dannieboiz

I got some free nights from the last promo that I need to use by the end of may. We want to go to the big island but the hotel there is a Cat 5 hotel.

Would they let u pay the difference?

Also, I have enough points for 2 additional free nights which would give me a total of 4 nights there and there's a promo for the 5th night free, would that qualify me?

flyerwife

Unfortunately, no and no.

shoreline

No.

If they intended for it to cover a cat. 5 it would not specify its for a cat. 1-4 (it would say 1-5).

aaupgrade

No.

maggiew

The Courtyard Kona is a Cat. 4 hotel. You could use the certificates there.

Maggie

dayone

+1.

BigE

In fairness to the OP, it is not uncommon for business to sell/award you a certain product and later give you the opportunity to buy up (both parties can benefit from this at the right price point). It's not unreasonable to ask. But, alas, Marriott seems not to allow this.

sdsearch

But in fairness to everyone else, I've never heard of such a "buy up" with free notel certificates in any program which has them (not Marriott, not SPG, not Hilton, not Best Western).

Marriott is better, in fact, about extending them (at least the ones you earn from the credit card), which most of those other programs don't even let you do.

In ther travel industry, those "buy ups" tend to be at the last minute anyway. They tend to be "you're here now, would like to get something better than what you've got reserved for a bit more cash?". In the hotel context, it would be when checking in to a hotel, at that point some hotels (only a tiny fraction) might offer upgrades for "buy up". But you can't use this to "buy up" from one hotel to a different one!

To put it another way, those "buy ups" tend to be offered when the're "excess capacity" they can either have unused or bet a bit extra money for. But that again doesn't apply to using a cert at a different hotel.

shoreline

Has someone answered this question yet?

Although the OP cannot use the certs 1-4 for a cat. 5, if he paid for 2 nights and points for 2 nights, would this earn the 5th night free?

I know at SPG a reward stay will still get the extra night for free, but have not ever thought about this scenario for Marriott.

shoreline

Do these 'buyups' allow you to buyup from one hotel category to another or is it a 'buyup' as far as you can get an upgrade to a better room within the same hotel (i.e. upgrade from a standard room to a suite)?

Never heard of being able to 'buyup' the actual hotel category. Not saying they don't exist, maybe they do, I've just never heard of any. If this exist, maybe you can give us an example of such a case.

The one's that Sdsearch mentions above are the one's I am aware of.

SkiAdcock

If you book 4 nights on an award stay you get the 5th night free. But I think the answer is no for a combo paid/points stay.

Cheers.

NJUPINTHEAIR

I'll just add that on one occasion I asked the CS reps whether I could use the 1-4 Cert for a CAt 5 Pointbreaks hotel, as they are the same amount of points that are required if one were withdrawing points from one's account and the answer was still no.

So, all the above permutation will likely be rejected - 5th night free does not apply to using an award cert in lieu of points withdrawn from one's account.

flyerwife

Yes, I did in Post #2. the answer is no.

aaupgrade

Actually you did not answer that question in post 2, because you were answering questions from the OP and the OP never asked that question.

Shoreline's question: "Has someone answered this question yet?" was a rhetorical precursor to his question "Although the OP cannot use the certs 1-4 for a cat. 5, if he paid for 2 nights and points for 2 nights, would this earn the 5th night free?".

flyerwife

If a poster quotes a previous post and adds "Has someone answered this question yet?" , silly me takes it to mean that they are referring to THAT question. Your interpretation may vary. And yes, I did see the difference in the question as to the payment/use of points for the first two nights, but the answer is STILL NO.

When did helping people become so difficult??????