Award in Eugene
 

Trying to book an award night in Eugene in November, and there is 0 availability. Nearest availability is Springfield.

Marriott has no blackouts, right? Am I missing something? Is Eugene really that popular in November?

Dates, hotel, state?

Cheers.

On a weekend in November, you may well be competing with an Oregon football game, which tends to fill the hotels. Sometimes even the Oregon State fans (whose campus is 40 miles N. in Corvallis) will fill many of the hotels in Eugene/Springfield.

On Nov. 19 and 26 are the two hottest games of the year - USC and Oregon State, both at Autzen. Hotels are already filling up for those weekends.

BTW, Springfield is about 5 minutes from Eugene, so I wouldn't sweat that.

Eugene/Springfield resident for 30~ years.

Anytime in November
Eugene, Oregon

It's that flexible... but I turn up nothing.

I know there is only one Marriott property there, the Residence.

I've tried searching using the "flexible dates" tool on Marriott.com

In fact, I found only 1 day available for October

There's also a Courtyard.

That's the Springfield property... I was hoping to stay closer to "downtown" Eugene

The transit system in Eugene/Springfield is pretty good. If you don't rent a car, you can get a bus from the hotel area to downtown Eugene, and if you do, it's maybe a 15 minute drive from one to the other. I would NOT sweat exact location.

Did you call the hotel? They may have just pre-blocked some dates out without specific reservations.

I guess I can try that... I generally find they just transfer you to CS who then reads you the same stuff you find online...

Anyone else ever seen whole months "blacked out" months in advance? I thought this was against the Marriott no blackouts?

I get that you want Eugene, but from what seaduck79 says, Springfield isn't that bad an alternative - isn't hard to get to Eugene. I'd book that to at least secure a hotel & try to sort out Eugene.

Cheers.

Springfield, IL? That's kinda far from Oregon, isn't it? :p

On a more serious note, I've had problems redeeming an award night here in San Antonio as hotels close to Sea World are booked 100%. CSR told me only way to guarantee a room is by using the Platinum perk.

Eugene in November isn't serious? :D

I meant because of my previous joke post (Springfield, IL vs Springfield, OR). Get it? ;)

Somehow I had missed your first post. Now it makes sense! Now kettles filling up your hotels near San Antonio is serious business and should be investigated.

With the way awards are looking, closest hotel to Eugene might well be Springfield IL

Yeah, that 2 mile commute is a killer!:D

A two mile drive is not very accommodating to enjoying a few beverages before heading back (see walking not driving) to the hotel.

My original point of this thread was to try and gauge others' experience in non-availability of award nights

I haven't experienced hotel black-outs nor have I lost out on booking a room using rewards to a paying customer.

When I am unsure of availability, I call the hotel directly. I've also escalated to the supervisors of the phone CSR, but find they are limited to what the hotel tells them.

So you have had success booking a hotel that shows 0 award availability online by calling the hotel directly?

One thing to consider is there may be a length-of-stay requirement (2 or 3 or even 5 consecutive nights)... have you looked at a longer stay and then see if there's availability?

No, I have not had any success. I usually just move on since I don't have the time to continually follow up.

Incidentally, I was planning on staying at the same hotel in August. I just called up the hotel to ask my questions as well as yours.

You are correct that the hotel is booked out for November weekends. There are University of Oregon football games (18-20 and 25-27) as someone pointed out, as well as "some sporting event" on the other weekends (4-6 and 11-13). In addition, they just built a new arena.

It seems that you probably don't have a chance to book this hotel. Here is what the hotel agent told me that you can try: call the hotel the day of at about 4pm, when the cancellations usually come in. Make a reservation under cash to secure it (hotel can not reserve using points) then call Marriott line to switch pay to rewards reservation. The agent said that there is a possibility that the hotel may be sold out for points as there is a cap of how many people can stay with points. He did confirm that there are no black-out dates. Hope this helps...

Very helpful.

Thanks!

Or you can do the obvious & easy thing given we're talking only 2 miles here :rolleyes:

Book Springfield & if you're worried about drinking & driving, take a cab for crikey's sake. If you're using an award that's free. A cab for 2 miles is cheap. Geesh.

OVMV.

Cheers.