charlesonmission

I was looking to book the FI & Suites in Inner Harbor Baltimore and the room that is a Suite is not available on Points, but is available for purchase. I thought one could book any room on points that was available at the standard point rate - I actually thought I've done it before.

Which way is correct? Are Suites limited when it comes to reward nights?

Mr. Vker

No, they don't have to offer every room type. They will sometimes with premium points or cash.

BTW, that property is not at the harbor. Its not far, but across a major highway and several blocks. No view at all. I don't think they should have Inner Harbor in their name.

CJKatl

You can only book rooms available for points. Some hotels allow you to book upgraded rooms/suites for additional points. Those hotels will show the upgraded room options and the points needed to book. Others limit you to a basic room. If the room you want is not available for points, you can always reach out to the property and ask if they will make the room available to you for additional points. Some people have reported having success while other have not. Personally, I've had success twice (once to a 2 br at an RI and once to a suite at a FS) but failed twice, too.


Examples: You can search Marriott.com and find the following: Wailea Beach Resort Maui, night of Aug 21, you can get a regular room for 40k MR points or an oceanview room for 60k MR points. For the same night, the JW Buckhead Atlanta will only give you a regular room for points. The hotel is not offering suites for points.

CPRich

As in "I'd like to book the Presidential Suite for the standard award rate please"? No.

At MR, you can book on points what the property has decided to offer on points. And different room types could/will be different amounts.

charlesonmission

Sounds like I remembered it wrong, but I thought I booked a suite at a different property for the normal point amount. I know that I've done it with Choice, so I may be mixing up the past.

We ended booking the Hyatt Place which has a couch with a pullout as well for 12K points a night.

sdsearch

You can certainly book a suite with points for the normal points amount.

Just book at an all-suite property, such as a Marriott Suites, SpringHill Suites, etc.

Seriously, that illustrates that it depends on how the particular (not-all-suites) hotel looks at suites at its property. If they're much higher valued than other rooms, they're not likely to be available on points at the same rate, unless maybe it's forecast to be a super-dead night. If they're only slightly higher valued than other rooms, they may be more likely to offer suites at the same rate, at least on lower-occupancy dates.

Ie, nothing that you can count on, but something you might occasionally run into.

And thus it's irrelevant whether or not you did it before, because it's so situation dependent and you're obviously not in the exact same situation now (since you're booking at different property).

rrgg

I discovered this myself. Personally being able to purchase better rooms for more points is a major benefit for Starwood I've used several times.

I just tried my first Marriott award at a Residence Inn and was told I can only book a studio with a double bed because that's the lowest level room. This is kind of ridiculous for a 2-person stay. I'm willing to pay more points for an available queen room, but they won't allow it.

I sure hope this policy doesn't extend to Starwood in the future.