Does Marriott ever refund non-refundable reservations?
 

Short version of long story, my GF booked a non-refundable room in Wash DC area to spend President's Day weekend with her daughter who would be there interviewing for a government job. Government agency then decided to send the interviewers to the daughter's location instead, leaving my GF with the pre-paid room and her daughter won't be there.

She knew it was pre-paid, and isn't blaming Marriott at all (it was apparently significantly cheaper because it was pre-paid), and may go anyway since it's paid for, but she's having to use some vacation time, and so due to this trip we put off our normal spring vacation (and it's tough for me to go to DC then, so my loss too sort of :().

It's not like someone died, and not the end of the world, but still annoying. I told her to at least try calling Marriott to ask. It appears that the rates now are quite a bit higher than what she paid, so they could probably re-rent the room but I have no idea how iron-clad these are, and I'm just wondering whether anyone has had any success in getting them undone.

Does she have any status with Marriott?

Depends on individual hotels. Some are nice about it, but some stick to the policy. Like you advised her, I would suggest calling the hotel directly and asking about it. If they say no, they are within the terms of the reservation and at least she tried. I hope they are nice!

Maybe ask if you could postpone the stay to a different weekend? I have no idea if it will work but the hotel might be inclined so they keep the revenue, make a customer happy and also get to rent out the room at a higher rate.

Also, if they won't work with you you may want to check Marriott's policy of getting points (and night credit) in a no-show situation. I know another chain (SPG) will give you the points but no stay or night credit.

Ah, good question. No, she doesn't. I'm Platinum, our stays have been in my name. She has rarely gone anywhere that I haven't recently :).

I figured this, but was wondering if and how often people have been let out of their reservation. Do you have any experience with it you can share?

It's certainly worth calling the hotel. I had a reservation at a Hilton in San Francisco the night of a work party last spring, 2 day cancellation IIRC, and when my daughter got sick we couldn't go -- I expected to be charged anyway, but called at 2pm that day and explained, and the clerk didn't hesitate to cancel it for me with no penalty. I'm sure it depends on a lot of factors (I've never done that before), and a prepaid reservation may be different (since they have to actually refund the charge, instead of just eliminating the booking), but it can't hurt to ask nicely.

Many times to be honest. I had to cancel a stay at a Marriott in Orlando due to a last minute project and the reservation agent cancelled my reservation and she said that since I would stay with them in the future, she would be happy to refund the stay and I saw the credit on my account, so I confirmed it. I politely asked for it, and got it. Amazing what you get when you are just nice. :) I live in DC so I have never stayed at a hotel as to know which ones are nice about it and which ones aren't. But, again, it never hurts to ask.

If the hotel refuses to refund your reservation, you could ask them if they would allow you to switch the stay to another date in the future.

It's not out of the question. I've had pre-paid stays at the JW in SFO and EWR Ren cancelled in the past year by just calling and asking nicely.

way back in the day (before I retired) I'd make a decision on each case....weather related issues - absolutely no issues, plans changed - honestly it would depend on how loyal of a guest you were, afterall it is an non-refundable reservation

Might you, the PM, be able to add yourself to the reservation before asking for the refund? That might get you a little more leverage.

I was able to cancel a non refundable booking just a month ago. I called the hotel directly and explained that I had a change in schedule and would not be making the trip. I was going to ask to move the date out by a few months if they refused to cancel but she was very gracious and canceled with no hassle. Additonal data points - this was at a Courtyard in NJ and I have only silver status.

Fully agree - it never hurts to ask nicely. And it may be that no "refund" would be necessary.

I've done the "pre-paid" reservation with Marriott a few times, and in at least one instance (if I remember correctly, in all) they did not actually put the charge through until I checked in (or maybe sometime during the day the stay was to have begun, I'm not sure of the actual sequence). It may be that they can cancel her reservation and simply not process the charge.

Call the hotel and speak with the front desk manager. I've had success with this in the past; especially if I planned to return to the hotel at a later date. YMMV

As others have reported, I've also had good luck with canceling non refundable reservations at both Hilton and Marriott just by speaking with the front desk manager. In all cases I was switching to another date.

Bobette

I've had to do it a few times, and by calling the Platinum 1-800 number they have been able to handle it for me directly with the hotel. Status helps but unless it is a huge logistical problem for the hotel I think most will do it on an exception basis. Why create needless bad juju with a potential good customer?

I always have an alternative date in mind (or property) as a bargaining chip.

Anyone have experience with trying to get a refund for a prepaid outside the USA?

I prepaid for a Courtyard in Moscow not far from Red Square but I need to cancel the trip. I am only silver and there is no medical emergency. I also cannot project a future stay as I think my trips to Russia are over.

My dates for the reservation include the Russian Orthodox Christmas and their rates have gone up from when I made the reservation, but I am not in a strong position to ask for this favor as a mere Marriott Silver.

YMMW. Your only 100% answer is to call the hotel and ask them yourself. It is also your best chance for a favorable answer.

