You forget one important thing - there are rules in place by Marriott to cover early departures:

a) you can be charged the 2nd night stay regardless if you check out early,
b) if you check out a day early it can bump your 1st night to a higher rate,
c) there are no consequences by Marriott to a change in departure date, re: of whether it's in advance or when you're on property - ie, they ok the change w/ no penalty.

As long as those 3 exist, then there are no 'ethics' involved.

Cheers.

Agreed :)

Just to be clear - If the 'system' allows and the circumstance is warranted - I don't have a problem. It's going into the situation trying to 'game' the rules is what bothers me most I guess :(

Are these rules general or applied only when there are restrictions like "2 nights minimum stay" ? I left once a Courtyard a few days in advance and paid absolutely no penalties (I informed reception the day before check out)

I am not familiar with US properties. Quite often I ask to prolounge my stay. Once reception told me hotel was full so I just went on line to book a few more nights.

No idea, but it falls under category c in my 3 examples. I've had plenty of stays where I've had to check out early (or stay extra) & no penalties. I had one that I checked out early & it did raise the rate for the 1 night I stayed.

Cheers.

So does these situations pass your sense of ethics?: I book a mandatory two night stay on-line with Marriott after which I then call Mariott who drops one night at my request. Or, I see a two night minimum on-line, don't book it, but then call Marriott who books a one night stay for me.

Give your weak kneed situational ethics a rest. Only Marriott can give you a reservation and only Marriott can undo or change a reservation. So long as you are not deceitful or lie, which is always wrong no matter the situation, then you have done nothing wrong.

Exactly. Nothing week kneed or situational about that. You just said it much better and more simplistically than I did :)

double deleted

Quote:
Originally Posted by jascp
Only Marriott can give you a reservation and only Marriott can undo or change a reservation. So long as you are not deceitful or lie, which is always wrong no matter the situation, then you have done nothing wrong.


I understand this "lying" thing, but does putting moral on the table really help ?

When I book a stay I always state the real duration, except in one case : if I see that a 10 days stay will be cheaper dividing it in two reservations of for exemple 5 days each I will do it.
Do you think it is wrong ?

Coming back to the subject, in my case, if I book for two nights it will mean I intend to stay two nights. But we all have changes in our schedules, or the hotel can be not so good etc...in that case if I leave after one night I won't have lied about my initial intentions, and if there was no restrictions I would not expect to pay penalty or extra charge because I have to leave early.

In some circumstances (congresses, etc) on the reservation website hotel policy can be very tight (minimum stay, no refund, etc)...but if there is nothing I don't see on which base I could be punished for staying one night less than previously expected.

And coming back to lying, well morally it is bad, but it would have exactly the same effect.

This logic can also be applied if you needed to stay one night on Thursday but the rate was high but if you included a friday night stay then the rate drops. So you book check in then tell them you need to cancel the second night and get the lower rate.

These two night minimums are common. Near where I live in Seattle across the Cascades there is a rather new SpringHill that opened in Wenatchee which is a popular weekend getaway trip by travelers because besides itself being the home of Washignton apple farms its a short drive from Leaveneworth, Lake Chelan, and the gorge aphitheater.

Someone just doing Saturday they will lose even more customers because many travelers dont want to have to flip hotels so they will just book their two nights elsewhere.

I do get frustrated with this...i wish they should have with this some rule that say within 48-72 hrs of your travel time this restriction is lifted.

This is in part of why Marriott changes that rule of combining free certs and paid stays together because it would frustrate customers with the work they would have to do to combine the paid night plus cert for one of these min 2 night stay (on weekends) hotels.

That is commonplace. It also has to do with the rate you pay. If you need to stay over a weekend the rate may be higher/lower than the weekday rate.

For me I work for government and during the work week staying at the govt rate is usually cheaper than the regular booking rate...but not always. Friday and Saturday stay at the govt rate may be a lot higher than the weekend rate. Similarly say you stay Friday night your rate may be the business rate you paid the other nights but if you booked it separately the rate is lower.

Off-topic:

My sister used to be a park ranger in the Cascades & I used to overnight in Wenatchee because by the time my flight arrived to SEA & then onward to Wenatchee, it was too late to then drive the hour & catch the boat to Stehekin. It's a lovely area! When I was there I had to overnight at HI Express since SHS didn't exist then.

Cheers.

I'm trying to book a reward night at one of the two downtown historic district Marriott properties in Charleston, SC. I'm running in to this same problem when I try to book just Friday night (Nov. 16th), neither of those hotels shows up, however if I do Thursday and Friday, then they do show up. I'm not sure yet if I'll be able to go on Thursday or if I'll have to wait until Friday. If I book both nights as a reward stay and then want to cancel the Thursday night later, would I get the points back? Would they cancel the whole stay? If I call the hotel directly would they be able to override the restriction? This is the first time I'm using points for Marriott, so I'm not entirely sure how the whole process works yet.

Only Marriott can give you a reservation and only Marriott can change it. If you break the rules of the reservation then it is up to Marriott to decide how to respond. If you book two nights knowing you only plan on staying one and then check out one day early you have not lied or decieved since your early departure is open and obvious. If your reservation has a penalty for doing that then Marriott is within their rights to collect it. If you lie or decieve to get out that penalty than you are wrong.

A 2 night requirement for all properties in Charleston is common, many cases it is a THREE night minimum for non-chain hotels.

I would NOT book and assume all will be OK if a change is needed. I would call the hotel and insure that they agree to a 2 night separate reservation...not a 2 night combined. Single night reservations are the only way you can safely cancel one night with the 2nd remaining intact.