No show/ Paying in full/ getting points?
 

Well.. I goofed.. I recently traveled to Virginia. It was very busy down there with some college graduations and many hotels rooms were booked. I had 6 rooms booked at the Newport news courtyard marriott. It was a hectic workday, and my group decided to go back home early. I never canceled the rooms as we rushed to the airport to get our last flight. I woke up in the morning, and realized I never cancelled the rooms.

I called the hotel directly, and talked to the front desk , and he transfered me to the General Managers voice mail. I left a detailed message, explaining my situation. It was 8am the next day, and I was hoping I would maybe be able to only pay half or 3 of the rooms. I have been a platinum member for 8 years, with almost 1500 stays and almost 1, 500,000 total points during this time. I have never had this happen in my history. Anyway, He EMAILED me back within an hour, and never called me.. I guess he was scared I was going to be pissed that he was Going to charge me full price. He explained they were sold out, and turned people away holding the rooms. I understand his point, but still asked for maybe a discount of some sort knowing the rooms were never used. no maintenance etc.. He declined.. I then called customer service, and explained to them the situation. He tried to call the hotel, and talk to them, and then said no manager was available, and they would call me back within 3 days.. This was 7 days ago. Anyway, Now I am sucking it up and going to pay the $800 for the rooms. It was my fault. NOW, I am trying to email the hotel manager again, asking to make sure I will get marriott points for my stay. I explained since I am paying full price, the least the hotel can do is give me points for the stay, and my nights. I have yet to hear back. If I don't get the points for the stay, I will be angry.... Any experience on this one??

Well, your situation really stinks, but as you stated, this was your responsibility and the hotel did nothing wrong (how angry would you have been if you showed up at midnight to check in and your rooms had been given away?).

You really don't have leg to stand on - the payment you are making is actually a no show penalty, not a room charge so technically you're not entitled to any points. It would be a nice gesture for the manager to give them to you, but it would be just that - a nice gesture, not an obligation. Your anger belongs with the person who forgot to cancel the rooms ;) - an expensive lesson learned.

Agreed

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry7130e/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)

Rules are rules. It may be a different story if the nights in question were at a hotel on a slow night and low occupancy. By all accounts that wasn't the case. As far as getting points, I think the t & cs say no. Good luck and let us know the results.

The Points
 

I'm unclear from your post if you left Virginia early after having checked into the hotel, or never checked in at all and just did not use the reservation.

If you left early and just ran for the airport without formally checking out, you should get points for the entire stay automatically. The hotel would not know you were gone and would have checked you out the next morning when they found the room empty. Its a fairly normal business scenairo for a person hoping to move their departure up a day to just leave without checking out. (If you can't get on the plane you just go back to the hotel). Many of us have done it, although it is a good idea to call back to check out next morning and ask for a folio.

If this is your scenario I would simply still ask for a copy of the folios, which if just a few days ago the hotel will generally, but not necessarily mail, and check the points online for accuracy. A good alternative might be to check the points online first and see if they match what was posted to your credit card. They may be correct, and should post in 2-5 days in US.

If you do have a points descrepancy between what was paid and what posted, the best thing would be to call cusomer service in Salt Lake and and tell them the wrong number of points posted and see if they can fix it from a faxed copy of the folio. Usually works, but if close don't bother.

It appears you did not formally check out early or we would not be having this thread, since that would seemingly have cancelled the remainer of your reservations. (If late enough in the day; maybe not).

If your group just did not show up at the hotel you do not have much of a case as noted above. Points are awarded for actual stays and not no-shows or phantom stays, and the hotels have gotten much more sophisticated at stopping both as part of fraud control. We beat up one chain or the other on the board over it about every six months. Your odds of success are so low I would consider chalking it up to a learning experience and using the time to accomplish something other than getting frustrated taking to a manager who might, but almost certainly won't, give you points for a no-show.

I never checked in the hotel at all. It was a true No show. The fact that I get NO points , no stays, and they get paid in full doesnt seem fair. I still have not heard from the manager. He did fax, and is mailing actual bills for all the rooms. If the hotel doesnt post them, I wonder if I fax them in as 'missing stay' would work to get them points posted.

It is an expensive lesson.... Agreed.... However, giving the points would be a nice gesture having stayed over 1000 nights in the last 7 years.

Hi,

I am assuming that you stayed 1000+ nights with Marriott in general, not this particular one.

As such, I think it would be more of a gesture to be asked of Marriott Rewards, rather than the manager of this particular hotel. He/She may not have had the benefit of those 1000+ nights.

I had that happen in ATL last month

The last time I had a no-show, it was erroneous, I had actually cancelled the reservation. What alerted me to the fact that I was charged anyway was the sudden appearance in my MR account of the points from my 1 night penalty fee. (A phone call or two got the fee reversed; I don't recall if the points were reversed as well).

So whatever official policy is, there's always a chance that the points may post.

If you did a 'no show' for a flight would you expect the miles aswell?

Just as a side note, it would be interesting to find out if the hotel oversold, and if the OP had shown up at midnight, would 6 rooms have been available. It is common practice to oversell and bank on last minute cancellations to ensure a sold out capacity. Although with the room under a platinum reservation, I doubt they would have given away the rooms, given the penalty supposedly awarded a platinum if they are walked due to overbooking. Nevertheless, I do side with the hotel on this one. Even three rooms lost revenue is a big chunk of change on a sold out date. However I thought the platinum member or the member's family had to occupy a room in order to get points for each room booked. I can understand getting points for two rooms (assuming a spouse is on the trip also) but don't they frown upon giving full points for blocks of rooms under one reservation?

About two months ago when I was extremely busy at work, I got my days mixed up and booked a Friday night reservation instead of a Saturday night reservation and didn't figure it out until that Saturday when I couldn't find my reservation. I did wind up paying the no show fee, which was justified since it was my fault, and I did wind up getting the points. All of it happened without any intervention on my part. I suppose I could have called the hotel and begged for mercy but I let it go as a lesson learned on my part. It was a cheaper lesson than yours, 1 room at less than $100 including taxes. Hard to say but I suspect you might have had a better chance of getting the points if you hadn't called the hotel. Regardless the rules are clear, you're not entitled to points and the hotel is entitled to 1 night rate per room for the no show. I recommend just sucking it up this time and chalking it up to a very expensive lesson.


--Jon

I only ask for a refund if I double book at two properties for the same night and forget to cancel one of them in time if I remember on the day of the reservation. This has happened twice.

Another time, I forgot about my second reservation and decided to pay the cancellation fee because too much time had passed. I know it is a technicality, but I feel comfortable asking for leniency if I miss the cancellation by a few hours versus a few days.

I understand your situation and I'm sorry that you've had to learn this the hard way. You may end up getting the points anyway (I think it's for a max of 3 rooms). However, I believe that your logic is incorrect here. Technically, it wasn't a stay per se. It's unfair to the rest of us because we actually have to STAY to get points; why should the rules not apply to you? Also, you can't just ask for more points because you've been loyal for 7 years... that's like an employer saying "hey I've been paying you for the past 7 years... you don't mind if I dodge you a paycheck or two, right?". Your request is just not fair. I agree with eoinnz's analogy.

Interesting issue
 

I always thought the points were for the money paid. I would think you would get the points since you paid. I would not think you would get the night stay credit since you did not stay. But, with 1000+ nights you are probably Platinum Emeritus anyway so who cares.