Marriott let my guest spend my points
 

I recently used points to book a reservation for my wife's brother. While at the hotel, he decided that he was having such a good time, he decided to stay an extra night.

Well, somehow he convinced the hotel staff to book the extra night using my points, without any authorization from me! I've been agonizing about calling to complain because don't want Marriott to bill his CC for the extra night which will cause a family fight. The points aren't worth that, but it bothers me that they would draw the points from my account without my authorization.

Any suggestions?

Talk to him and ask wats up. Tell him that wasnt cool and was disrespectful

Even if you accept the charge in points, you should call Marriott and complain about the unauthorized use of your points. This was wrong.

While this is poor form on behalf of Marriott, I suspect that they will default to you for payment--since you were the one who made and guaranteed the reservation to begin with. Agree that you should have your wife handle it on your behalf...or, call him up, explain that you got charged for an extra night on account of him extending his stay, and ask how he wants to handle the charge.

The right thing for your wife's brother to do would be to buy Marriott Rewards Points on Points.com to replace the additional points that he spent from your Marriott Rewards account. Perhaps, then he'd understand that Points have a monetary value.

Whether you or your wife actually want to suggest this to him is another matter.

I've read that in some states, hotels cannot force a guest to leave, even if the hotel is sold out. On a Points stay, it makes sense to charge additional Points for the additional night(s).

No good dead goes unpunished. Call the dirtbag, and tell him he owes you. Otherwise it will never stop.

IMHO this is not Marriott's fault. Call your wife's brother and have him to reimburse the points.

Unbelievable and likely based on your in-law rationalizing that they are "only points and have no monetary value". But, you will be dining off of/telling this story for years. Something not terribly dissimilar happened to me once, although not with a relative, and I’ve told the story enough, and got enough laughs, that I think I’ve been fairly reimbursed.

You might want to make a note to yourself to not gift the B-I-L with any more nights...or anything.

I've encountered this so many times it's crazy. Somehow, people (in my case, ex-wife and daughters) think that points just come from nothing, and that they therefore have just as much claim to them as I do. Daughter just asked me if I would put her up in a Marriott for 10 days "because I have so many points", as if that somehow mattered. Bleh.

So did mine! :) Except it was only 2 nights and only in cat 4 as she is coming for the wedding/bachelorette party.

Does your wife know? If mine found out someone took advantage of my generosity and cut into our free stays she would be calling her brother faster than you can say "What happened to BOGOs"

OP, call the hotel, speak to the GM and find out how this happened. The hotel staff needs to know this is unacceptable. Actually, the hotel staff should already know this is unacceptable, but apparently doesn't.

Calling the hotel manager and discussing this makes it more likely the employee who actually did this will be told it should never be done again. Not calling the hotel manager sets one of us up to be the next person who gets shafted.

Just because you discuss it with the manager doesn't mean you have to have the points returned and your BIL's CC charged. You can present it in a "I'm going to eat this, but you need to know something wrong happened" manner. Best case scenario: the hotel returns your points and eats the cost of their mistake. Worst case scenario: you still eat the cost, but at least the hotel manager knows about the issue. You've got nothing to lose by contacting the hotel manager and, IMO, even the worst case scenario has some benefit.

Not enough information to formulate an opinion IMO.

Whose name was the reservation under? Was it perhaps made under the OP's name and the BIL added so that he could take advantage of the elite bennies; lounge access, upgrade, breakfast, etc.? If so, not the hotel's fault as they were just charging the person to whom the reservation was made. In that case talk to BIL.

I agree with CJKatl to call the hotel, as that will shed light on the rationale they used in charging your account the extra points.

Please let us know more details so we can provide a more accurate opinion of what recourse you should take.

That was my first thought.
If you made a reservation in your Brother's name then you have an issue.
If you made the reservation in your name so he could get your benefits, then not so hard to believe, all he has to do is go to desk and say can I extend for another night using points. They look at reservation see your name and points and say yes.

I respectfully disagree. Even if the reservation was made in the OP's name, a points transaction shouldn't happen without either the OP's passcode or ID verification. Just because I give someone a check to cash at Wells Fargo doesn't mean he can ask for additional funds from my account.

Even if the BIL checked in saying that the OP would be along later and, at the same time, asking for an additional night, the hotel would have still asked for ID and should have known the BIL was not the OP. If the additional night was added later, ID should have been requested and, even if it were done by phone, the guest should have been told, "We can add the additional night, but cannot pull the Marriott points until you stop by the registration desk so we can complete the points transaction."

While IMO, there is no way to dice this where the hotel didn't do something wrong, whether the OP wants to pursue this will likely depend on the OP's evaluation of the consequences to the BIL.