I cannot use Concur when booking Marriott properties
 

So, it's February next week and time to start working on the new Marriott promotion for 2015. Unfortunately for me, I am required to use Concur to book hotels. When I tried to do that today, I was forbidden from choosing Marriott because it now violates our company policy, i.e. it's not eligible for cancellation on the day of arrival like it was in 2014.

Is anyone else having this trouble? I wonder if Marriott was aware of this potential, now real, problem.

Does anyone have contact info for someone at Marriott that I can use to discuss this issue. If this policy stays in effect, then I will have to find a new primary hotel chain to use.

Not happy about this, sorry if this is old news. I knew of the new policy, but I didn't realize that it would happen this way (forbidden by Concur) until I tried to book a stay last night.

Opinions?

Randidliyo

Starwood just implemented the same cancellation policy, so it might be a good idea to see if you can get your company to loosen up on its policy.

Hilton changed theirs as well on Jan. 1 too. So I have the feeling that anyone's company that requires "day of" cancellation policies either be big enough negotiate a special cancellation policy with each Chain directly or bite the bullet and change their own policy. :eek:

And contact the Justice Dept/FTC and ask for an anti-trust investigation. http://www.ftc.gov/faq/competition/r...rust-violation

You could and who knows maybe there is something there. But I suspect it is more likely a situation similar to airlines setting flight prices. One changes the price with the others seeing it and matching it because they liked it.

Quite possibly if only one of the major hotel chains modified their cancellation policy and none of their major competitors matched, if they actually started losing business due to that change, they would reverse it. But they all matched each other instead and we now have to deal with it.

All the chains have made this change. Why not just book the day of arrival? Corporate rules are meant to be broken.

What properties are being presented as options? Some companies are concerned about their appearance and don't want their employees staying at low-ends like Days Inn & Motel 8s. Bringing this to the attention of your travel czar may be necessary to get the restriction lifted.

As suggested, booking the day of may get you around the rule, but having a backup that "fits" the rules may be wise. Not sure if the system will report going from a $50/night booking to $150/night and if that could get you attention you don't want.

I actually didnt think the new policy would impact me much. Work and pleasure travel do not change often. I can think of two times in 10 years did I need to cancel after 6pm day of arrival. (Due to flight issues.) Plat line helped in both cases to have any fees waived.

However, this past week I was forced to another chain. We were flying back to the US on Monday through JFK. Not sure about the weather there. Cathay put us up at the Radisson Monday. I wasn't sure if we would get out Tuesday. Normally, I would have reserved a Marriott property knowing I could cancel if plans changed. Not this time. We wouldn't know until day of if we could travel.

Everything worked out. We rented a car and drove home.

I get they don't like last min. changes. I don't either. But, the ability to utilize that feature steers me sometimes to a brand that has it. It was actually a weird feeling. I started to reserve and then thought "Oh, i can't do that anymore...."

That seems troubling, as company travel czars I've dealt with in my career typically don't have to travel much... Explaining to them why a $150 max room rate is ridiculous in major metro areas was tedious enough...

Yes, I understand the dilemma trying to get non-travelers to know what a traveler goes through. Even people that work at hotels rarely know how their own programs work. But if you're going to get anywhere, you gotta start bringing them up to speed and have them rethink the decisions that have been made. Sitting back on a travel forum and complaining is not likely to get you anywhere.

Try $135!

I've already brought it up with out travel czar, so let's see what happens.

Radisson near JFK or another country? Marriott's 1-day cancel policy doesn't apply to Europe & Asia (unlike Hilton's, which is worldwide).

Cheers.

Go to Insiders to the cancellation policy thread there & post what you posted above about no longer being able to book Marriott due to the new policy. Make sure you mention joshm in your post as that will send him a direct message.

Cheers.

The big chains knew exactly what they were doing and are very plugged into corporate travel policies. They know that those companies not large enough to negotiate the provision or its impact into a contract will eventually come along.

Same thing when air carriers upped the domestic change fee and restricted SDC. People predicted doom and yet here we are.

There will be a small # of businesses which dig in their heels and won't live with the new policies. But, they don't move the market and the possibility that some people will jump ship has already been factored into the cost-benefit.

What this will end is the practice of simply booking rooms because one might need to travel and then cancelling at the last second when the room isn't needed. That inventory spoilage was likely very costly and will outweigh the loss of OP's business.