Walking on prepaid night
 

A few weeks ago I arrived at the Marriott Munich around midnight on a prepaid reservation. After some keying and a switch from the normal checkin staff to someone else (the night manager), I was informed, that they had no room for me and had a room some kilometers from there in a different hotel.
I refused as I was there with several coworkers, who had checked in one day before and we had to leave early the next morning.
Next thing they offered me was a roll in in one of their conference rooms, without shower or toilet. Finally I agreed to share one room with my coworkers and got a small roll in at 1 am.
The night manager first offered me two nights in Germany for compensation, after some bargaining it were 2 nights international.
The next morning at check out they tried to give a voucher for two free nights in their hotel ! I asked for the manager and he said he would take care for it.
Of course I did not hear from him. I contacted the hotel after a few weeks and got the answer that one voucher was mailed to me for one night (which it was not). I insisted that the deal was two free nights and they finally agreed and offered me 80k points and said they would contact me for my MR#, so I waited again for four weeks and nothing happened.
Then I sent them my number and finally a few days later the points showed up.
I think this is incredible as the room was already paid for and they did not care about the problem.

Sounds to me as though you got a good deal.

They overbooked. Nothing new. You turned down their standard offer to get you a room elsewhere. You worked out a nice deal for two free nights anywhere, but didn't think to have them put it in writing. Then somehow you worked out an even better deal for 80K points. Yes, you had some trouble getting it. Nothing new. But you got it.

80K at a value of almost two cents per point (if used as part of the cost of an air/hotel award package) comes to nearly $1,600. Not bad!

And it shouldn't matter whether your room was prepaid or not. It's all the same to Marriott. If you don't show, you lose what you paid. If you are a no-show without prepayment, your credit card gets charged. Same result. They don't have any knowledge that you are more likely to show up than the guy that guaranteed with a credit card. In fact, you (in their eyes) might be less likely to show. At least the credit card guy can usually save his money if he cancels that day. You already paid, and have less incentive to cancel if you can't get there.

It sounds to me that they did care a lot. Or they wouldn't have given you such handsome compensation. The fact that follow-through wasn't great wouldn't surprise any of us for almost any hospitality company!

I see it differently.
They basically knew that I was coming as my coworkers had announced me and they tried several times to dillute the compensation they had to give me. 80k points are much less than $1600, it is between 2 and 5 night so it is between 400 and $1000.

$1600 in value, ahhh I don't think so

So what if they were told you were coming? When Marriott gets down to that last unoccupied room and someone comes to the check-in desk with confirmation in hand, perhaps even a prepaid confirmation and perhaps with more status than you, what are they supposed to do? Why would they give preference to you over that person? And what if they turn that person away and you don’t show? It wouldn’t be the first time that friends/co-workers wrongly promised, “He will be here.” First-come, first-served in an overbooking situation.

Also, it's a good idea with any hotel brand to know what your options are in the case of overbooking, just as it is with an airline overbooking situation. Assuming you have some status with Marriott and had your MR number associated with your reservation, you were entitled to $200 cash plus two free room certificates, in addition to alternate lodging for the night. If you don't have status, you weren't entitled to anything other than comparable lodging elsewhere for that night, which you turned down. They went a long way to try to make things right for you, even though the execution left something to be desired.

It seems to me that you wound up with the type of overbooking situation we all dream will happen to us: Some inconvenience for one night and a resulting nice benefit eventually in hand.

And if you really believe that 80K has a value to you that is as low as $400, there is a lot more info out there about how to effectively use MR points.

As my final comment, your original post has been here for about 18 hours now. Unlike numerous other poor customer service issues related on this board, I don't see the masses coming to your defense, although I would imagine some will. Does that indicate anything to you as to how others view your experience?

I have to disagree. If peter42 is an elite MR member, here is what he was entitled to:

1. Free alternative accomodations at a nearby comparable property, and

2. Two (2) Free room certificates, and

3. $200 cash.

peter42 -- If you are indeed an elite member (anything silver and above would do), you are due additional compensation.

Eugene -

You just said the same thing I did: "...you were entitled to $200 cash plus two free room certificates, in addition to alternate lodging for the night."

So, how did I go wrong?

Also, since he accepted an entirely different form of compensation, he isn't entitled to any more, even if he does have elite status. Sure, he apparently wasn't offered the right choice. So he could go back to Marriott and should be able to get what he was entitled to but would likely have to give up the 80K. No thanks.

Hmmm. A simple search using words such as pointand either value or worth will turn up a number of strings on this topic - a topic that has been much discussed here in the past.

A simple calculation. I want to take Mrs. Dave M for seven nights at the Maui Marriott in January. And befitting the distance involved, we want to fly in Business Class. $2,500 per ticket is about as low as I can get (on CO). Then there's the room - which seems to be around $300 per night, no matter what tricks I try, other than a Priceline-type roulette game. That's around $7,100 (2 X $2,500 + 7 X $300), before considering hotel room taxes which would add several hundred to the cost.

From a value standpoint, I can do better. I could buy coach seats BOS-OGG for about $870 each and then upgrade with about 30,000 FF miles per ticket, depending on the airline. That drops the cost to about $5,000 (2 X $870 + 7 X $300), including about $1,200 for the value of 60,000 FF miles at two cents each to upgrade the two plane tickets. Yes, the FF-mile value might be a little less than two cents each for some uses, but don’t forget the hotel taxes that I haven’t included!

The award to do this trip with no out-of-pocket cost, assuming I planned ahead appropriately, is #087 for 250K points, getting me 7 nights in Maui (Category 6) and 120K FF miles, which I can use for 2 B-Class seats. Coincidentally, the calculated $5,000 divided by 250K points equals two cents per point. There are certainly calculations that come to lower valuations and some (try pricing Business Class to the South Pacific or the cost to stay at the Paris Marriott) that would be higher.

My only point is that two cents per point is not an unreasonable value, depending on how one chooses to use the points. And I believe it's a heck of a lot closer to the true value for someone who uses the program to the hilt than Peter's suggested value range.


[This message has been edited by Dave M (edited 08-22-2002).]

To prevent this, I always call ahead and tell the front desk staff that I WILL be arriving, and please dont give away my room. Even though I'm a Platinum, I still take the time to make the call.

I shouldnt have to, but it's a cheap insurance policy.

I would very happily accept the 80'000 points - but would now ask that they get posted immediately.

dup post

[This message has been edited by Dave M (edited 08-22-2002).]

Dave -- Actually, I was responding to your first post in this thread, where you suggested that the compensation was quite good. I didn't see your second post when I was typing mine.

I am happy with the 80k points as compensation, what really bugged me was their several tries to give me less after agreeing to the deal and their lack of follow up.

Can that be done? I ask because we had a stay at the NYC Marquis in March. We had some significant plumbing problems while on an award stay. The front desk offered to return (a miniscule amount) points to our account.

For about 3 months I chased these points with calls and emails. The points (plus some for my trouble) finally were put back. It was a huge hassle. If I just could have had the front desk do it during our stay and then checked that they had posted it would have saved the aggravation.

I don't know if perhaps the hotel thought I would forget about it or give up easily.

OK I did not call, but my coworkers told them I will come, still the question raised earlier is, if someone shows up earlier than me, will they walk him or take the chance that I do not come after all. Anyhow if there is some reconfirmation by the guest within 24h of arrival, they should not walk him, it is something else with an old reservation adn no contact, where it may be safer to assume it is a no show.