Downgraded room - compensation by rules?
 

Hi,

I am just wondering about this hypothetical situation: Plat member is - due to a delayed flight - arriving very late at a hotel, say after midnight local time. The hotel is not sold out, however had oversold the specific upgraded room-type the Platinum member had reserved and given away all rooms of that type, still however has regular rooms available, yet no rooms of the type the Plat had reserved. Would this Plat be due any compensation by the rules?

Case in point would be a Residence Inn where this Plat reserved a 1-Br Suite, yet on checkin everything available are Studio rooms...

Any suggestions would be very much welcome!

Greetings - Dirk

I think you would be out of luck in that situation. You could ask the hotel to reprice your reservation for the lower category room, but they would not owe you anything above that.

Actually, you are entitled to compensation. Difference in rate as a refund plus I think a flat $200 (it's on the Marriott website under platinum benefits).

This happened to me once but I negotiated 20,000 points instead of the $200 or whatever the amount was.

20,000 points? $200?
For a wrong room type?

I may never check in before midnight again...

The only thing guaranteed is a room with your bed type.

Is there a price difference between the 2 category rooms? If there is, then you are definitely entitled to compensation. I'd ask for MR points in terms of compensation (50% of the points require for award stay for that hotel for 1 night).

It seems everyone here is as torn as I am on this situation. I could not find anything in the rules that would match this situation exactly- as always when I run into "trouble" with my hotel-stays: The last time I was walked by a hotel the ultimate reservation guarantee did not apply also since the hotel was not yet officially open. Yet I feel it's just not right to confirm a higher room type and then at check-in present the guest with a "tough luck" position, not even making up in any way for the inconvenience since I had a purpose to reserve this specific room type.

That said even claiming a rate-discount would not be obvious: There certainly is a price-difference between the two room-types, yet since I successfully claimed the LNF-guarantee on this reservation my rate is lower than any rate for the currently available lower-category room. Additionally the nominal difference would be something like $10 - certainly not making up for the purpose I decided to go with the 1BR instead of the studio...

So it seems that the rules do not back me up, and I have to rely on my negotiating skills in such a situation...should it arise. Thanks everyone for your input!

Greetings - Dirk

One suspects whether the downgrade was due more to the use of LNF than the OP's late arrival. One might begin by reporting it as an additional LNF violation, which AFAIK does not permit the hotel to punish the winner by a downgrade to the room type corresponding to the final price paid.

Yes I have experienced it very much in Germany - yes I have gotten an accessible room as an 'upgrade' at CY Berlin for a EUR 60 rate. However they can't punish you for giving you a room that is of a lower category (cost less) than the one you booked, no matter how low your LNF rate is.

Of course it happens that when OP arrives so late and in the US things are usually overbooked, and OP ought to get some kind of compensation since he hasn't indicated in any way that he wasn't coming.

So are you supposed to get compensation if you don't get your bed type?

provided that you have made the reservation in accordance with the following conditions, then
Guaranteed Room Type
When making a reservation, be sure to note both your Marriott Rewards membership number and room/bed preferences. At locations throughout the U.S. and Canada, we'll always honor your bed type request. Outside U.S. and Canada, smoking/nonsmoking preferences are honored based on availability; exact bed sizes may vary. If guarantee is not met, guest compensation applies. [GOLD/PLATINUM]
https://www.marriott.com/rewards/mem...s/guarantee.mi

Yes. If you reserve 2 doubles and they give you a king, or vice versa, you should get compensation. (Status based)

Note this only applies if the hotel actually has rooms of that type- for example some European hotels don't have 2D rooms.

In your first paragraph, ultimate room guarantee wouldn't apply if the hotel was not 'officially' open.

In this case, if there was a price differential between the 2 rooms you would be entitled to the difference in price. However, this is one of the times the LNF bites back.

However, if I were you I'd still try to negotiate for something else (ie, points) since, as you mentioned, you had reserved a specific room type deliberately & weren't just hoping for an upgrade to that room type.

Good luck!

Cheers.

Does it matter if OP got the price through LNF? He reserved a 1 bedroom and ended up in a studio - which is an obviously downgrade. I don't think it's matter if he got his room at a bottom low price.

The fact is that OP has a valid ressie showing what room type he booked and if he gets something less, then of course he is entitled to something. I don't even think this has anything to do with OP status.

Some people might think a studio is similar to a 1BR but I do think 1BR is more attractive to studio. Also Marriott's upgrade for elites doesn't include studio to 1BR, so I definitely think OP was downgraded.

We're in agreement he was downgraded.

But unless he's got the documentation/screen shots showing what the price differential was between the room he originally booked and the regular room, he's going to have a difficult time getting $$ back (and that's further complicated by his LNF, which brings his higher level room to less than a regular level room in terms of rate). BTW - he notes in his post that the dif in rooms was $10, so if I were him I'd negotiate for points. He can try for $$, but I think it's going to be more complicated and he has a better chance of getting points put into his account.

I probably would have called the property as well to confirm I'd be arriving late & to make sure they kept the reserved room, but realize that's not always possible if one is on the plane during the delay.

And whether he gets points or $$, I would certainly talk to the GM about them giving away his confirmed room & express my displeasure. But I'm sure he's already done that.

Cheers.