Marriott Concierge - lack of inventory availability
 

Chris,

I have been trying to make reservations at a few properties for next year as I usually do. However, I am finding that the 3 properties with whom I am attempting to make reservations have not released inventory. Are Marriott properties required to release their inventory for booking 50 weeks in advance? Why are some hotel holding back inventory and what can corporate do about it? Is this a corporate directive to get a better pulse on hotel prices so they can be increased even more than they have already?

JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes - No availability for PAID stays or Reward stays (Standard or Stay Anytime) for any date between January 6, 2008 and March 1, 2008. I assume inventory has not been loaded yet. Either that or someone booked all 1000 rooms for 8 weeks.

Marriott's Mountain Valley Lodge at Breckenridge - No availability for PAID stays or Reward stays (Standard or Stay Anytime) for any date between December 21, 2007 and March 1, 2008. Once again, I assume inventory has not been loaded yet.

Vail Marriott Mountain Resort & Spa - No availability for Reward stays (Standard or Stay Anytime) for any date between December 1, 2007 and March 1, 2008. I did contact the hotel directly and was told that they have not yet loaded the reservation system with Reward inventory. I was originally told by the Platinum desk that the hotel was close to being sold out for January 2008. That was either an outright lie, or at the time the hotel had not release all of its inventory so it appeared that way.

Just to put things into perspective below are a few observations:

1. Now I understand supply and demand and have accepted the 100-200% increases in hotel prices over the past few years.

2. While I do not like it, I have also accepted that Marriott has hung government contractors out to dry with regard to its new government rate policy. But just because I accept it doesn't mean that I won't take my business elsewhere when a government client comes our way. I will have to in that case, as I won't have a choice. See this thread for more information: Government Rate

3. Your lack of presence here on FT has been noted and commented on by numerous posters. Since you are the official representative of Marriott here on FT, I would have expected comment from you on a number of recent issues. If you are no longer the official Marriott spokesperson here on FT then please provide us the courtesy of letting us know.

4. While these are very lucrative times for the hotel industry, garnering MAR $700+ million in net income over the past 12 months, the customer service levels have gone down in my opinion. For me mainly with regard to the actual subject of this post, the holding back of inventory by hotels which makes it very difficult for those loyal customers like me to plan well in advance.

5. Socrates (proudly representing himself) posted in the Government Rate thread how Marriott was reading these threads and would act very quickly to correct any hotels that were in non-compliance (reference to hotel still offering government contractor rates). I responded with a comment about lack of inventory availability and asked if they would respond just as quickly and asked if anyone wanted to make any bets. The same stands for this thread!

For the record I, like many posting in this forum, have been a very loyal customer of Marriott for many years, I have defended you personally in this recent Rome Flora lack of award availability thread Marriott Concierge: What's up with StayNevertime Rome?.

Now in case you missed the question back in the first paragraph:

1. Are Marriott properties required to release their inventory for booking 50 weeks in advance?

2. Why are some hotels holding back inventory and what can corporate do about it?

3. Is this a corporate directive to get a better pulse on hotel prices so they can be increased even more than they have already?

I was able to look up a paid reservation for the JW Marriott Orlando from January 14-21, 2008. I could not find any award availability for the property in 2008.

That's because you are Plat, and I was able to do the same. But other than Plat Guarantee rooms there is no inventory available, even for the last week which was supposedly loaded yesterday. Maybe someone booked 1000 rooms? Change number of rooms you are trying to book to 2 and see what happens. This hotel appears to be purposely holding back inventory.

Just got off the phone with Plat Reservations. They contacted the hotel and this particular hotel says they release inventory 10 months in advance instead of the 11.5 months done by most hotels. So whenever anyone runs into this situation, I guess you need to call reservations and sit on hold while they contact the hotel; that is if they do. Unless one insists that they contact the hotel, most of the time, like my experience with Vail Marriott about a month ago, the CSR said that the hotel was almost fully booked for January 2008 when I was inquiring about Reward availability. I found out a few weeks later that this was not the case.

If you look at January 5 for 1 night at the JW Orlando Marriott, Grand Lakes I especially like the $10127 rate for the SeaWorld Pkg-Exclusive multi-day tickets included for 2Ad/1Chld.Visit SeaWorld as often as you like for the length of your stay! Lake Front rooms and SeaWorld sure is getting expensive!