If you can't cancel and decide, and they let you, roll your reservation forward, beware of certain weekends.

For example, while Memorial Day weekend may be appealing as it's a 3-day weekend, but it is also the weekend of Rolling Thunder with tens of thousand of motor cycles on the Mall and highways. If you are driving, traffic can be a mess at times; but it sounds like you are flying so you should be OK in that regard. The western end of the Mall, Arlington Cemetery and many of the arteries leading into the city are busier than usual. Noise levels are also higher. Also on Sunday there are numerous road closures. I live 14 miles outside the city in VA, between the Fairfax Harley dealership and I-66 and we are blocked in for about an hour and there is a constant roar of Harley engines for a few days. Depending on where you are staying it shouldn't be a big deal, and actually you may enjoy it. I know a number of Rolling Thunder groups stay at the Crystal City Marriotts and are quite loud. I would avoid those hotels if you are sensitive to noise and/or large groups. Anyone considering staying that weekend may want to Google Rolling Thunder and find out at what hotels they are staying. Now if you're riding a bike, then that would be the place you may want to be.

FWIW, spring (April) through early summer (before mid-June when schools let out) are the best times to visit IMO. President's weekend can be down right cold. The good thing is crowd levels are much lower at that time of the year. Note: with the exception of March of 2012 when we had an unusually warm winter, the end of March is too early as most trees, including the Cherry Blossoms, are just starting to bud then, and the greenery level is still low. My mother's birthday was on Mach 20, the first day of spring, and while things were warming up a bit, the foliage was nowhere near green at that point nor were the Cherry Blossoms out. April is great.

I hope that helps anybody who may be planning a trip to DC area.

aaupgrade offers great advice, including about April being a primo time to visit DC. However, this is an old thread that was bumped up because someone had a similar question. The OP posted this last year and didn't come back to let us know if he was able to get the hotel to help him out. OP, if you're out there, what eventually happened? Was the hotel or Marriott able to help? If so, please let is know what you did, so that others in that position in the future have a road map. A great benefit of using FT is being able to learn from what worked for others.

Your best bet is to call the hotel and tell them the truth and ask for a favor. Honesty is usually the best policy. I have done this a few times when I made a mistake and booked a hotel for an earlier night by accident and was a no show. So far, I am batting %100 on getting the no show fee waived when I called within a day or so after the reservation. You have nothing to lose by calling the hotel and everything to gain. Full disclosure, I have only done this for domestic stays. I have never had a reason to do it with an international stay. As iztok already noted, calling the hotel directly is your best chance at a getting a favorable outcome. Calling the MR line instead of the hotel directly would be a mistake for this type of issue.


--Jon

Thanks much for sound advice.

The fact that its a period of high demand may work in your favor as they can get more $$ from another guest

Absolutely
 

You sure can....but I think it's hit and miss. My wife became ill two days ago so today I needed to cancel 5 prepaid nights (3 in Humble, Tx, 1 in Dallas, 1 in Humble again), and the first night was tonight. I called Marriott Customer Care and had a fantastic rep named Birgit. She was awesome. She called the hotels herself and had all the charges removed, no penalties. I am a Marriott member and that probably helped. The bottom line is, Marriott wants happy customers, the hotels in Humble and Dallas want happy customers, and you DO have leverage. They do not want you to post anything negative on Travel Advisor or other sites (I was not going to do that). I will certainly stay at those hotels when I rebook our trip.

Side note: I, too, was booking my hotels late in the evening and booked the "lowest" rate while not thinking clearly. I never book the prepaid rate unless I know 100% that I will be at the hotel, but I booked prepaid this time. I won't do that again.

I have an overnight connection at Houston/IAH this coming Friday. I just recently noticed I made the mistake of making a booking at Courtyard HOU airport instead of a Marriott property near IAH on an advanced payment rate. I called the hotel directly and was told there is nothing they can do. I then called the platinum reservation to try to see if I can switch my reservation to another Marriott property near IAH. The agent called the hotel and was told no.

My booking at Courtyard HOU Airport is merely $70. It doesn't make any sense why they wouldn't let me transfer that to a higher rate booking at another Marriott property near IAH where they can make more money, let alone making a platinum a happy customer. So stupid.

While I empathize with you my guess is that its a different hotel owner so letting you switch to another property is really lost revenue for that hotel. I do agree with your point that it would be a nice customer service gesture but you took a risk with a Non-Refundable and didn't double check which airport its by so I would chalk this up to a relatively low cost lesson and just book a new reservation.

I suppose you could also appeal the hotel's decision to the general manager or revenue/rooms manager. Maybe they will take pity on you.

Not surprised at all. Most likely two different owners/operators. Asking one to give up revenue to another is a tough request. Also, starting with Customer Care might have worked better for you. There's a good chance the property noted your request with the first call and thus provided a consistent answer the second time.

I've actually had a situation where I showed up at the wrong property! Instead of making me wait for the shuttle to the airport to find the proper bus, they confirmed my rez and popped for the taxi directly there. Now that was good customer service!