Dumb question@:-)... my apologies.

Booked a 7 night stay with a rack rate... wanted to make sure the dates I needed didn't sell out. I should however prior to arrival have enough pts by then to cover my entire stay... am I able to switch my stay over to pts before I arrive or do I have to make a new booking and hope the dates I want are still available.... I'm not bothered if the use of pts are through the saver option or not.

Thanks in advance !

dumb answer maybe... ?
Why not just make a second reservation for points - you can order the e cert when you get enough...
then just cancel the rackrate booking (or the points one if you never attain enough)
I don't know if you can switch - sure someone else will be along - but I suspect it may not be possible if the hotel has a limited number of points stays available

Definitely do as yorkshire exile suggests. There is no reason to wait for the points to make the awards reservation given you don't need to have the points in your account. (Note you will need the points at least 7 days before the stay.)

Even with Marriott's program changes last year, I'm not sure that you would be able to just change your reservation from a paid stay to a points stay should the hotel end up selling out of standard rooms. It isn't worth the risk given you can make an awards res now anyway.

BTW, this is one of those Marriott program differences that is very nice to have. I know with SPG, if you don't have the points, you can't make the award res. So given the "issues" around Marriott's "No Blackout dates" and "Hotel can limit the number of standard rooms only for a limited number of days" program rules, being able to make reservations even if you don't yet have the points, provides a little bit of a hedge against the issues around those to program changes.

Thanks, exactly the answer I was looking for ^

I gotta say this and I have in the past.

It bothers me to no end that Marriott would let someone hold a reward without having the points in their account.

Rewards as I can tell are few and far between that they sould only be available if you have points in hand.

I cant be the only one who feels this way and I don't get Marriots thinking on this issue at all.

Marriott's thinking is pretty simple. If you don't have the points now, you have to earn them, which means that you're binding yourself to them for at least some period of time, until you earn the requisite number of points. It's actually pretty smart.

I certainly see your point regarding the impact it could have on available award inventory, though.

I've got well north of 500,000 points in my account and the process doesn't bother me a bit

I have more than enough points as well.

What if you wanted to book a package with 7 nights in Phuket and the dates you want are not available because someone thinks they might have enough points in the furure so they placed a hold and took the room out of award inventory.

Or what if someone can't decide where/when they want to go and are sitting on 4 different 7 night bookings? The airlines put a brake on that by charging change/cancellation fees.

It just doesn't bother me. I have no way of knowing why I can't book the room (sold out or the case you state above). I've been doing award bookings long enough to know its not a guarentee

Then that is a different problem. I could see putting a cap on how many different bookings they have but letting someone book before they have the points is a nice benefit that I support.

I'm actually a huge fan of being able to book reservations without having the points in your account. How different is it from booking a room and not paying for it until you stay rather than paying in advance? I understand there is limited availability, but you could have the same thing happen with a paying reservation if someone books ahead of time not knowing which reservation they might use. I used this ability to book two different vacation packages for a trip to Italy with my wife last year because I didn't know when we would be able to fly.

Hey Vicki, got anything at the Ren Chicago Blackstone around July 28? I'd like it....