Just recieved 12,000 points for a group stay at NY Financial Center...great hotel, by the way...Can someone please explain how these points were calculated? We had 10 rooms for 2 nights at a rate of $129 per night...I asked them to route all charges to my room, but I don't think they did or I would have gotten more points. I plan many group stays, but really don't understand how the points are calculated. I would appreciate any help on this...I also do this with HHonors points, so any advice there would also be welcomed. THANKS in advance for your help!

I would fax the bill to Marriott customer service.

Presumably, you signed a contract with the hotel sales office. Otherwise, technically, you are not entitled to any bonuses. I'm guessing that the 12,000 works out to 2,000 for one mid-week night (Tuesday or Thursday) and 10,000 for the adjacent night (Monday or Friday). You can see the point scale here.

You are not entitled to points for the individual room charges. But you should have earned three points per dollar for meeting room charges, if any, and for meals charged to a group account.

The person to talk to about any remaining questions is your meeting planner in the sales department at the hotel where you held the meeting.


[This message has been edited by Dave M (edited 07-08-2002).]

And why can't you earn points for the room charges? Because the program rules specifically prohibit such points earning:

From Section 7 of the Point Earning section of the Terms and Conditions:

"Point accrual is limited to individual travel and the room must be paid for individually by the member. If the member attends a convention or group meeting and individually pays Marriott directly for the room, he/she will be eligible to receive points for the stay. However, contract rooms, rooms reserved by corporations on an ongoing basis, master-billed rooms and rooms booked at the Marriott associate rate or friends and family rate are not eligible to earn points" [Bold emphasis added.]

Note the wording doesn't just preclude the person staying in the room from getting points. No one gets points for the individual room charges. You get the meeting planner points instead.

I ran into this issue several weeks ago. Have been Plat for a few years but I guess I didn't "read" the fine print. I stayed at a Marriott resort which was booked under a group account. Since I was staying at a Marriott property, I called the Plat desk and had then add my account number to the stay.

When I checked my reservation online, it said you would get points for the stay. I checked in, was asked what type of Plat bonus I wanted (took the points) and even got a room upgrade.

Right after my resort stay, I stayed at another Marriott property. When the days/points showed up online for the second stay but not the resort stay, I called the Plat number about the resort stay. They asked me which property and wanted to confirm my credit card number but I did not have the card with me, as I switched to another card and had gotten rid of the card used at the resort property. The woman on the phone did say that she would have the hotel credit my account with both the stay points and the bonus points.

A few days later, a resort hotel DID appear on my account but not for the resort where I was (stayed in Arizona and the resort which showed up was in California). I called the Plat desk again and the man on the phone told me that he did not know why I received credit for a California resort property but that I should not have gotten ANY credits because it was a group stay. The credit was only for about 800+ points and that was for using the in-room internet and the Plat bonus but hey, 800 is better than nothing right. I took the 800 from the resort I didn't stay at and called it a day.

A few days later, what appears on my account. The three day stay at the Arizona resort (no credit for the actual room rate but credit for in-room internet), PLUS the 500 point Plat credit, PLUS credit for 3 nights, which, in turn, put me over the top for the 30K point bonus at the end of May 15! ^

Was I just a lucky SOB (800+ points for a stay at a resort I've never been AND 1300+ points and 3 days credit for the group stay at the Arizona resort) or do these mistakes happen often?

http://marriott.com/meeting/rewards/default.mi

Plan your next event with Marriott and earn Marriott Rewards points. For each qualified event, receive up to:

50,000 Marriott Rewards points or
15,000 airline miles
Simply plan your next meeting or event at any Marriott, JW Marriott, Renaissance, Courtyard by Marriott, Fairfield Inn by Marriott, SpringHill Suites by Marriott or Marriott Vacation Club International location worldwide to earn Marriott Rewards points. See program details and qualifications here

And, there are over 250 reward options to choose from and Marriott offers more resorts, spas and golf locations than any other hotel program.



Get Extra Bonuses

Achieve Marriott Rewards Elite status when you host 2 or more meetings >>
Earn double Marriott Rewards points by choosing Group Value Dates >>
Redeem Marriott Rewards points for Meeting credit certificates
See Meeting Planner news and current special promotions
Terms & Conditions >>

Basically if you plan a group event the planner can get points for all the rooms as an incentive to have you book there. They recently had a triple points promotion!