duranza

I had to change a 4 + 1 free booked award night in Hawaii from January to March.
As a consequence the 100k pts I used for those 5 nights could only get me 3 at 30k each night plus 1 paid.
I asked about the 4 night booking plus 1 free that I had before and was told not available after Marriott agent called the hotel directly.

Anyone have a different experience?

ETA: Since the hotel category has changed and I only had 100k pts I could only apply those points to my booking which covered only 3 nts .
If I had booked 4 nights then I would have gotten the free extra night.
thanks everyone for your comments and replies.

SkiAdcock

Did the hotel change categories, requiring more points? I know if you book before a category change, Marriott will honor the old category. I don't know how it's handled if you make a change after the new category goes into effect.

Cheers.

duranza

yes the hotel changed category from 5 to 6

sammyindc

If you booked it prior to the category change they should honor your reservation under the old category and you would be able to get the 4+1night free deal.

duranza

that's what I thought but the Marriott agent said she called the hotel itself and they said they were not running that promotion...
I should call back !

ETA: okay this is what the customer relations I spoke to just now tells me that since the category of hotel changed I needed 120k pts in order to book the 5 nights at the 4 night points.

iztok

If you make a change to the reservation then the original points award is moot. 4+1 would still be available for higher category points (provided all nights are available for points redemption). However 3+1 paid doesn't get you 5th night free.

fireworksboy

Are you sure about that? I thought changing the dates would require recalculating taking the new (presumably higher) point cost. Otherwise what would stop some us here from booking a stay and then continually kicking the can down the road (making date changes) forever essentially?

OU812

The redeem 4 nights, get the 5th night free is still in effect. But it doesn't work under a cash and points reservation. Do you have 120K points in your MR account? If you are trying to use 100K points then are most likely SOL. Some MR agents will make the date change to your reservation without changing the amount of points required under the old category, but SOP is that a change in dates make it a new reservation thus requiring higher points.

If you don't have the 120K points required for 5 nights @ a Cat 6 property, you can buy 20,000 MR points for $250 from Marriott's website. That would enable you to redeem the 4 nights and get the 5th night free, provided the hotel has 5 nights available on your dates.

https://buy.points.com/PointsPartner...EN&product=BUY

Hope this helps.

Regards,

RIP...

Mr. Vker

This.

sammyindc

My bad didn't notice the OP changed date. I think you are correct on the policy however, some properties may make some exceptions. I for instance had a reservation made for after the category change (but about 2 weeks) and had to change the dates by a few days and was able to do it. But that was a few weeks after the change so MR and the property had no problem with that. I can see how they might no longer do it now.

But as far as the promotion goes it's not really a promotion every hotel that participates in the MR program offer the 5th night free if booking 4 nights on points.

TommyC80

In my experience, when the room is rebooked the points based on the new category will be deducted from your account. After your stay is completed, they will credit the difference in points to your account.

Obviously this takes a couple of phone calls to make sure everything is done right.

SkiAdcock

That's what I thought too.

Cheers.

rylan

The problem as mentioned earlier int he thread is the combination of points night and cash night. For the 4+1 free, the 4 nights have to be a points reservation.

Since you are only 20k short, your best option is to buy the 20k points for $250. Then you get the extra night... so basically its like getting 2 nights for $250.

duranza

Actually I only had to buy 13k for $165 since I had 107+k points ( I posted in my first post) so this was the best option .

hhoope01

Do note that you can still make the 5 night award reservation even if you don't currently have the points in your account. Marriott will allow that. Then if you can earn some or all the points over the next couple of months, you wouldn't have to purchase as many points for this reservation.