hadn't stayed a single night the year before. The person's familiarity with the way the system works would come into question. My mother, for example, probably wouldn't have a clue. By the same token, she'd be extremely unlikely to be booking because of status, or booking online at all, for that matter

My first reaction was, indeed, that it might be a mistake, but upon reading about the Platinum Challenge and the rolling calendar - subjects I didn't know much about - I presumed that my bump was probably the result of the system recognizing that I had a flurry of activity that justified it. I read stories about others being surprised by bumps, and others who had status bestowed or renewed despite falling short of requirements, and figured I fit in. I went ahead and booked, thinking it was real.

I think this is a very fair response, and puts the legal aspect to rest, as someone would be hard-pressed to argue that this resolution doesn't compensate for any detrimental reliance. There could be extreme cases to the contrary, but I doubt it. Thanks for the quick and fair handling - it's a reason I'll continue to do business with Marriott!

*If* this is true, I agree, very disconcerting. Given that Marriott has made a bunch of nice tech upgrades to their site, we could hope they'd institute an auto "upgrade request" that shows on your reservation, much like the airlines do. Would be a superb improvement, but I'm not sure it's one we can expect.

Indeed, it would only an illustration of an extreme. If I had to impress my wife with something like this, I wouldn't be with her. However, *if* someone was reasonably relying on the status for an aspect that isn't made up for with cheese and points alone, they could pursue that angle. The resolution of 10 bonus nights, in my opinion, is in line with fair compensation that should dissuade anyone with a case to make from proceeding. I'm quite pleased with the way Marriott has handled it.

You don't think that the cost of retaining counsel:value of expected settlement ratio was enough to dissuade them?

I finallly got the 2010 Megabonus SM promotion posted to my account today. Not sure what cause the delay.

I also got the official apology email. Kudos back to Marriott to at least acknowledge the mistake and communicate it to the members.



Dear ni2mi2,

While adding the Rollover Nights you earned into your Marriott Rewards� account, we made a processing error that double-counted these nights and resulted in you incorrectly achieving a higher Elite status level.

We apologize for any confusion this has caused.

This error has been rectified and your correct Elite status has been restored. To thank you for your understanding, we have awarded 10 bonus Elite nights shown in the promotional nights category in your account.

Rollover Nights will again be offered in 2010 and we hope you'll be able to participate in this popular promotion.

Thank you for continuing to travel -- we're eager to welcome you to one of our fine properties again soon.

Thank you,
The Marriott Rewards Team

Just wanted to jump on here, confirm the information in the email posted by
ni2mi2, and offer to assist if you have any questions about your individual accounts.

Though slightly off-topic, I also wanted to offer a mea culpa on some incorrect information I posted earlier. I had said that extra nights will not roll multiple years, when in fact they will. For example, if you were Platinum and stayed 200 nights in 2009, you have 125 rolled over into 2010. Assuming you don't stay a single night in 2010, you will still begin 2011 with 50 nights that will have rolled over from the excess of that original 200. I'm sorry I stated that incorrectly on an earlier thread. I'll try to find it and fix the record on there, in case you're searching in the future for information on the topic. But I hope the correction is good news.

Not if class action, self-representation, or a large detriment. Either way, Marriott did the right thing - says a lot about the company.

I would submit the premise that you in fact booked those 10 nights because of the mega bonus and not because you were upgraded to PLT. In a court of law that "fact" (will maybe not a fact, let's say argument ) would way against you........

This class is too small. It is not so large as to render individual suits impractical.

Sure, assuming the plaintiff places next to no value on her/his time.

Are you trying to say that status cheese is worth a lot to some folks?

I'd bet that you one of very few who booked a pre-paid reservation in reliance on your erroneous plat status. And I expect that your detriment is typical for those who did. The 1750 MR points you may have relied upon receiving as a plat will get you around 12% of a night at a category 3. Putting a generous $120 value on that room, that's a bit over $14. Of course you could have opted for the cheese...

That was part of the reason, yes. One of the trips (to NYC) wouldn't have occurred had I not been Platinum when booking.

No, I was simply illustrating the situation where someone booked expensive airfare, took time off work, or otherwise incurred costs because of their reliance on the Platinum status. I didn't say this was the case for most, or even many, people. I didn't do anything beyond a couple of airline tickets and a 3-day hotel reservation that I can directly relate to the flub, and as you said, I might be one of the few and my damage might be typical.

I know... the audacity of some people falsly seeking status and importance.

Oh well, it was fun thinking I was actually somebody.

finished the year at 71 or 72 nites
thought i was bumped to platimum
had 1 stay as a plat with 50% bonus plus 500 points

got the email
back to gold
with rollover nites!!

If you want to use an airline analogy, I think it would be more like:

You purchase a coach ticket
You checkin online and are assigned business class seat.
You arrive at the airport to check a bag and the airline informs you that you were accidentally given someone else's seat. (sharing seat's probably isn't allowed by the FAA)
You haven't boarded the plane, much less even gone through security and the seat assignment has already been corrected.