Silver line, room preferences and priceline
 

I finally called the silver line today. After an annoying multiple level touchtone menu, I was put on hold for 30 sec. (So far so good, though my recollection is that service was faster on the regular 800 line.)

Anyway, I asked the agent to add some rather ordinary room requests to my priceline reservation (e.g. king bed, non-smoking room). Her initial response was "only priceline can change the record."

Of course, that is incorrect as priceline cannot change the record once it is booked and transmitted to Marriott. Not to mention that the priceline site specifically directs customers to make special requests directly with the hotel, and there is no way to make such requests through the priceline website. Nor have any other chains had issues with adding the requests.

But back to the story. My response was "Actually, I think you can." At which point I realized that I probably should have hung up and tried again. She said she would check with her supervisor, and then returned (after a 4 minute delay) and very nicely agreed to add my requests to the record.

Overall, I was happy with the ultimate result and write only to provide another example of why you should not take a negative answer as the final word. Also, I think Marriott could improve CS on the silver line, but that is a minor quibble.