CJKatl

A very close friend is getting married in September. Her parents are giving the newlyweds a two week Mediterranean cruise. It embarks from Venice. I offered them a hotel stay before the cruise, which will allow them to see Venice and made a reservation at the Boscolo Venezia. The plan was to use points for this. The groom sent me a lovely thank you email. The bride, a close friend of 40+ years, sent me an email letting me know the date was wrong!

Of course, when I tried to change the reservation, the Boscolo was not available. I was able to book the CY, so at least they have somewhere to stay, but really want to get them in the Boscolo.

Since making the reservation a couple months ago, I have checked m.com at least once a day, hoping something opens up. There are paid nights available, so the hotel isn't full, but no points options. I've begged MR and they have gone to bat with the hotel, to no avail. I've contacted the hotel with no result.

Does anyone have any trick up his/her sleeve that I might try to get them into the hotel? I feel like I've baited and switched them, and would really like to get them in the Boscolo. Please, I'm begging, pass along any ideas. I'm willing to try just about anything at this point.

hhoope01

Since it sounds like you have already contacted the hotel GM to see if they might be willing to open something up for you, the only other option that I can think of is possibly the Marriott Check awards. (In effect using points to get $ to spend at a hotel.)

Unfortunately, Marriott has recently been doing some major devaluations on the check awards. So they aren't nearly as good a deal as they were not too long ago.

Maybe you could go over to the CC forum and see if any Plats have recently invoked the Plat Guarantee and have some of those Anywhere/anytime night certs. I do believe those are usable anywhere there is a basic room available for cash, not just if there is award availability.

shoreline

Sounds like you've got a different location at least. If you just keep checking for availability maybe you will get lucky enough to catch a room as soon as someone cancels.

Good luck.

MSPeconomist

Do you have any sense how full the hotel is on the desired dates? If there's very little availability, chances of a points reservation becoming available could be slim and it's not at all clear that the problem would be solved if someone else cancels their points reservation--the rooms could go into regular paid inventory.

When you contacted the hotel, did you make clear that you had had a points booking and were just trying to change to the correct dates? Can the property put you on a wait list for the points stay? If more that one night is involved, can some of the dates be booked with points?

CJKatl

I've been working this for a couple months, with no success. I think the problem is the hotel is near the cruise port and is likely full the day before this cruise. The hotel did know about my original reservation, but only offered availability on a third date, not the date I need.

I made it clear the reservation was for friends on a honeymoon, that I had made a mistake.

The night would cost 90k points if I were to purchase gift cards with points, which just seems like too many points. For now, I'll just keep checking on the site every day....

Thanks for the tips. If anyone thinks of anything else, please post or PM!

yul lite

I've stayed at that Courtyard the night before a flight out, and it is not at all ideal for visiting Venice. There is nothing Venice-like about it (could be almost anywhere), and it is FAR from the city. There is nothing nearby.

Do you have points with any other chain? The Hilton Stucky is very nice....

CJKatl

Thanks for the insight. Maybe I'll hold a reservation at the Boscolo for now, just in case... I can always give them the gift cards. I just checked the Stucky, thinking I could change some reservations to Hiltons and get the points by September. It's 920 EUR a night, or 430k HH Points. I don't think I can earn that many points in time!

DJ_Iceman

You haven't mentioned the most obvious solution, which is to pay for the room with cash. I realize you were hoping to burn some points, but if this is your wedding gift, maybe it's worth the money?

CJKatl

How nice that someone isn't familiar with my cheapness....