happymommy

If I book a room, but for some reason can't make it and can't cancel within the cancellation period, I obviously lose the one night stay charge. If I am charged, do I get the night credit? I don't know, but since I didn't stay I assume no. But since I paid for the night, yes? It's not a big deal, just curious. Maybe the Marriott Concierge team can assist with an answer?

Thanks!

hhoope01

In general you won't get night credit as you didn't actually stay there.

With that said, there was another thread concerning mattress running where some were able to talk the hotel management into "checking them in" even though they weren't going to show up. Note that in those cases, prior to the stay, the person actually talked with the hotel management about not showing up but still getting points/night credit. My understanding though is that most hotel managers won't do that as it is technically against Marriott rules.

SkiAdcock

What he said.

I've never understood why night credit & points aren't given. The hotel is getting the revenue after all.

Cheers.

gardener

Same reason you don't get flight credit for booking a flight and no showing.

People would make Platinum in Marriott by booking the cheapest hotel in Oklahoma or such and no showing. And no one would have to board a plane to make a mileage run.

SacTownGuy

People would make Platinum in Marriott by booking the cheapest hotel in Oklahoma or such and no showing. And no one would have to board a plane to make a mileage run.

You really think there is that much value in being Platinum? I just don't see it. The free cookies, free internet, free nights, etc... you earn would not add up to the cost of the rooms you paid for. In my opinion there is not that much value in having status with hotels, airlines, etc.... Sure, small perks and such but not that big of a deal. If anything airlines have more value as you actually get upgraded a fair amount if you have high status with them.

jeff30189

You're comparing apples and oranges.

When you no show for a flight, you have a credit in your account that you can use toward a future flight, albeit with a rebooking fee of some sort.

When you no show for a hotel, if you guaranteed the reservation you get nothing back. In that case, since you fulfilled your part of the contract (payment) and the hotel fulfilled its part of the contract (reserved a room), then the detail of whether or not you showed up should be irrelavant.

mikew99

All that might be true, but it's irrelevant to the point: If you don't stay/fly, you don't get credit. And if you think about what would happen in the absence of that rule, you soon become very thankful for it!

mapu

Sometimes I do get credit and points for stays I couldn't make. Mostly in Asia though, mabye they don't handle the system correctly.

BaltimoreZ71

Marriott allows you to change your reservation if you are within the cancellation window, so it is similar to an airline giving you credit towards future travel, but with no "change fee."

cbechdel

It depends on how they "check the reservation in." I worked night audit for several years, and any "no shows" were to be checked into room number "GNS" for "guaranteed no show".

The overnight room/tax posting would post as a GNS room rate, so that for points etc. they could be "filtered out", i.e. if the room number was GNS rather than 101, it was excluded from posting points to MR accounts. Sometimes if we weren't sold out or oversold, I'd just check the reservation into a regular room number, so if they showed during the audit routines, i'd have the exact room/key etc, and to the guest their folio looked correct at departure. In those cases the guest would have gotten points and credit for the stay at departure unless i didn't :room transfer" then from room 101 back to GNS.

Note that the points routines do not occur until after checkout, not at arrival, so the key is what rom number (i.e. 101 or GNS is on the folio once it is "checked out" as to how points would or would not post.

Another reason to do the GNS room number was so when someone disputed the charge later with their credit card, we had a verification it was a no show rather than some other issue with card. And our property policy was to ALWAYS without any pushback to reverse a GNS charge if the guest called the property requesting this. Calling 1-800 or MR wouldn't do it, but at the property even our line-level clerks answering the phones had authority to issue appropriate credit to the customer while on the phone with them no questions asked. But this was a property decision not official policy.

NDDomer86

+1 when I worked Night Audit

SkiAdcock

Thanks for the interesting 'behind the scenes' look at how it's done.

Cheers.

esteban7

+1...very interesting!

puddy

Since you are Plat, I would call the elite line and see if you could avoid the charge altogether (if you have a good reason for not showing). I've done this a couple times where weather or a change in itinerary caused me to have to cancel the room. The agent would call the hotel and see if they would waive the charge.

esteban7

Funny enough, I just had this situation in South America. I had to extend a stay at another hotel, and completely forgot to move the other reservation ahead by a day. The cancellation policy was 24 hours - I called that morning. A follow-up call to elite reservations and the no-show was "taken care of"...