What do I get
 

Just booked a company meeting at a Marriott. Total of 45 room/nights - 31 people - some 1 night and some 2 nights.
Paid for all rooms myself on my Marriott Platinum Visa.

What am I entitled to in the way of points?
Any way to get Reward credits for all 45 rooms?

There used to be a special Meeting Planners bonus Marriott gave. 20,000 points per meeting booked, as I recall. We haven't booked a meeting in years, so I have no idea if that's still on offer. You can ask your Sales Rep about it, but I wouldn't count on it.

You're only entitled to credit for one room per night toward status, (so that's 2 nights) but you used to be able to get points for all the money spent on the Master Account, unlike a regular guest who, I believe, is limited to points for three rooms per night. Again, talk to your Sales Rep. And sorry my knowledge isn't more up to date.

And if you're booking on your Marriott Visa, of course in the worst case, you'll still get your normal points for charging on that card.

[This message has been edited by GG (edited 07-26-2001).]

Perhaps you want to check with the property on this, though, to maximize the benefit, it may have been better to talk about this before you made the arrangements and paid for the rooms.

-David

It was never the case that you got "all the points from the master bill." You received a substantial bonus (on a sliding scale depending on number of room nights, starting with ten) but then did not receive points on individual room charges. You did, however, receive additional points for catering charges.
I believe you received this by working with Marriott's meeting management people... you would certainly want to check with them, or more likely now that you've booked, with the meeting manager at your particular Marriott. I also have not used this bonus for several years, but I think there's a good chance some form of it exists, and I think you probably have a chance to get it if you nail it down before the actual meeting.

This is the present meeting promotion.

http://www.marriott.com/meeting/palm.asp

Phil, we ran a small convention (60-75 attendees) every year for 8 years at our local Marriott (Griffin Gate - a wonderful hotel), plus a couple of larger one-shots there and at the San Francisco Marriott, and always got points for everything on our Master Bill. We never had a problem with that - did have to remind them about the Meeting Planner Bonus a couple of times. Once it took pointing it out politely before signing the contract for the next year.

Most of our attendees paid for their own rooms, but we usually paid for 20 or so room nights during the course of the convention, picking up 1 or 2 on Thurs, most Fri/Sat, and 2 or 3 on Sun. We were regular customers who were booking at a really dead time of year (except in SFO), and the Sales Reps were always happy to be pretty liberal (even in SFO). Of course, we weren't being reimbursed by a company for our expenses, that was from our pockets. In that way, I guess our situation wasn't exactly comparable.

goldbergs, of course it's better to have it all worked out before you sign the contract, but there's often some wiggle room. I'm a little unsure - has the meeting actually happened? If you've just booked it, why have you already paid for it? If it's over, no wiggle room...

Flyaway, where are the bonuses of yesteryear?


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[This message has been edited by GG (edited 07-28-2001).]

No wiggle room. Meeting has passed and the bill has been paid (Marriott Visa of course)

The points program for meeting planners still exists, but you're supposed to sign a contract and ask for the points in advance. Whether you can still do so is something you'll have to work out with Marriott. Here is the current meeting planners' points program.

[This message has been edited by Dave M (edited 07-30-2001).]