Charge to redeem a free night
May 22, 2007 | 1:26 pm
#1
Original Poster
Ambassador: World of Hyatt
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: San Diego,CA
Posts: 11,215
Charge to redeem a free night
Greetings all
I was wondering if anyone here could tell me if they have been charged a fee to redeem a free award night.At the Courtyard by Marriott in Downtown San Diego I was charged 14.37 a day redemption charge to stay on award
This is the second time ever this has happened outside of resort fees
Any similar experiences all? Thanks
I was wondering if anyone here could tell me if they have been charged a fee to redeem a free award night.At the Courtyard by Marriott in Downtown San Diego I was charged 14.37 a day redemption charge to stay on award
This is the second time ever this has happened outside of resort fees
Any similar experiences all? Thanks
May 22, 2007 | 1:50 pm
#2
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Programs: Marriott lifetime Titanium, Delta Platinum
Posts: 5,485
There should be absolutely no redemption fee. It sounds like the fee they charged you is, in reality, the reimbursement from Marriott Rewards to the property for providing you the reward night. I would call the property and/or Marriott Rewards. Perhaps Chris can respond to this.
May 22, 2007 | 2:27 pm
#3
Original Poster
Ambassador: World of Hyatt
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: San Diego,CA
Posts: 11,215
There should be absolutely no redemption fee. It sounds like the fee they charged you is, in reality, the reimbursement from Marriott Rewards to the property for providing you the reward night. I would call the property and/or Marriott Rewards. Perhaps Chris can respond to this.
A call to the Marriott Rewards folks didn't shed much light.They told me its not their job to investigate or set up an inquiry.Go call yourself and deal directly with the property........sigh
May 22, 2007 | 3:23 pm
#4
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Programs: Marriott lifetime Titanium, Delta Platinum
Posts: 5,485
Hopefully, Chris will read this thread and respond.
May 22, 2007 | 4:32 pm
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2001
Location: MSY; 2-time FT Fantasy Football Champ, now in recovery.
Programs: AA lifetime GLD; UA Silver; Marriott LTTE; IHG Plat,
Posts: 14,814
I used a Visa Cat 1-4 award at a Courtyard in April. A similar amount, I think $16 and change, hit my credit card when I made the reservation. A call to the PLT line got that cleared up, including a fax of apology from the property the next day. At checkout, the same charge recurred on the bill under my door. 5-10 minutes at the front desk while the clerk conferred with the manager in back cleared that one up.
May 22, 2007 | 6:42 pm
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Freeload Univ. Where are you sitting?
Posts: 14,818
I've gotten a lot of them from Hilton. They range from about $16 to $94 -- they've never shown up on my credit card and I've always gotten points for them.
<shrug>
I can live with that, especially the not showing up on the cc part.
<shrug>
I can live with that, especially the not showing up on the cc part.
May 22, 2007 | 7:24 pm
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: All over
Programs: Most
Posts: 10,839
You should have escalated to a supervisor. The front line Marriott Rewards employees are useless and rude.
May 22, 2007 | 11:35 pm
#8
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: ORD, MKE, MDW
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Platinum, AAdvantage Gold, Air Canada Elite, Avis Pref Select, Hertz Gold,
Posts: 1,844
Perhaps they figure if a percentage of rewards guest don't question this "nominal" and seemingly innocuous fee, they can pick up a few hundred bucks here and there.
I agree with Big Lar. They can put whatever they want on my bill as long as it doesn't show up on my credit card...particularly if also they throw in the points.
May 23, 2007 | 5:19 am
#9
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PHL
Programs: US Gold, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 313
When I used a free stay coupon at a Courtyard earlier this year, I was charged a small amount as well. I don't have the bill handy, but I understood it to be the taxes on the night's stay, and not a fee.
May 23, 2007 | 9:51 pm
#10
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: DFW, SEA and AA in between
Programs: AA-3MM-ExPLT
Posts: 1,146
That sounds about right for the taxes on the discounted room rate.
May 24, 2007 | 6:06 am
#12
Join Date: Feb 2005
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Titanium (former PP), Hilton Silver, UA Silver, AS Member, Hertz 5*
Posts: 3,906
I have had this happen once at the Fairview Park Marriott, and I got it resolved on a subsequent stay. It was a pain because the front desk had to walk the CSR through on refunding my bill. That took about 15 minutes, but the hotel gave me a few thousand extra points for that problem and for failing to credit a platinum arrival gift properly.
May 24, 2007 | 5:04 pm
#13
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 1
I got "charged" on my stay that I made with my visa certificate. At least Marriott said I did, so they stay counted to my MegaBonus and I got an extra 500 pts out of the deal. There was never any charges to my credit card however.
May 24, 2007 | 5:14 pm
#14
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: DEN
Programs: MR PP, UA Silver, SW A-List, HH Diamond
Posts: 346
I always thought the sales tax on something free are .... nothing! Now there might be income tax implications on something free, but thats a whole different story. Could the sales tax on a free night vary from state to state? Country to country? I have stayed in CA (and many other places) on points, EEO's, etc and have never been taxed on a free night. It sounds like that property is out of line if the charge was indeed for taxes.
May 26, 2007 | 12:59 am
#15
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: San Jose CA
Posts: 1,100
Then you haven't been to a Cingular, Verizon, or Sprint store lately. Get yourself one of those "free" phones and see what value your state places on the sponsored acquisition of a "free" item. In California, the taxes for a free phone are pretty hefty.
I have no idea what financial machinations take place behind the scenes when a Marriott reward is redeemed, but it would make sense to me that someone would have to toss the state a few shekels.
I have no idea what financial machinations take place behind the scenes when a Marriott reward is redeemed, but it would make sense to me that someone would have to toss the state a few shekels.