AAUpgrade-As you are one of Marriotts best and most loyal customers I do hope you have written at least one letter to bothe Marriott rewards and to BM's office.
And I do look forward to Chris's response.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will do some research to determine why these properties are limiting their room inventory. I will post again when I have more information.

Thanks Chris. I look forward to your response.

As you are aware, Marriott Rewards has policies in place regarding our redemption inventory that apply to all participating hotels. When hotels are out of compliance with our policies and are working outside of our systematic processes, we work with them to get them back within 100% compliance as quickly as possible.

Please be assured that we are working with the hotels mentioned in this thread.

Thank you again for bringing this to my attention.

Chris, I am glad to hear that Marriott will be enforcing its rules regarding room inventory. I found 2 more properties in Orlando which have not loaded inventory yet for February 11-18, 2008. They are the Residence Inn Daytona Beach and the Courtyard Daytona Beach.

Nicely done. Encouraging to see this response.

Chris, I think this is a problem that Marriott needs to address across the entire hotel chain. I found 2 more properties in Washington DC that have not loaded inventory for February 11-18, 2008. They are:

Renaissance Washington DC
Courtyard Washington Convention Center

I have also noticed that the four properties that I have found are pairs of properties that are close to each other. Maybe each pair has one corporate owner?

Chris, any progress on your end?

Availability for the 3 hotels mentioned in my OP has not changed with the exception of Stay Almost Anytime if We Decide to Let You reward nights (kind of has a nice ring to it doesn't it) at the Vail Marriott which are available only for the dates of Jan 13-30, but still nothing available in Dec, Feb, or the early January and March despite standard rooms being available for sale. Status with regard to availability at the Orlando JW and Breckenridge MVCI has not change at all.

I'm waiting for Marriott to update their website with the new name. :D

AAupgrade-have you contacted MR HQ and Bill Marriotts office about this?
If you would kindly report their response it would be most appriciated.
The treatment you,as one of Marriotts best customers,are reciving does not seem to be providing any"Spirit to Serve" IMO.

Originally Posted by aaupgrade
Stay Almost Anytime if We Decide to Let You reward nights (kind of has a nice ring to it doesn't it)

I'm waiting for Marriott to update their website with the new name.

"It's funny because its true" - Homer J. Simpson

This has the potential for becoming a very serious problem....if it isn't already. Nobody (well, almost nobody) here wants to see hotels or customers penalized. Here's hoping Marriott can devise a win-win solution.

Well not much has changed in over 4 weeks other than some Stay Almost Anytime if We Decide to Let You rewards being avaialble at the Vail Marriott (with no correlation to Standard room availability). Obviously "quickly as possible" means something different than that to which I am accustomed.

Noticed today that the Renn. Seaworld - Orlando has no reward availability from 4/7-5/6 (Regular or Stay Anytime.)

Yet they are selling "Quality Rooms"

aaupgrade,

I thought I had posted an update awhile ago, but it appears as though I am incorrect. I sincerely apologize for the delay in responding, and I thank you for replying to this thread.

Here is some information on two of the hotels you were inquiring about:

JW Grande Lakes – There was indeed a problem with their room inventory, as most of their standard redemption inventory was apparently closed out. This has been resolved and they are now accepting reward reservations.

Marriott’s Mountain Valley Lodge at Breckenridge – This is a Marriott Vacation Club property who must manage their rooms differently from a standard hotel in order to accommodate members who own timeshare weeks. During the holiday season, again, owners will be occupying their villas and there will not be redemption inventory available. When the hotel is out of season or does not have owners occupying their villas, they will open up their rooms to other guests.

We are still working with the Vail Marriott Resort. I will be sure to post an update when I have more information. Again, I apologize for the delay, and I appreciate your patience.

Kind regards,

Chris, I am unable to get any reward availability for the JW Grande Lakes in February 2008, even for one night. It appears that the standard and stay anytime award inventory have not been loaded.

Chris,

First of all thank you for your follow-up and my guess is what you shared with us is what you were told. Well, I wouldn't put much credence in anything you are told without at least a little investigation supporting what was said.

Actually this is not the case with this hotel for award or PAID stays as of yesterday. I called them yesterday to speak with someone at the hotel and the following happened:

• I got transferred to reservations where I got voice mail; so I called back and asked to speak to the GM

• I got the asst. FOM and explained the situation of not being able to reserve any rooms after Jan 5 2008. He wanted to transfer me to reservations to which I replied "No. If you transfer me to anyone then transfer me to your boss or the GM". He told me to wait a minute and put me on hold.

