Room Type Guarantee? Not Really.
 

One of the advertised "new" elite MR benefits was the room type guarantee:

"To ensure your complete comfort and satisfaction, we guarantee you'll receive
your requested room type. If you don't receive the bed type and smoking
preference you've noted on your reservation for North American hotels at Marriott
Hotels & Resorts and Renaissance Hotels & Resorts or smoking preference noted
on your reservations at Courtyard, Fairfield Inn & Suites, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites and TownePlace Suites, we will reimburse for up to $100 USD. Reimbursement varies by brand. See terms and conditions for details."

I've had a number of problems with hotels (Marriott and others) not delivering the room type I've reserved (smoking, king bed) on the first try. I'm sensitive to the concerns of non-smokers and wouldn't smoke in a non-smoking room, so I always go back for a different room. It's annoying, requiring a trip back to the front desk with all the bags, but until today the front desk has always straightened things out.

Tonight, checking into the Marriott Bethesda Suites, the hotel gave me a non-smoking king. When I went back down to the front desk, they informed me that there were no smoking rooms available, but that they could give me a non-smoking room with a balcony where I could smoke outside. It's supposed to be 45 degrees here tonight so I said that this wasn't acceptable. I showed my MR Gold card, my printed reservation confirmation, and asked them to honor the guarantee.

The duty manager said "We'll send up an ashtray to your non-smoking room. Go ahead and smoke."

I somehow don't think that this is what Marriott had in mind when they set up this room type guarantee.

Here's another rub: I was booking a room at a Courtyard on Marriott.com and wanted to book a double queen instead of the king that I normally book. The website simply came back and said "room type not guaranteed...".

This was over a week out and I am a Platinum, btw.

What a crock.

It seems that, outside of the South (and no, I am not trying to perpetuate a sterotype - it just strikes me as odd to see ashtrays in the elevators and halls coming from the West, where it's almost illegal to smoke in your own home), most hotels are "non-smoking" to a vast extent. Therefore, they probably have limited "smoking" rooms.

I imagine this policy is aimed more at non-smokers who end up in smoking rooms, then smokers like yourself who end up in non-smoking rooms.

How early do you book? If it is "close" to arrival date, it may be skewing your results. It might be helpful to communicate with the hotel directly to restate your request for a smoking room. I understand that you shouldn't have to do this under the policy, but a phone call would hopefully save you the need to truck back to the lobby to get the proper room, much less situations like Bethesda where they just cannot accomodate you.

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[This message has been edited by socrates (edited Mar 23, 2004).]

This has always concerned me too.
If I book a room online and it says "Non-Smoking room not available" on the confirm screen, I will still get a non-smoking room?

More 'fun' Terms and Conditions:

"6. The Room Type Guarantee does not cover room upgrades."

I ran into this recently at a property. My profile is for a non-smoking king. At this property, I was told that they consider all kings to be a higher category room. It I wanted one, it would be an extra $20/nite thank you very much.

Room was booked 3 weeks ago - they simply overbooked their smoking room inventory.

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[This message has been edited by socrates (edited Mar 23, 2004).]

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[This message has been edited by socrates (edited Mar 23, 2004).]

Don't get me wrong, I like "odd" as much as the next guy but "odd" is not always good. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gifAnyway for you to look into this socrates? Your help and direction are always appreciated.

[This message has been edited by fireworksboy (edited Nov 19, 2003).]

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[This message has been edited by socrates (edited Mar 23, 2004).]

I have had a prior discussion with Socartes on this board about constantly going to check in at Marriott's and finding that they have failed to assign me a smoking room even though my Marriott profile is set up as a smoking requested room and my reservation copy from our Corporate travel agency says "Smoking requested". According to Socrates the internal Marriott reservation system cannot assign you a room based on smoking preference which I pointed out to him is sort of a "gotcha" since they say we will be guaranteed our room preference. Anyway I too have had the "non-smoking" rooms I was assigned suddenly magically morph into a smoking room so I figured if they don't care then neither do I so now I carry my ashtray with me and if I get to my room and there is a ashtray there then Marriott done good and got me my room type requested. If there is no ashtray I just pull out my own.

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[This message has been edited by socrates (edited Mar 23, 2004).]

From Kathy P:

I carry my ashtray with me and if I get to my room and there is a ashtray there then Marriott done good and got me my room type requested. If there is no ashtray I just pull out my own

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As a non-smoker who is very sensitive to smoke I find your comment insensitive and offensive. Just my two cents worth so you know.

Bruce

This is why I look forward to the day when a "Smoking Room" inevitably becomes a thing of the past. (ex. Commercial Airlines)



[This message has been edited by ALARISstl (edited Nov 19, 2003).]

As another sensitive non-smoker, I've run into any number of "non-smoking" rooms that I simply could not tolerate, and frequently have to switch rooms (or hotels) to find one that I can tolerate. Even worse, sometimes I don't immediately notice a faint odor, but after particles accumulate in my CPAP filter overnight I have to clean/change the filter for the next night. I'm sure all hotel chains have inconsiderate smokers, but those that advertise non-smoking rooms and then make no attempt to keep them smoke-free will quickly lose my business.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ALARISstl:
[B] This is why I look forward to the day when a "Smoking Room" inevitably becomes a thing of the past. (ex. Commercial Airlines)


you could always just choose to stay at home

You could always choose to not smoke!

Your right though, smoking is more important than earning a living... Weak!

So if you smoke you can't earn a living????Funny I know lots of folks who do both

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[This message has been edited by socrates (edited Mar 23, 2004).]

At the risk of having more off-topic posts come in about the evils and merits of smoking...the same thing happened to me again yesterday at the Singapore Marriott. I was arriving after a red-eye and had deliberately booked a room the night before for late arrival (paying an extra night) so as to ensure that they would have the proper room for me. I had even reconfirmed the day beforehand.

When I arrived at about 05:30 am, guess what? I'm sorry sir, we don't have the type of room you reserved. Once again, a non-smoking room magically became a smoking room. It was outside the US, so the Room Type Guarantee didn't apply to a lowly Gold such as myself, nor do I think the hotel would have paid it willingly in any event. (BTW, after their initial failures, hotel management was very apologetic, comping me the first room night and sending up a nice amenity basket).

socrates, it sounds as though the system "gotcha" has yet to be fixed. Might want to crack the whip on the IT department again. I was not a happy camper at 05:30 in the morning, particularly considering that Sheraton had screwed up my reservations the previous night. But that's a story for a different board...

[This message has been edited by DFW DL (edited Dec 07, 2003).]