Same Issue in Napa Oct 8-12
 

Just had great luck chatting with a property manager about the Plat Overide. Said he would make it happen and thanked me for staying with them!

Platinum 48 hour guarantee is no guarantee!
 

Went online to book a room for Tuesday at my favorite Renaissance in Chicago. Sold out. Called the Platinum line and the rep said the override was not showing up. She called the hotel and apparently a hotel can "override the override" a few times a year when they are REALLY sold out.

So it appears that the 48 hour guarantee is really no guarantee at all!!

Any thoughts? This ever happen to anyone else? Why have the rule when it can be broken??

I have put an email into hotel management to ask for their help. I stay a few times a month, so we will see!

From T&C:

It only happens in special situations based on local situations. College towns during graduation, superbowl, mardi gras, conventions, etc.

They have to arrange it with Marriott Corporate, but it can happen.

Were you able to find another hotel nearby or are you just ticked?

I know that it does not help, but I think that it is there somewhere in the fine print.

Properties have the option of opting out of the 48 hour platinum guarantee if they can show overwhelming demand (i.e. Super Bowl or some other event) where they surrender all of their room inventory. In those cases, you are unable to book a room by using the platinum guarantee.

Given this, you probably have a better chance of getting a room if you are a frequent guest at the property. Every Marriott property keeps a list of their top 50 customers by stays on an annual basis. Even a frequent guest not on the top 50 list will have a better chance getting an exception.

I would not say that the platinum guarantee is entirely useless. I have only used it once at a CY in Florida, but I got the room at their normal rate. This is better than the guarantee with Hyatt as a platinum or diamond member where you will have to pay rack rate for a room, and their guarantee also has some exclusions.

The other Marriotts in Chicago are EMPTY so its not a local event but something JUST at the hotel.

If that hotel is hosting a conference, the conference organizers could have taken the entire room inventory. In that case, the platinum guarantee would not work.

We are talking about a room in Chicago on December 14th 2010, are we?

Decent rates such as

• Marriott Hotel Downtown Magnificent Mile Chicago for $ 101.25 net
• Renaissance Chicago Downtown Hotel for $ 108 net

if you know the routine.

Yes, and you made my point for me. This is NOT a local issue, its a hotel issue. This hotel has conference space for maybe 150 people so not sure how they could rent the whole place out.

They must have contracted all the rooms out to someone. In general hotels don't maliciously deny the platinum override, afterall they want to sell all their rooms!

Why don't you stop by on the dates of your stay and see what's going on at the property in question. In fact, while there, see if you can book a room....

TW

I was told a property typically holds 1 to 2 rooms for platinum override but if the hotel is completely sold out and the 1 to 2 rooms were already booked by other platinum members then you are out of luck. This happened to me at JW in Seoul a couple weeks ago.

A month ago, I tried to book a room in downtown Philadelphia for this past Saturday. I didn't realize that it was the weekend of the Army-Navy game and demand was high. None of the downtown Marriot properties were available for paid stays with the Platinum override, much less award stays. A month out?...at all downtown properties?...so much for the "48 hour" guarantee.

The Hilton properties were sold out as well. However - I was able to call the Diamond Desk where they arranged a Diamond Force override on an _award_ stay! The HHonors program is far from perfect, but in this instance, they came through where Marriott counldn't/wouldn't.

A great story/reason for staying at multiple hotel chains (to gain elite levels at both) if you have the opportunity.

As my Inbox is flooded with queries like:

Do you use corporate codes that provide nice discounts? That's what I use when I travel. Wondered what codes are your "go-to" ones?

I don't reply to these messages any more. If you

• are interested in Corporate Codes you are entiteld for, ask your Corporate Travel Management (CTM) for references.
• plan to improperly use Corporate Codes, use this compilation as a reference.
• like to know my routine, read here.