• After 20 minutes on hold I conference in the Platinum Reservations who, after I explained the situation to them, transferred me to Customer Care. I am still on hold with the .... FOM as evidenced by the hold background music that both the Plat CSR and I can hear.

• After explaining the situation to customer care and also telling customer care that we are still on hold with the .... FOM, I asked if they like the background music? We are at about 40-45 minutes on hold at this point. Customer Care puts me on hold and says she is going to locate someone at the hotel. After coming back a few times, apologizing for the wait each time, she finally has the Reservation Sales Supervisor at the hotel on the line.

• I explain the situation to her and she says that the first couple weeks in January (up until Jan 16) are booked solid with a conference and that they are trying to make decisions about later in January and February availability. She said they would have their inventory up to date by April 21.

• Call was wrapped up after 59 minutes on hold... Yes, we were still on hold with the .... FOM. BTW, the .... FOM told the Customer Care and Reservation Sales Supervisor that I had been mysteriously disconnected. Funny that the 3 of us could still hear the hold background music.

With the exception of the .... FOM, all those I spoke with were very helpful.


Now, since all of this occurred yesterday and involved PAID stays at the JW Orlando, I decided I should go out to the web site and check Reward availability starting with January 6. Well nothing available for the night of January 6 so I decided to check on alternate availability. I check for 1 night of Reward availability during the 4 week period starting on Jan 6. Lo and behold up comes links to 9 different types of rewards at this hotel.

I click on the first Select This Room Type button and I get a Windows Internet Explorer dialog box that says, “The rate you have selected is not available. Please select another rate or return to the previous screen and select alternate dates to check future availability again.” I click the OK button to get rid of the error dialog box.

Then I click on the second Select This Room Type button and I get a Windows Internet Explorer dialog box that says, “The rate you have selected is not available. Please select another rate or return to the previous screen and select alternate dates to check future availability again.” I click the OK button to get rid of the error dialog box.

Then I click on the third Select This Room Type button and I get a Windows Internet Explorer dialog box that says, “The rate you have selected is not available. Please select another rate or return to the previous screen and select alternate dates to check future availability again.” I click the OK button to get rid of the error dialog box.

Then I click on the fourth Select This Room Type button and I get a Windows Internet Explorer dialog box that says, “The rate you have selected is not available. Please select another rate or return to the previous screen and select alternate dates to check future availability again.” I click the OK button to get rid of the error dialog box.

Then I click on the fifth Select This Room Type button and I get a Windows Internet Explorer dialog box that says, “The rate you have selected is not available. Please select another rate or return to the previous screen and select alternate dates to check future availability again.” I click the OK button to get rid of the error dialog box.

Then I click on the sixth Select This Room Type button and I get a Windows Internet Explorer dialog box that says, “The rate you have selected is not available. Please select another rate or return to the previous screen and select alternate dates to check future availability again.” I click the OK button to get rid of the error dialog box.

Then I click on the seventh Select This Room Type button and I get a Windows Internet Explorer dialog box that says, “The rate you have selected is not available. Please select another rate or return to the previous screen and select alternate dates to check future availability again.” I click the OK button to get rid of the error dialog box.

Then I click on the eighth Select This Room Type button and I get a Windows Internet Explorer dialog box that says, “The rate you have selected is not available. Please select another rate or return to the previous screen and select alternate dates to check future availability again.” I click the OK button to get rid of the error dialog box.

Then I click on the ninth Select This Room Type button and I get a Windows Internet Explorer dialog box that says, “The rate you have selected is not available. Please select another rate or return to the previous screen and select alternate dates to check future availability again.” I click the OK button to get rid of the error dialog box.

Then if I want to go back to the Alternate date finder screen I have to click OK on all 9 error dialog boxes again to do so.

Now that I am back at the Alternate date finder I repeat all of the above for 1 night of Reward availability during the 4 week period starting on Feb 3. And then do the same again for 1 night of Reward availability during the 4 week period starting on Mar 2. After 81 clicks of the mouse and numerous keystrokes I have determined that there is no Reward availability.

I sure am happy the analysts made Marriott.com so much more user friendly over the past year. Why list these choices if there is no award availability? Why make me go through needless mouse clicks. IMO, Marriott has fixed something that wasn’t broke. But guess what, now it is. Think “New Coke”. My guess is that the analyst and programming staff were thinking of a different type of coke. This is your analyst and programming staff, this is your analyst and programming staff on crack. :td:

As I pointed out on another thread, a CY I was looking to book some 50 weeks out went from "too far in advance" on Saturday night >>> right to "no standard awards available" but select the "stay anytime reward at 2x the points. In a matter of hours last early Sunday morning.

