rebyang

It's my fist time to deal with this and hope to learn details about this policy.
I stayed at a Marriott hotel in Europe and during both checkin and checkout, the frontdesk didn't know the Guaranteed Platinum Arrival Gift of "500 bonus points or $10 Food & Beverage credit" .
I was told by the frontdeak to have breakfast instead of points.

When I was back to the US and checked the website of Marriott, it states that for platinum member, there are two benefits related: Guaranteed Lounge Access/ Breakfast: "In Europe, hotels without a lounge offer a choice of breakfast for two in the restaurant or or 750 points" and for Guaranteed Platinum Arrival Gift "500 bonus points or $10 Food & Beverage credit"

So I filed a claim for complain, after several emails go and back, the customer service put a 500 points into my account, which is from "Omaha Reservation Center Bonus"

It seems that Marriott agrees that it's this hotel's fault that didn't give me the Guaranteed Platinum Arrival Gift.
Then my question is if will Marriott credit the USD100 for "Guest compensation" as stated on Marriott website?

I emailed to Marriott but was told "I agree that you were suppose to receive the 500 points for the Platinum arrival, however what you are referring to is for Reservations. This was not the reservation, but the bonus for arrival. If you have any other questions or concerns please feel free to contact us again."

Confused now.

Tanic

You would have needed to claim the guarantee before leaving the property.

RogerD408

Two points here:

1) any PAG failure must be reported and resolved on-site before checking out (as stated in the rules). So if you ask for points and they don't get posted, there is no penalty for the property, but you should still expect to get the points at some time. Again, all failures need to be handled before checking out.

2) It's not uncommon for the CSRs to misunderstand the issue and/or to respond with fictitious rules to support why things happened the way they did or just to support the property failure. Unfortunately it is up to the member to know the rules and escalate when needed to get someone to actually look into the situation and push for a resolution.

An example of the second point is I had a property fail to post bonus points due. I called a CSR and explained the issue. Her immediate response is they would never do such a promotion and I must be wrong! I asked for a supervisor and she informed me she was a supervisor, so I asked for her manager. She went away for several minutes and came back saying she just returned from maternity leave and hadn't caught up with her emails and I was correct and she'll post the points as prescribed. No apology for being wrong or accusing me of lying and I'm sure the maternity issue was to get sympathy from me. I hang up anytime she answers any of my calls.

It's the world we have today. Frustrating knowing it doesn't have to be that way.

rebyang

Thanks for the information, ... it seems that the hotel I stayed doesn't know this policy. If we could not find a right person or manager who knows this policy to solve this, then we will never get the $100

UpgradeMe

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...d-threads.html

rebyang

Got it! Though I think Marriott's policy is very confused, next time, if I met such case, I will definitely show the website statement and talk to the manager. For this case, I have to catch the train when check out and really didn't have time to deal with this.

RogerD408

I am sure some of these properties bank on that. People get in a rush and don't have time to push for what is due.

danola

mahasamatman

The guarantee isn't about whether or not they post. It's about whether or not they ask.

C17PSGR

When you check in, they either offer you an arrival gift or they don't. If they don't, you should ask.

Frankly, I find it hard to ask for the $100 under these circumstances since I can correct it on the spot.

I feel differently, however, when they don't offer me my guaranteed room choice.

hockeyinsider

As others said, you have to invoke it before you leave the property. I've only done so once, though I've corrected the front desk a few times to get the choice I'm supposed to be given. And I only invoked it because when I called down to the duty manager to enquire about why I wasn't given a choice, per Marriott's terms, I was met with indifference. Had the duty manager offered me a drink or even a comped dinner I would have accepted in lieu of requesting the $100.

RogerD408

Wiggle point #1 :
Offer something that can't be delivered before they can invoke.

But then the guarantee is to be OFFERED a choice. I too will mention something if I'm not in a rush to get settled in and off to my next appointment. And places I frequent, if they don't make the offer I will remind the FDC failure could cost the property real $s and they really should remember to say something.

CJKatl

Agreed. When I check in, I automatically say "I'll take the points." I'm not looking to play gotcha. Several times a year the points don't post, so I reach out to Marriott Rewards and they quickly, easily and without question correct the error. Should I have to do this? No. In the scheme of things is it a big deal? No. Maybe it would be different if Marriott didn't correct the mistake so quickly and easily, but they do. They have even given me the points when I've said, "No, that wasn't me checking in. It was someone using my points." More than once.

Those of us who have been around long enough know it is impossible to invoke the $100 payment for the missed welcome points because you are no longer in the hotel. It seems every couple weeks a newbie discovers this and spreads bravado about getting the $100. Maybe once someone actually did get a hotel to send the $100, but usually the bravado spewer fades into the background. Nothing changes. It's better to just accept that you are going to have to call Marriott Rewards for the fast, easy correction than to get upset over this quirk.

C17PSGR

I find hotels are very compliant on the Plat amenity. As several desk agents have told me, almost everyone with status takes the points (I normally take the $10 voucher in the US and head to the bar if its not too late) so if they fail to mention it, I can tell them. I really don't want to see someone get in trouble like that unless they're really being a jerk.

I've gotten the room guarantee 2-3 times over the years. To me, that's a bigger system issue. Not offering me a plat gift is a desk agent assuming I want the points because that's what the other gold/plats want. Not giving me my room type means the hotel doesn't care enough or pay enough attention to make sure that plat/plat premiers get the room type that they were guaranteed.

hockeyinsider

I used to always take the points because, well, points are points. I redeem my points for one week in London and one week somewhere for Christmas every year; almost always category-8 or category-9 properties.

Lately, however, I've been staying enough on packages with bonus points, doing enough corporate events or racking up a lot of points via credit card spending that I almost always take the $10 voucher. Of course, I always make a point of asking to see if any property offers something different.

The $10 voucher at least allows me to get a decent glass of wine, as one of my clients (unfortunately, the one I travel for mostly) doesn't reimburse alcohol. And I also reckon that the $10 voucher costs the hotel more than the 500 points.