Anyone notice the changed text re: room type/upgrade in the new Gold/Plat guarantee? We are now guaranteed our preferred room type (Golds NA only) unless we're upgraded or accept something else. At least the text has, in the past, ambiguously hinted at upgrades to the "finest available accomodations" for platinum members; now we're not even granted that. We simply get our preferred room type unless we happen to be bumped-up.

Sorry folks. A review of the complete terms and conditions yielded the following:

Room Upgrade: Upgraded accommodations at no additional charge. Based on room availability and limited to a member's personal guestroom. Not available at Marriott Vacation Club International or Horizons by Marriott Vacation Club.

Anyone else notice that the "room type guarantee" is utterly useless? One is ensured his "bed type preference," but not an "extra bed." If my "bed type preference" is "2 queens," I'm sure some tool at check-in will say "well, sir, you're not guaranteed an extra bed so we have you in a king room. The bed is soft, though, so it matches your preference." Excuse me? "You do like soft beds, right sir? It matches your preference insofar as we haven't given you bricks upon which to sleep."

To followup on the last sentence of the previous post, keep in mind that Marriot does sometimes give one the equivalent of bricks upon which to sleep.

I once checked in at a Marriott, went to my room and upon sitting on the bed found it to be extremely hard. Looking under the sheets I found a piece of plywood. Had to call the front desk to have someone come up and remove the plywood. I am guessing that the previous guest had a back problem and requested this, but they didn't remove it once he checked out.