For whatever reason, the economic tide in hotelling has turned against us in the last few years, apparently its a sellers market until another recession or 9/11 type event hits. Too bad both sides can't just keep an even keel since we both need each other.

With the exception of a limited number of blackout dates, every hotel is required to make a percentage of their rooms available for standard awards. Redemptions may be booked 50 weeks in advance. Once that inventory is taken, members may use Anytime Awards for last room availability on standard rooms. If the hotel is selling standard rooms, you should be able to redeem an Anytime Award.
The exact definition of standard may vary from hotel to hotel, but should include the vast majority of rooms at the hotel. Some exceptions would include suites, ocean view, etc. The same restrictions that apply to paid stays would apply to Anytime Awards, including minimum length of stay requirements and/or advance deposits to name a few examples. If the hotel is sold out, clearly you would not be able to redeem standard or anytime awards.
We will also not allow Platinum members to use their 48-hour guarantee benefits from a paid stay and later convert that paid stay to a redemption. Some groups will book meetings more than 50 weeks in advance, which may result in no rooms being available for sale 50 weeks in advance. But again, if the hotel is selling rooms, then you should be able to use Anytime Awards.
The Rome Marriott and JW Capri fully participate in standard awards, but only allocate a limited number of rooms for Anytime Awards. These two locations are the sole exceptions to our policy and we have updated our terms and conditions accordingly.
I have forwarded on the specific examples you have cited and they will be corrected shortly. Regarding the challenges you encountered on marriott.com., the future rate availability function shows availability for any rate programs the hotel has created, regardless of whether those room pools are available over the next 4 weeks. That is why you get the error. These are valid rate programs, but do not have inventory allocated. If they are in violation of the policy as stated above, we will monitor and adjust accordingly.

Is it time to re-name the web site to marriott.BOMB?

The pro-active nature of your response, Chris, is encouraging.

You posted prior that the property in question had been brought into compliance. To wit:

As the subject period was one of the OP's original concerns, and apparently continues to be by their very detailed analysis of availability, could you perhaps expand upon what exactly "compliance" means?

As a long-time Marriott customer, I'm increasingly sensing the hotels are running Marriott rather than the reverse, sorry to say. Hope you all can get them reined in before longtime customers depart...

Pat

Well I was wrong about Orlando. As promised their inventory is now available for purchase through March 25, 2008. Not quite 50 weeks out, but much improved over previous availability through January 5.

Ironically, the dates I wanted, my platinum override reservation for $419/night is the least expensive option. Obviously they have an event going on there during that period.

There are also awards now available at the Orlando JW.

Another wonderful enhancement to Marriott.bomb that makes our booking experience so frustrating, and it may well be by design. Since I had made my Platinum override reservation, when I am logged in the reservation will not show me any availability for the dates for which I have the override booked, nor will it allow me to book a standard award during those dates. If I look for reservations when I am not logged in it shows me the available room rates (all lake front in excess of $419), and standard awards for 95,000 points plus $50/night upgrade to Lake Front room (4 nights) and it tells me to log in to select an award; but when I log in I get the message "- *RESTRICTIONS - LIMIT 1 ROOM, PLATINUM AVAIL ALREADY INVOKED*".

Vail update

No standard award availability for the 5 months of Dec 07, Jan 08, Feb 08, Mar 08, or Apr 08. So much for Marriott enforcing their policy of a required number of rooms being made available at all properties for standard awards.

While there is a good amount of availability of Stay Almost Anytime if We Decide to Let You awards at Vail Marriott, they are not available for the following nights:

Jan 5-12
Jan 16-21
Jan 31
Feb 1
Feb 13-21
Feb 23

Note that for all of the nights shown above there are Standard Rooms available for purchase.

On Marriott.bomb, while looking for Stay Almost Anytime if We Decide to Let You awards at Vail I get this wonderful message that requires me to start all over:
"An unexpected error has occurred Please try again. If the problem persists, you may call 1-888-236-2427 from within the USA or Canada. If you are calling from a location outside of this area, please consult our worldwide reservation directory for the appropriate number."

