Has Anyone Else had trouble using Award Stays???
 

I have been in MR since 1984. For years I was dedicated to Marriott. When *wood came out with "No Blackout dates" I made the switch. (I burned over 400K MR on a trip to Hawaii over a Christmas Break some years ago.)

I am still Silver (I know it's lowly) and I do stay at Marriotts at least 20-30 times a year.

I am currently at the Marriott Marquis Times Square for a conference and wanted to extend the stay so Mrs. JKFB1 could come for the weekend. When I tried to make the reservation in early January I was told there was "No Award Availability". This is not the first time this has happened to me. The last few times I've tried to book an award for a weekend that's what I've been told.

Am I alone out there? Has this happened to anyone else?

Marriott does have Awards that override blackout dates (of course for more points)

This *is* the President's Day holiday weekend, so that could be why there weren't any awards available. Is it possible that the weekends you have wanted awards for were popular weekends? If not, I don't know firsthand what Marriott's general award availability is like, but I'm sure others here can comment on that.

Award availability
 

I booked a week at the JW Cancun for next May. I looked at several different weeks (the constraint was Continental FF availability) and had no problem. Admittedly, Mid-May is low season....school is in session, and it is getting close to the rainy season.

I'll let you know when we actually go haw it was....I'll concerned until we actually check in and get our toes in the sand....

Personally, I've never had problems booking Marriott awards. My "big" awards have been weeks in Hawaii - I got 1 wk at Ren Wailea and 1 wk at Marriott Kauai. Granted - I went in the summer, not the winter, and the hotels were probably half-full. In the winter, my guess is that these two hotels are booked fairly solid and awards are scarce.

I would be p*ssed if I couldn't get free weekend nights as a giant property like the one in Times Square. Fortunately, that hasn't ever happened to me... Only time I couldn't get an award on a weekend was New Orleans on Mardi Gras Marathon weekend - but I was able to use an EEO 2nd Nt Free cert and got a great upgrade to concierge level, so I was pretty happy with that.

In my experience, I've never had an issue with Marriott Reward Stays. Yes, I've been told NO on a couple of occassions, but they WERE very popular weekends and the destinations I had chosen at the time were popular for those occassions (ie, San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter/Riverwalk on Valentines Day Weekend - Romantic Getaway). For popular times and popular locations, always best to plan ahead.

That being said, the New York Marriott Marquis is a VERY popular hotel because of its vicinity to Times Square. The Renaissance just down the street isn't as popular (nor as famous) and might have more availability. There is also the New York Courtyard Times Square (not as nice obviously), but if it's free you're looking for then this might be the ticket.

I've had terrible luck with trying to book regular rewards for Marriott- They never seem to have availability unless I want to use the low value Stay Anytime rewards. Case in point- Recently looked at the Pentagon City Residence Inn for 2 night weekend stays in May- No standard rewards available. And this from a hotel that seems to draw most of its traffic from the M-F business crowd for all the office buildings and pentagon nearby.

a few months ago , i booked an award stay for the marriott in Monaco
for late May
the hotel is approx $450 a nite
and it was the only way i could ever stay there

when i booked it, i had about 10k mariott reward points
i was told that was fine
i just needed 55k in my account by 6 pm the night of the reservation
otherwise i would need to cancel or pay the rack rate

luckily i'm up to 60k mr points now
so i will stay there
rather than sleeping on a bench at the beach

Compared to other programs, Marriott has the most problems as an elite

Never had problems
 

While I have had issues with the way they treat elites, I have never had problems getting rooms.
This includes Hawaii, most of the warm locations during Spring Break/Easter.
I even always getting into Indianapolis during race weekend.

I've never had a problem, including Hawaii and peak ski season in Colorado.

To me, anything under three months is a last-minute booking, and to complain about availability when you're trying a last-minute booking is both unfair and shows something of a lack of understanding of how a first-come/first-served awards system works.

True, but this is where Marriott falls far short of other elite programs like Starwood and Hilton, both of which have no blackout dates for top tier elites. (And these are normal reward redepmtions, not "anytime rewards") Case in point was last year when the Yankees were playing the Red Sox in Boston. Hilton got me a reward stay with less than 3 days notice at a Hilton only blocks from Fenway Park. The next night I stayed at the Westin down the block on another award stay; again with only a few days notice.

Then you should probably stick with HH and SPG as you seem to like those programs better. BTW, since it appears as though you like those programs better, then why would you want to stay at a Marriott anyway?

I believe mimitche was just pointing out one aspect of the MR program as it compares with two other hotel chain's programs, it is a shame that the least little bit of criticism is so routinely swatted away as any but that. :rolleyes: There are great reasons to stay at MR even if you think that there are certian aspects of the rewards program that could be better. Great locations, nice properties and good people are just a few. No need to get so defensive of MR when the facts are that each program has its benefits and drawbacks. It just so happens that this thread deals w/ award stay availability.

Actually, I've been having a lot of trouble lately. Anything popular seems to need an Anytime Stay Award. Of late, Long Wharf Boston, Coutyard Quebec, Courtyard Hyannis, Philadelphia, the resort in Brazil--and the list goes on and on. The weekends seem problematic, even though I've tried to book early. Even if you plan a year ahead, I am finding a lot more blackouts. For example, I usually call the Marriott Long Wharf on New Year's Day for the next year, so we can spend it in the city. This year it is blacked out and requires an Anytime Stay Award. The points are definitely not going as far. I don't think there should be a distinction in availability depending on the popularity of the property or time. I do understand that it has to be first come, first served , however. What I object to is that there is little availability almost a year ahead.