Just a bit of my experience --

I travel all year, and rack-up a Quintillion points with Marriott, Hilton, et. al., and now want to use a few points to stay at a Marriott property.

Capacity controls. "I'm sorry, but there are no award rooms available." I am not in a black-out period, but still no rooms at the inn. Plenty of rooms if you want to pay for one.

This does not sit well with me.

I think my vote for best hotel program will go to Starwood this year, for having no blackout periods and no capacity controls. I also might reconsider and cash-in my hotel points for miles.

That happened to me in San Francisco, but I was able to get a room at the Renaissance.

Any other Marriott locations in the area that have availability?

JGill, are you trying to book for the holidays again? If so, I would offer the same suggestions I posted in your comment about airline award availability.

In my experience, Marriott has done an excellent job in providing award rooms, much better than Hilton and with far fewer blackout dates. Starwood, of course, now has the best controls (none).

Yes, MileKing, making Holiday plans at the last minute. Save the speach <g>. The nature of my business precludes me from making arrangements too far in advance, and that is one of the weaknesses of my job.

That does not change the facts, though. At a particular Marriott property, I cannot get a room due to capacity controls, and not due to blackout dates.

My point is quite simple: I am not happy with this arrangement. I can plan for and around blackout dates, but if there are rooms available, it burns me up that I have more than enough points and cannot use them. I do not think I was aware of this problem when I was earning the points. As I said, I can read and plan around blackout dates, but if the room is available, it should be available.

I have hundreds of thousands of airline miles and hotel points. Now that I have a few days that I can plan with my family, I would like to use some of those hotel points that I earned.



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I myself am unable to book well in advance so I am sympathetic to JGill and envious of MileKing.

JGill - you may want to see if there are any alternate properties (Courtyard, Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn etc.) which are available. I myself faced a similar situation when I wanted to book with Marriott (about 2 months in advance). I could not get the property I wanted because of capacity controls , but was able to get an alternate one.

I don't know if you have tried calling the manager of the hotel directly; but that has worked for me at several Hyatt's when they were "sold out" of award rooms for a specific night(s). I've never had a problem with Marriott getting award travel so can't speak to how effective this approach would be with them.

FFLASV -- I did call the hotel, and unfortunately, this property (a Residence Inn) is a "franchise property," and the manager said that they did not get "enough money" from Marriott to make it worthwile, so they allow "very few" rooms to be avialable with Marriott points.

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Please don't be too envious! I'm a consultant and in some cases don't know where I'll be on a week to week basis. My "secret" is to plan my vacations early and then manage expectations of my boss, my colleagues, and my clients.

... They ~are~ watching...

Just thought I would let everyone know that I got a call from a very friendly representative at Marriott this week. I had already changed my plans, so she could not help, but told me not to hesitate to call her directly if I had a problem with availability in the future.

Thanks Marriott.

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This thread is pretty old, but the issue is still out there. Marriott and Hilton are both extremely difficult when it comes to booking award travel.

Starwood beats both hands down with their 'no capacity control' policy. Marriott properties are probably more consistent, but it sure is frustrating when trying to use the points.

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Traveler113

JGill, Starwood has no "Capacity Controll" on their point awards. I advised you transfer all your Marriott points to an airline and stay at Starwood's Hotels. Starwood also has no "Black Out" dates for use of points either. If you have the points, you have the room.