Earning >1 Bonus Buck per contiguous stay?
 

Situation: I have a 3-night stay on Memorial Day weekend at a Minneapolis Marriott running a good Bonus Buck promotion.

I will be there Fri-Mon. Sunday night was expensive, so I've already booked Sat-Mon using a EEO to get Sunday night free. For Saturday night, I'm paying $90 and it includes one $100 Bonus Buck to use later.

The phone agent confirmed (a) it's a valid public rate, compatible with EEO and (b) it can be booked standalone as a one-nighter, which means there's no minimum paid stay to get the BB. That, by itself, looks good. ^

My question is about Friday. The same rate is available for Friday as well, or I could pay $10 less for a basic leisure rate.

If I book the BB-earning rate on Friday, will the hotel actually give me TWO Bonus Bucks total, or just one? I know this hotel will lump my whole stay together and only slip a folio under my door on Monday. Ordinarily, that would make sense, but will I lose a BB in the process?

Wondering if there's an official rule here or a standard practice followed by the front desk.

Marriott Bonus Bucks exp 08/03/10 HELP!!
 

Hi,

I have (3) $100 Marriott Bonus Bucks certificates to use by 08/03/10, any ideas? :confused: I have a reservation for a weekend stay 07/30/10-08/01/10 using a B1NG1F Cert, so we all know it's YMMV if they let me use that w/a $100 Marriott Bucks. Any place to get rid of them, since last time I looked, I can't sell them on e-bay, any other forums? I appreciate any ideas. TIA

Bonus Bucks
 

Try FT Coupon Connection on the Community Forum. They have an extremely short expiration date so I would expect them to be somewhat difficult to market. The other problem with bonus bucks is that they are limited to publicly available rates.

Looks like OP needs a few more posts to make it in to CC. I had some expire last month so I gave them to some office based staff so they could get away.

And there is always Facebook

I do have a few more post before I can have access!! ha...ha.. I guess I"m more of a lurker. BTW, happywanderer, I have used them for over 3 years & used them w/all kind of rates: GOV, WKD, visa cards, free breakfast, priceline....everything except AAA. They have come in very handy. Now a need a new set for the rest of the year, any ideas?

Bonus Bucks Question.
 

I searched the forum but did not find an answer or much info about Bonus Bucks. They sent me this Bonus Bucks Coupon that is good for $100 off on a two night stay. The catch seems to be that you can't use it with any rate that requires ID or membership. Since I normally use the Government or other discount rate this coupon seems to be essentially worthless to me.

I guess my question is, do they in fact enforce this ID/membership rule as a matter of practice?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no
 

My experience is that the bonus bucks are accepted even if reservation is not a publicly available rate as required by the terms and conditions. But there is no assurance from property to property. I have found the bonus bucks to be especially useful over weekend stays when rates are actually lower than government rates. Good luck.

yes & no also
 

I have the same comments, & have used the BB on govt rates, more so overseas than domestic. BB have been a problem on the contract rates at conventions. & as said, the posted web site weekend rates are lower than most govt. rates, so using them on weekends has not been a problem, unless combining with another promo rate such as the buy 2 nights, 3rd night free.

Thanks for the info. I'm going to book two nights at the Marriott East side in NYC this month. The senior rate is the best one I've found so far at $220 a night. Minus the Bonus bucks it's $170 a night and that's good for a NYC Marriott during the week.

One more question. How do you get these things. I'm a plat elite and I own several of their TS property's and also use the Marriott Visa. Is it a bennie for any of those or do they just send them out to Plat's once in a while?

I've had it go both ways. One property flatly refused to honor them because I had booked as part of a package deal through Travelocity, one property refused to accept because it was a AAA rate, one accepted on an already reduced group rate and another took them on a rewards point stay, which was techincally no nightly rate, and applied towards food/entertainment charges billed to the room.

If they initially decline the certificate at check-in, you can always go back down with it later in the stay and try to sweet talk a different front desk clerk into applying it.

"One more question. How do you get these things. I'm a plat elite and I own several of their TS property's and also use the Marriott Visa. Is it a bennie for any of those or do they just send them out to Plat's once in a while?"

I have the same question. I used to see plenty of Bonus Bucks for sale on ebay, but no more. Anyone have any ideas where I could pick up a few of them?
Thx.

Newman

ebay doesn't allow them to be sold online anymore. Marriott and Visa had a joint promo and used to give them out all the time for stays paid with a Visa, but not too often anymore. They can be purchased in bulk directly from Marriott and used for incentives or whatever, so some travel agencies have them, but tend to charge $60-$70 each for the $100BB. Marriott Visa users get one on the anniversary of the card date and maybe earn a few more based on spend level I think.

Although definitely a YMMV situation, IMO, most of the NYC hotels are the strictest in following the rules -especially the full service locations. You may want to take this into consideration and have a back-up plan if needed. Remember that if they disallow it, you will not get any support from Marriott CS as technically the hotel is following the rules.

As far as locating them - there are often rates on the weekends at many properties that include one for use on a future stay. Some are chain specific, or weekend specific - but many are not. You do not usually see them on weekday stays.

And TravelFlea, thanks for the heads up. I have a Marriott Visa and have never received a BB as a result -so will be making a phone call...

I get at least one $100BB a year tied directly to the Marriott Visa - think it started year before last?

Sometimes hotels will run a rate that includes Bonus Bucks. I recently received $100BB from the Memphis Marriott East. It was the best rate available when I made my reservation just days before my stay. The rate was not tied to any specific credit card, nor did I use Visa to pay. (Used Amex)