Marriott Rewards is pretty much terrible all around. (160 nights with them last year (2011)) I pretty much can't use my point on anything that even resembles a time when a normal person would go on vacation someplace. Sure I can use the heck out of them in Detroit in late January. Any other time and the redemption rate is absurd or there are no rooms available. But mostly no rooms available with points. For example I tried booking a hotel for next (12 months advance) year and there were "no dates available for check in." I got the same thing 4 months in advance in 2011. I attempted to book over a 2 month period at 9! different hotels. I've had my best luck at Ritz Carlton properties.

As a result I have drastically cut my stays at Marriott. I will probably phase them out all together this year. I have sent several letters to Marriott about my issues with their program. I mostly get back letters defending their program and saying I am the only one having these problems. Perhaps they should read more flyertalk forums. I would also encourage more people to write and call Marriott. Perhaps if enough people do they will make some changes.

Troll!

While possible, I'll give the OP the benefit of the doubt right now.


First, igotgirth welcome to FT.

Second, sorry you are having a lot of trouble using your points. Like any of the hotel chain programs, Marriott has its strong areas and weak areas. As such it is a good program for some and not as good for others.

We might be able to help you with your award issues if you give us more information (i.e. hotel you are trying to book, dates, etc.) There are any number of reasons you could be having problems. Some of them could well be an issue that hotel following the rules. But it could also be that you are looking at hotels that are almost booked up for your dates or you are looking at MVCI properties which are Marriott's timeshares. Since Marriott doesn't own the nights at those, the normal redemption rules don't work for them.

So if you could give us more info, there are some here who would be more than willing to try to help you out.

But in any case glad to have you on FT. Don't be shy.

In the past 3 years we have used points for :

Spring break in London
Spring break in the Carribean
Thanksgiving in Hawaii
Thanksgiving in the Carribean
Valentine's Day in New York City

I'm sure there are more high demand dates, but we've had some fabulous family/couple time at Marriotts when we wanted to.

As for high redemption rates- not sure what this means, except for upgraded rooms there is no fluxuating redemption rate at Marriott.

its not likely we will ever hear from the OP ever again, but notice how they left out where they were trying to book

so if they were looking for The Flora in Rome or Champs Elyesees in Paris, yea it can be difficult to find award nights especially for a bunch of nights, as well as a few other locations

We used a cert over Christmas break and also have booked in a location with a very large event taking place in the middle of summer.

We've never really had a problem finding a place to use them. However, I do agree if you are trying to book a TS property of beach club for spring break and don't book early enough that could cause an obvious issue.

To the OP,
Welcome to FT and hopefully you will come back and post more specifics to see if some of the very brilliant travellers here at FT can help you or give you some of their knowledge.

FYI - autoshow is a major citywide event in Detroit which creates compression in the entire metro area, I would say it's great that you were able to obtain rooms over peak dates in the city (and as our good friend Ohmark can tell us - Autoshow's annual charity gala is the height of the social calendar)

yes but they can be fun too

And I have used points at both of these properities, Grand Flora over Easter not too bad.

i agree with OP - havent been with marriott for too long (1 full year vs 10 with SPG) but have numerous times tried to unsuccessfully redeem points due to availability. not sure why anyone would choose them over stawood or hilton where you dont have to put up with this nonsense.

Reasons people choose them:

- Total reward return is very competitive
- The 120,000-mile Travel Package is still among the best hotel rewards there is
- Their pattern of paid stays doesn't line up with Starwood...for example, Marriott has North American suburban/rural areas covered far better than Starwood.
- Corporate contracts with Marriott. More of my employers and clients have had their "primary" contracts with Marriott than anyone else.
- Quality of the mainline Marriott/Renaissance brands is more consistent than Hilton/Doubletree.
- Easy to rack up piles of HH and SPG without hotel stays. Therefore, if you do your business travel at Marriott and use one of those other chains' credit cards for your non-Marriott expenses, you can build elite status and large point balances in two programs. Diversification is more important with the hotels than the airlines. (With airlines, a single major alliance can cover most of the world.)

Those are just a few...

I share the sentiment about Marriott doing quirky things to block awards from being used, but even so...I've had more good successes over the years than failures. The key (for me) is finding good international non-resort properties with 7-day lounges where I actually want to spend 6-7 days to use the hotel portion of a Travel Package.

MR is really not bad. I redeemed points in various places in Europe and Hong Kong during X'mas period without problem.

I like MR because they have enough Courtyards in Europe. As we live in Europe that's quite useful for us. Mr. Nacho and I spend our own $ on hotel stays, so luxury full service hotels are not our primary choice. Courtyards in Europe are modern and nice. They are much better than the Mercur, Novotel IMO.

Currently planning a month vacation in Europe with four of us using almost exclusive Marriott Points for airfare and hotels. Its working for me overall! Not perfect but its allowing to take a vacation that I never would have been able to.

Why is anyone wasting their time with this ridiculous poster?

160 nights/year and he can't see the benefits of the program?

We all know scads of stories where the program has worked for us in many, many cases, and this guy spends nearly 1/2 year in Marriott properties and can't see any benefit, even when it comes to award stays?

Perhaps he should read more F/T threads on Marriott.

Don't waste your time with him.

Maybe the OP is really a Marriott person who wants us to all come to the defense of Marriott and point out that it really is not all that bad.

Why yes, I am certain there was a second gunman on the grassy knoll and their are aliens currently alive in Roswell, why do you ask?

With that said, I have never (knock on wood) had any difficulty booking a reward stay at Marriott in the US or Europe.