Thanks for the heads up on this one!

If I arrive the 14th and depart the 16th of March, would that count as a "stay" for this promotion, or must the stay begin on or after 15 March?

This is the weakest promotion I have ever seen. Even bad than the Take Two. Starwood has some aggressive ones. They should bring back the Visa Double promo

Since you are also staying the night of the 15th...which is when the promo starts, IMO it qualifies as a "stay ". If you checked out on the 15th, it wouldn't count.

That is correct - as long as your stay includes the night of the 15th, it will be counted. Checking out the morning of the 15th will not, however.

It's hard to get excited about a category 1-4 promotion. If you earn it at Cat 5 or 6, they should let you redeem it at Cat 5 or 6.

i agree that your freebies shoudl be at the level hotel in which you stay. if i stay at either the marriot or renassance in amsterdam, why would i even want free nights at the one 10 min from the airport? i didn't choose to stay there in the first place because of it was inconvenient. but i guess that's why they are giving them away.

I think it just gets two complicated otherwise. What if I stay four times at a category 5 property and one time at a category 4, what type of certs should I get? How about if the mix was 1 cat 5 and four category 4s? How about if that 1 cat 5 stay was a week and the cat 4 stays were only a day each?

Too much headache, socrates has been right on the money in the past so I'm waiting till April to see if Marriott can win me back from Hilton. In my case, I'm staying at category 2 hotels for the promotion so I'm just fine with cat 1-4 http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

First off I have to say that it is too long between promotions.

Second, FIVE paid stays? It should be minimum Cat.5 if you require 5 total stays. They even spell out on the web site now, a stay is a set of consecutive nights at a hotel...regardless of how many times you check in and out. That's funny. So if I stay a week and check out 6 times and back in...it's still only one stay. Nice.

Third...Where the heck are the double promotions...we just did this freebie thing. Let's mix it up a little huh?

I got the impression that Marriott was going to step it up and get some good promotions, guess not...at least Hilton offers a 50% bonus if you decide not to double dip for the miles!!!

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How is Marriott at giving stay credit for back to back stays in the same city? Would a Courtyard stay on a Monday followed by a Residence Inn stay the next night count as 2 for purposes of this promo?

Too long between promos? the last one (take two) ended 1/31/03; thats not that long ago and why is it some people think some sort of a promo has to be run 365 days a year.

then when they do; they complain that its the same thing; heck its a free weekend sounds good to me

Tell me another chain that will give you six stay credits if you check in and out six straight days.. that is not even a reasonable comment
"So if I stay a week and check out 6 times and back in...it's still only one stay. Nice"

Double promos are probably something that we won't see very often and I would bet are saved for extreme situations like the 9/11 disaster.

Even Hiltons promos aren't without cost; you have to give up miles to get the points.

Im not so sure what you are asking for is reasonable

VolleyballFerd,

In your scenario, each night at a different hotel would count as an additional stay.

They don't mind if it's the same city, as long as it's not the same property.

Yes-2 stays, as long as its 2 different hotels or the same hotel with non-continuous nights

i still havent received my coupons from the last take 2...who do i contact about htis?

Call the service center in Salt Lake City. If you are elite enough (Platinum for sure), you can link there for free through the 800 number. Otherwise it's a toll call.

Bruce