Vail update No standard award availability for the 5 months of Dec 07, Jan 08, Feb 08, Mar 08, or Apr 08. So much for Marriott enforcing their policy of a required number of rooms being made available at all properties for standard awards.

You're right and were very lucky to get some over the phone. It looks like my skiing days at Vail on standard rewards are over so I'm heading to Whistler next year which do have standard rewards.

So make a paid reservation and then have Marriott change it to an award stay??

I am not sure if you are referring to Orlando JW or Vail Marriott since you quoted my whole post but I will address both with the following general statement:

We shouldn't have to do that anymore than we should have to call the Platinum line 3 times and the hotel twice to finally get a standard award reservation which is what I had to do. First I was told there were no standard awards. The second time I called I didn't let the CSR off the hook that easily. I was put on hold and after a few minutes the CSR came back and said the hotel was close to sold out. The third time I pressed even more and was connected to Customer support who connected me with a person at the hotel who made a 3 week reservation during the same period which I had previously been told they were almost sold out. 11 months in advance, I don't think so. Also I had previously called the manager of reservations, left a message, and he never returned my phone call.

That is the whole point of this thread. Marriott is making it very difficult for us to get awards. We shouldn't have to go through this crap to get an award reservation.

Still wrong on all counts for the Vail Marriott! There have been no Standard awards available at this hotel for the period of Dec 07 - Apr 08 as originally reported over 6 weeks ago (but then it was only through Feb 08).

Wrong again in the case of the Vail Marriott. While there is a good amount of availability of Stay Almost Anytime if We Decide to Let You awards at Vail Marriott, they are not available for the following nights yet Standard rooms are available for sale:

Jan 5-12
Jan 16-21
Jan 31
Feb 1
Feb 13-21
Feb 23


Chris, either someone is lying to you, or you are lying to us. Either way it translates to Marriott lying to its customers.

Why does it take over 6 weeks to resolve this?

This along with

• Doubling the premium for Stay Almost Anytime if We Decide to Let You awards

• Excluding contractors from GOV rates

• Changing the terms on the BB so they can't be used with gifts cards

• Getting FT to pull rate codes sticky

• The inability to print EEOs and view certain pages when using IE7 and little progress made on its correction

sends a very clear message that Marriott doesn't care about its customers.

It has been 7 weeks since this issue was first raised and brought to the attention of the official Marriott representative here on FT.

Well I spent the last half hour once again checking the Vail Marriott.

As it has been for the past few months, NO Standard Awards are available for the period from Dec 2007 through April 2008 despite assurances by Marriott (via Chris) that all Marriotts are suppose to make available a portion of their rooms for Standard Awards. Grand Flora and Capri Marriotts being the only exceptions.

No Stay Anytime awards on the following nights even though Standard rooms are available for sale:

Jan 5-12
Jan 16-21
Jan 31
Feb 1
Feb 13-21
Feb 23
Mar 1
Apr 1-20

Marriott, I suggest you stop lying and deceiving us as it does not bode well for your reputation. If Marriott wanted to live up to their promises it sure would not take over 7 weeks to rectify this situation. Marriott's actions of late, or inaction in this case, speaks for itself. Unfortunately resulting in much of my admiration and respect for this company going out the window.

If your Love for MR is so great why NOT simply move your Biz to another chain? Thats what I did and do.

As for Vail just make a res with a different Hotel, Oh then you'll have to pay for it.

So although I agree with You it seems that this Hotel is doing like so many are doing today with all the Chains,they are deciding the T&Cs for themselves and choosing which ones they will abide by and which ones they wont. It could very well be that MR is trying to get them up to par (that is if its not an MR owned Hotel), but theres only so much they can do, I know this from other problems with other Hotels. Could be the Hotel is trying to be added to the Exception List. I dont think its as easy as someone calling them and telling them what they have to do, I know of caseswhere the Hotel basically told HQ to shove it and take Us to Court if you dont like what we are doing, and indeed evebn though there was a contract,left the Hotel chain

Because I actually like Marriott, have a lot vested in their program, especially like the Vail Marriott, and would prefer not to leave as I think their program is the best if they lived up to their promises.

Correct and FWIW I have been staying at this hotel for the past 9 years, and last year and next year are the only years for which I have used points for stays. Last year I had no problem making an award reservation, but this year was another story. The past few years I have stayed there 4-5 weeks per year. I love this hotel, its front line staff is wonderful, and the skiing at Vail is awesome.

