I think it is a common problem with all but a few of Marriott property's in the UK, having stayed 45+ nights (all over the UK) so far this year only about 3 or 4 stays have posted automatically without me phoning MR.
On the plus side though I�ve received the "Platinum Arrival Gift Bonus" of 500 points on a fair few occasions despite only being silver, soon to be gold once I�ve finished chasing them for the missing nights.

One thing I have learned is that having your account number on the receipt doesn't mean anything.


Yup. The other option is mail. I've memorized their fax number.


That sounds very odd.


Two reasons.

1- It's written in the terms and conditions that you are required to keep your hotel receipt, verify the posting of earnings to your account, and submit missing stay requests by fax or mail within one year. (Welcome to MR!) Some of the CSRs have read the terms program (amazing enough!), and think members have to abide by them. Some will insist on receipts. Some will ask for receipts but call the hotel if you ask, and a few reps that answer will go straight to the hotel. Some you call up will dig in their heels on the terms. I read one comment here a few months ago that went like this, "If you don't like what you hear, take a deep breath, hang up, and call for the next rep." Oh, and conversing by e-mail is another matter entirely. I'm not sure what the difference is, but when you e-mail their customer service, they do not want to contact the hotel. I'm going to have to investigate what the difference there is one of these days.

2- There's 100-150 MR reps (I keep hearing different numbers), and X millions of active members. They have so many missing stay requests each day (literally thousands) that if they called every hotel every time a member called in on a missing stay, it would take enough extra time that the number of answered calls would drop dramatically. On another topic here on this forum, someone was listing MI's profits and mentioning that hiring a few extra CSRs would help. I think that paying to fix their MIS systems for MR would help far more than any number of extra CSRs. Fewer missing stays = fewer phone calls. After that, they should pay them more to stop the enormous turnover they experience; though that goes for the front line hotel personnel earning minimum wage or barely above it, as well.

No, I don't like taking care of missing stays. But it has been this way since the beginning of the program back in 1983. It has not changed one whit since then. Twenty-two years of missing stays, and I despair of it ever changing.

I have heard that the MR office receives 1000-3000 (depending on how busy they are) missing stay faxes each business day, and less on the weekends.

I have never heard a figure for phone calls and e-mails, but with that many faxes, it can't be a small number.


I agree, it's a problem.

And the solution, as far as MR is concerned, has been written into their terms and conditions for many years. Keep your receipts, verify your earnings, and fax your receipts when earnings are missing.

I do not think MR hotels purposefully withhold points.

There are two big reasons points don't post as far as I know.

1- Training.
2- Computer Systems.

I think their computer systems are badly in need of some kind of update that puts points on your account at the moment of check-out, and not a second after.

When the points printed on the bottom of your receipt are actually what is on your account, and includes the updated balance . . . things will be where they need to be.

Because the computer systems aren't where they need to be, then training becomes the tough part. When a hotel is desparate to staff somebody, it will take any warm body. Frequently, as soon as they're trained, the bodies disappear. How can the hotels keep people who know how to run the hotel's basic business, much less the MR program aspects, with the kind of turnover some of them get? I shudder to think what kind of nightmare this must be for hotel and regional hotel (or franchise/unit) management.