With the current climate, it seems Marriott is cracking down some more...

Around my office, there has been alot of whining about the lack of Premium Pounds and Bonus Bucks. I happen to hear about an email that went out from one of the sources that supply them:

So there is now a ebay investigation unit for Marriott ;-)

Let me disclaimer this by saying: I do not condone the breaking of terms & conditions on any offer, including selling or bartering offers that prohibit that.

That said, I just find it humorous, any other chains doing this?

I'm glad they are doing this. It is quite clear that this is a violation of the terms and the offender ought to get his Marriott account zeroed out, as well!

i doubt that the sellers even have an MR acct. There are in it for the quick buck. They most likely purchased them from the outfit that sent the Quoted email (then again was that outfit allowed to sell them even if not on Ebay?) and with a couple of friends bidding the price up to where they were selling for more then they paid for them.

these people most likely are not putting any type of MR# associated with them.. so I seriously doubt that they are getting harmed at all.. (sellers)

however on the other side of the coin, if MR (and I have never heard this) is going to penalize the purchasers of these then I'd have a problem with that..

along those lines, how much time do the Marriott attorney's have on their hands??? either they have a huge staff, or there are not any real issues for them to solve so this is how they kill their time, chasing their customers

One more time.. and that is on the big assumption here.. that the OP is accurate.. another big fat to MR

Can't wait to meet you guys at the Freddies

Perhaps Marriott might be interested in your source

Would this be something akin to the UA elite who gave an upgrade instrument to the USO (through a legitimate UA program) who gave it to a serviceperson who sold it on eBay? The original donor had his account locked and audited, even though he did no wrong.

Something just doesn't sound right here....more details perhaps?

Marriott has always, to my knowledge, had people monitoring their MRP and bonus programs for abuse. I recall getting contacted in late 2005 by phone and e-mail about receiving referral points from a timeshare sales referral who said they didn't belong to me Since the phone call was from SLC and not FL, I assumed it was Marriott, not MVCI.

Hope everything works out...

Pat

I got busted by Starwood last year for selling an SPG50 on eBay. I got a letter from their legal department via certified mail telling me that I needed to stop & that if I do it again, my account will be suspended. I'm fairly certain that eBay gave up my information to Starwood as my contact info for my SPG account is different than my eBay account.

sorry to disagree, but if the T&Cs say that these Certs can NOT be Sold, then I see nothing wrong with MR penalizing both the Seller & Buyer. Let teh Buyer Beware. No different then the Airlines who will deny the use of afree tkt or Upgrade that they feel was gotten in a manner against their T&Cs

I agree, but I don't remember the verbiage in question re the cert holder, as I think that an EEO cert can be gifted, just not sure re these. Of course, what was occurring here was not gifting, per se.

On a PP I have #8, this COUPON is VOID and will NOT be honored if sold for cash or other considerations or AUCTIONED on the internet. ( my caps to highlight) thsi off a PP exing in Aug '07


It doesnt say anything about MR wiping out ones pts etc but it should

Regardless, I have zero sympathy for MR on anything these days.. and if they can get screwed over; more power to the person who can screw them over.. as you can see, i will agree to disagree on the buyer getting penalized.. if you are going to do that.. then penalize ebay too.. oh never mind, ebay probably has better lawyers than MR and MR will only pick on individuals, they don't have the nads to go head to head with ebay

The original post suggests that other "crackdowns" are occurring. What are these other crackdowns?

And yes, other organizations are taking actions about having certificates, vouchers, etc. being sold on ebay. I have read in the MilesBuzz sections that it seems to be fairly common practice to wipe out one's account as a punishment. For sure the airlines are doing it.

Why the attitude?

MR is a business. They offer you terms and you either choose to accept them or not. If you accept them, you should be bound by them.

This attitude of "I expect the company to do more than required by the T&C, but I'm going to do everything I can to cheat them, anyway" doesn't make any sense from ANY perspective.

the attitude comes from MR kicking the consumer in the back side at every corner lately.. so anything they do short of something positive for the consumer in general will create a bigger and badder attitude toward them..

MR is a business that in general has provided me with something for my dollar.. that was generally a room AND Points.. I'm paying for those points too in my room rate lest you forget

when they change the value of those points at random.. then I get an attitude.. and when they send their lawyers after the individual b/c they have less of a chance to fight.. i get an attitude.. I don't see them going after ebay.. they don't have the nads to fight someone who can fight back..

yes, I will get from MR what I can.. they seem to set the standard for this.. they set the rules and im not referring to t&C's.. or should I say standard of play.. i'm just following..

Yep, that sounds fair. Selling a $50 bonus bucks (which Marriott gave me in appreciation of my stay with them) for $25 should result in my losing my 500k Marriott Rewards points which I value at about $5000. Maybe they should go after my other assets as well. If only punishments were generally more severe for serious crimes like this we would have a much more peaceful society.

FWIW, I don't think it is worth the trouble to trade BB and had no idea Marriott even cared about this.

Only if they give us 5,000,000 points every time we are unable to book a Stay Anytime if We Decide to Let You award when there are Standard rooms available for sale. They try to rip us off, then they should be penalized too, and to the same ridiculous degree! Now that seems fair!