I took the family away for the weekend using MR points to secure the room. On the day of our arrival I called the hotel to confirm our reservations and request a high floor with adjoining rooms (this was consistent with the original reservations) The front desk person said that they would be happy to honor both of these request and was looking forward to our arrival that evening. The person indicated that we would be on one of the higher floors with a city view.

When we check into the hotel on Thursday night (actually early Friday morning due to weather problem) I was told that they did not have any adjoining rooms higher than the 7th floor. I then told him about my phone call and he got red in the face and then said that since I was not "paying" for the rooms that the 7th floor was the best that they offer and that tomorrow they would have much better rooms for us. So I figure ok, it late, get some sleep and work this out in the morning. I asked that the rooms director call me on my mobile in the morning to discuss the floor restriction on rewards stays. The 7th floor does not have much of a view, let alone a city view.

Morning comes and I talk to another front desk person who says yes of course we have this request. After the rooms are cleaned he will personally make sure that we are taken care of and thanks me for being patient and being a platinum member. I indicate that we would be out for the day and would like to make the change when we return around 5 pm.

Yep you guessed it, we return to the hotel at 4:30 and I approach a third person at the desk. No we have no record of any relocation request and enters our room numbers into his terminal. Oh, since you are not "paying" for the room we can not offer anything else!

Have any of you run into these "restrictions" using MR points? What have you done in response to the not "paying" other than saying that MR points are just another form of payment? What would your next steps be if this happened to you?

IMHO this is very shoddy treatment of a Plat and warrants a letter to Marriott.

Whenever the front desk doesn't want to honor something, I always have them call the central office. I do this during check-in. That usually resolves the problem.

Fortunately, I've never had any such problems on award stays. Marriott has treated me the same as if I was doing a normal revenue stay - as a Gold, that usually includes some sort of upgrade or desirable room (high floor, good view, lounge access, etc.), with my room preferences met. That has always included adjoining rooms when I've requested it.

The experience you had is unacceptable. It sounds like laziness on the part of the hotel: you showed up late, so they had reassigned your rooms to someone else. Then they decided to hold the fact that you were using points against you in hopes that you'd say "Oh, OK, I should just be happy with a 'free' room." As you correctly point out, there are no "free" rooms. Every Marriott point is paid for and accounted for when it is "minted". You paid for them in one form or another. By treating you badly on the award stay, they only diminish your perceived value of the points, which is bad for Marriott in the long run.

I've lucked out and typically receive better rooms on points. Top floor corner ocean view on Grand Cayman, 2 BR suite on St. Kitts, etc., but same old standard room when traveling weekly on business.

Which is fine with me - I'd rather get the upgrades when the family is along.

The treatment sounds pretty shoddy.

They treated you badly. Not typical in my experience with reward points. Definately need to let Marriott know about this.

As a Platinum Member I recently booked two reward rooms at a Downtown Courtyard in Chicago. We were on a high floor with adjoining rooms as I requested and had a good view. I've also requested this when staying elsewhere and have not had a problem, Regardless of what they tell you, the hotel, I believe, receives a reimbursement from Marriott for reward rooms. I also think that if the hotel reports a certain capacity the reimbursement from Marriott to the hotel goes up, but don't quote me on that. I know other loyalty programs increase the reimbursement to the hotel based upon occupancy. While the reimbursement may not garner the margin the hotel might receive, it is based on covering costs incurred. But isn't that why they only block off a certain number of reward rooms based on statistical usage and current reservations? If you want to book during peak days you pay a premium in points. So I think this is probably hotel management specific and the franchise should probably be reported to Marriott.

Agreed. They should not distinguish because obviously you generated a lot of revenue in order to get to platinum and use your points.

A simple call should help sort things out. Good luck.