The problem I have is one of principal since for next year I already have 3 weeks reserved for a Standard award, and 2 weeks paid. Now I had to jump through numerous hoops in order to achieve that goal, which we should not have to do. I called the Platinum line 3 times and the hotel twice in order to do so:

The first time I called the Plat line the response was no award stays available. Since it was still early February (50 week mark) I thought they may be a bit delayed, so I was patient and decided to wait and see.

The second time I called the Plat line in late February 2007 for a January 2008 reservations and was told by the Platinum line that this hotel was almost sold out in January 2008 (actually not the case) and was put on hold after asking for the CSR to check with her supervisor but ended up with the same response.

This is when I called the hotel and left a message for the manager of reservations to call me, but he never returned my call.

The third call to the Plat line, made in early March, I also got the response that there were no standard rewards but this time I told the CSR that I had tried calling the hotel, but my inquiry went unanswered; She placed me on hold, contacted the hotel, connected me to someone at the hotel who made a standard award reservation for me. The person at the hotel also commented that they hadn't gotten around to releasing award inventory yet and that they were no where near being sold out.

So this is what we have to do in order to get Marriott to fulfill their promise? I think that is a bit unreasonable to say the least.

Yes, unfortunately I think you may well be right with regard to many of the points you made in this paragraph, and that is why I am a bit disappointed at Marriott and Hotels' owners/management. FWIW, Vail Marriott Resort and Spa is owned by DiamondRock Hospitality and managed by Vail Resorts. Also an interesting piece of info: DiamondRock Hospitality HQ is locate 0.3 miles from Marriott's HQ in Bethesda, MD.

It seems to me you are in a Pickle, You LOVE the place but it seems that the Hotel doesnt LOVE You. Or better put I dont know if I would want to stay at a Hotel where I left messages and never even got 1 call back. I can understand if I called only 1 time maybe the GM is away as well as the next in charge , but if You called as often as You say you did and I believe you did, that would put a big damper on me wanting to stay with them unless there just was no other choice, which seems to be the case by You.

I think we're getting to the crux of it -- enforcement of rules/standards.

I've raised the same issue with regard to properties which are MI (aka "corporate")-managed and those that are not corporate-managed (franchisee or franchisee's designate) and been told that they're the same (or supposed to be the same).

(Of course, as to MR, specific exceptions are spelled out in various Mr T's and C's and within the rules/terms of specific offerings; example -- EEOs).

The question that I wish I could pose to MI is "Will you or will you not respond (and take appropriate action) as to indesputable, documented cases of non-compliance by flagged properties of the rules which are part and parcel of the representation of MR of its rules and benefits?"

Another possible swindle/weasling I've noticed is a hotel not having defining any "standard" rooms, therefore, none have to be available for MR.

Courtyard in Jensen Beach, FL is an example, a healthly walk from the hotel to the Ocean - where there are no hotel supplied chairs, umbrellas, etc, you have to rent them from an enterprising indivdual. Well, one side of the hotel is defined as "ocean view" although probably only the top half can see the ocean.

The other side is called "sunset view" although it overlooks nothing but the parking lot and the Gulf of Mexico is some 90 miles away to really see a sinking sun.

I've also seen "pool" view and "resort" view. If these are the two choice, are there no standard rooms?

FWIW, Chris did address this in post #22:

In the case of Jensen Beach, if you go and check award bookings at this hotel you will see that Ocean View rooms require an upgrade certificate, whereas other rooms do not. One would assume from this, and Chris's comment, that anything other than an Ocean view/front room or Suite is considered a "standard" room at this hotel.

You all are rather entertaining ...... this wonderful sense of 'entitlement'.

What you seem to be forgetting is that MW is a voluntary program on Marriott's behalf. They may terminate the program at ANYTIME. You are being offered something for free. If you don't like it, move to another Hotel Chain. If enough revenue customers move, they will get the point.

Remember, we are all in business. Well, at least I am. At the simplist level, they are entitled to do whatever they want within the limits of the law to make money.

You're welcome.

What is "MW"?

MR redemptions have really gone downhill, I have been trying to get an award for NYC in December and both SPG and HH have rooms at various properties available in Manhattan but MR has nothing! Yes...before you say it I will redeem with one of the other two programs but I was really looking to use MR points since I am trying to clear out my balance considering all the recent devaluations and changes to the program. Marriott also most be out of the mind to think that the two Courtyards in Manhattan are seriously worth being a Cat. 7 redemption! I wouldn't pay that even if they were available!