SanDiego1K

Lexdevil, as I've said, I've seen your posts over the years. I had confidence all along that you were in the right, but what a hassle.

Your team must be exceptional to travel all over the country debating. I didn't do that til college. You rock, lady, and your team is fortunate to have you at its head! I hope your competitions are going well and that your team is learning and growing as they compete. They are developing great skills of organization, analysis, and exposition that they will be able to apply in almost all careers.

SkiAdcock

The above to me is the critical part. As lex says, points etc can be sorted later but not having access to reservations or ability to make reservations - that's the BIG issue.

This.

And this.

Cheers.

lexdevil

...SkiAdcock and SanDiego1K. I appreciate your kind comments. I love my job. I work with great kids and I get to know them so well because of all the travel we do together. I'm crazy busy and stressed out, but I wouldn't trade my job for the world (much to the chagrin of my family).

jerseyfinn

A long, but interesting thread/problem. Under the circumstance, you receive a prompt resolution.

That said, I sense a "pronoun problem" here with profligate use of me, myself, & I.

The proximate cause which sets off Marriott's (legitimate) audit is an error made by your co-worker on a previous booking and Marriott responds appropriately. Consider yourself lucky that Marriott is able to provide a timely answer to your emphatic queries.

You are not the only Marriott customer of the moment and your demands/expectations of Marriott were unrealistic from the get go. Perhaps it's the stress of time management & the constraints of a weekend, but in any case, your complaints here are somewhat over the top. Enjoy your students & try decaf as things like this are not worth getting so amped up. Good luck with your endeavors.

Barry

wharvey

At the end of the day, if you insist on controlling all of the reservations then you risk the issues that happened in this case.

If you cannot trust others to do what they should do, you cannot blame Marriott for flagging the account when something that should not have happened does happen.

You got a very fast resolution... you lost no access to make reservations or "manage" your accounts, you just had to call in to do it.

Marriott is dealing with more than just one customer... and they do not work 24/7 in all departments.

At the end of the day, you received a prompt resolution to your issues... much quicker than the average customer would have... and, as we now see, it was a coworker that caused this issue initially... not Marriott.

nacho

At least Marriott is not IHG - you should see how IHG shuts down peoples' accounts without even giving any warning/explanation. This is the reason I do my pay stay with Marriott.

dayone

Very well said.

C17PSGR

Hmmh ... so in my 200+ nights last year, there were at least a couple of occasions where I was in City X for two weeks, needed to make a quick overnight to City Y, and did not check out from the hotel in City X. So, I had stays in both City Y and City X on the same night (and paid for both). Is that against the T&C?

mab

I must admit I don't understand the defense of Marriott here. I don't see anything the poster did that could be construed as being the least bit dishonest or against the rules, unless I'm missing something.

I worry that my own occasional travel idiosyncrasies could be raise similar flags, if this is really something they scrutinize accounts for. Frankly, if I found myself accused of "fraud" for paying Marriott for lots of hotel stays, I'd be pretty seriously angry, not to mention baffled.

In particular, I'm a pretty frequent traveler, and several times - not often, but not never - I've found myself with more than one hotel room on the same night. For example, in the middle of a conference in one city (with a week-long stay) a family member fell ill in another city and I had to leave overnight to take care of things, with another hotel in the new city but kept my original room. Another time, I discovered after check-in that I had booked a room at the wrong Marriott, across town from where I needed to be. Having already paid for the first room, I found a room at the correct hotel and checked in there, too?

Are you people suggesting that I was somehow being dishonest here? How is this different from what the original poster did (again, perhaps I'm missing something). It's not "fraud" to give a hotel chain a lot of business (assuming you actually pay for it).

Unless there's more to this story, Marriott needs to bend over backwards assure the original poster that they really do value his (significant) business.

RogerD408

Technically you should only get credit for one room a night since you can only be in one place at a time. This just goes to show MR does get it wrong from time to time. I'm sure there is plenty of evidence to support what the OP was doing but the "auditor" chose not to look further than surface level and locked the account. All the anecdotal reports of booking multiple hotels for the same night and not being challenged just proves they get it wrong more often than not.

Pre-announcing shutting down an account may expose MR to an accelerated burn before being locked out and additional loss. Maybe what they need is a means to lock down point usage, especially in cases where the member has pending stays and may want to book additional stays (cash not points). That way MR has a way to communicate with the member in a more real time and getting the issues resolved quicker. Also having someone available with the authority to review these events and release the lockout is important. Being told you have to wait days to get back into your account is not good customer service. Fortunately, the OP was able to speak with someone quickly, but I don't think that's normal for MR.

From what I've read, the OP did nothing wrong. The OP was subjected to accusations of fraud by people that did not know the facts of the situation. The OP chose to spend time to resolve the issue instead of letting it ride until Monday, or later. The OP was allowed back into their account. If I was the OP, when I had time, I would write up the situation and send it to MR. Maybe they can devise some new guidelines that would reduce the stress on members and reduce wasted time by the auditors, a win-win for everyone.

VickiSoCal

This is what confuses me. It is not. And many people do it, some off whom probably are not on the ball with regards to points/nights and don't even notice that MR credited them for both. Can they then be accused of fraud?

mab

Wait, why on earth would/should they "challenge" someone who's paying for multiple hotels? Maybe they should only *credit* one according to their rules (it's not clear), but it's not against the rules to book them and pay for them. And of course it isn't, because it would be *insane* to turn away or discourage in the slightest way that kind of business from someone.

RogerD408

Of course you can book multiple hotels for the same night, Properties will happily take your money. However, the MR program only grants night credit for your personal room and, so far, it is not possible to be in two different places at once. Just because they repeatedly miss a situation, or even choose to allow it from time to time, does not mean it's allowable every time. And, if an account audit reveals a mistake was made, they do have the right to correct it. This can mean, if you end the year just over the threshold and several nights end up being deemed invalid, your status is at risk.

They make the rules available to us. They make the postings available to us (until your account is locked). So just like with your bank account, you should be reconciling the activity periodically (like I do, but for forecasting purposes) and note any errors. Deciding to report errors in your favor is a personal call, but don't get upset if they choose to correct the account at a time that is inconvenient to you.

RogerD408

Agreed. And there is nothing stopping you from doing that. Even if your MR account is locked out, you can still book a room either online or on the phone, you just won't be able to link it to your account to get MR credit for it. Yes, it's more inconvenient, but doable. And like I said, maybe they should have a means to only lock out point access and not total account access.

4getofn

RogerD ... I agree they can take my money and if the rules state I only get credit for one room do to the fact I can't be a two places at the same time great. Now, freezing my account, sending me a condescending USPS letter intimating fraud and knowingly abusing the T&C's of my account is a bit much !!