I just had my first experience trying to set up a group rate with Marriott (or anyone for that matter), and I was a bit surprised by the result. I spoke with one of the corporate "Events and Meetings" coordinators on the phone, asking for a price for 10 rooms for one night, with breakfast and parking included. The attendant was very helpful and said that the standard rate for the rooms in question was 150 a night, but with 10 rooms, we would receive a discount. He said that he would work on a quote and get back to me via e-mail the next day.

Today (the next day) I received an e-mail from the event coordinator at the hotel in question, and this was the info I was given:
"Room Rate: $179.00 (Discounted from individual traveler rate of $289.00)"

What?!? That's more than the phone estimate and doesn't include breakfast or parking...and if I go to the hotel's website and try to book three rooms for the same night, I can get them for 149.95 each, or 169 w/ breakfast.

Does Marriott try to gouge everyone that sets up a meeting, or just me? I'm a huge fan of Marriott and have nothing but good things to say about their customer service, but this attempt at cashing in by assuming I'm ignorant of the hotel's rates is pretty insulting.

So now I'm in the process of trying to negotiate a lower rate but I'm wondering what I should expect. I know that 10 rooms isn't a big group, but if a room w/ breakfast is 169, what should the group rate be? 10% less? 20% less? If they want to turn this into a negotiation, I'm up for it, but how low can I go?

I understand your confusion. I work with a local youth group of more than 100 kids. We have a couple of youth trips a year and I have tried to work with Marriott's Event and Meetings coordinators in the past. I almost always find that they quote higher prices than I can get by reserving the rooms myself. And the real kicker is if you reserve them yourself, you get a cancellation policy of 6:00pm day of arrival. But they want you to pay more and once you sign the contract, you are stuck. If things change, you pay a change or cancellation fee.

Last year, I ended up calling the GM of an RI directly and worked with him. He actually gave me a good rate, some bonus points and gave us virtually every 2-bedroom suite in the hotel.

So basically, I haven't been impressed with Marriott's Event and Meetings group and now tend to stay away from them completely.

I doubt you will get any discount at any hotel. As you said, 10 rooms just isn't that much to most FS hotels.

Understandable, but should I expect to pay /more/ because I'm booking 10 rooms?

Nope, you shouldn't. If they still give you a crappy quote, then tell them that the standard rate on the web is 169 and includes breakfast and that you'll book it yourself on the web if they aren't accomodating.

They're probably pulling that 289 rate from the full rack rate that nobody ever gets charged.

I'm going to tell them that I'll book at another hotel if they can't even beat there own advertised rates...

Yep, I just can't believe they think anyone would view that as reasonable discount. Oh well...

who gets the points when booking on group rates?

Hopefully me, but I asked that question, too (and I haven't heard back yet). I know that I could achieve Gold by having two "events" - can you do the same with one event and some number of nights (presumably less than 50)?

I wish you could get some credit for booking multiple rooms because I have a 5 room block scheduled in May (2 nights), this 10 room stay in June (1 night), and another 4 room block in August (3 nights). That's over 30 nights of stays that I'm responsible for, but I'm going going to get a total of 6 nights of credit for it. Those 32 nights plus my other personal stays would put me well over the Gold threshold.

You can credit for 2 rooms that you book if you have your name on them and pay for both according to the T&C, so thats 12 nights. Beyond that I'm not sure how that would work. Maybe you could get something for being the coordinator if you talk to them.

I think its night credit for one room and points for 3 rooms.

So if the group rate and points do not work, get the best rate and book the 10 rooms under 3 or 4 members of your group to keep the points among your group.

You're right... I just went and looked it up. You earn points on your room and up to 2 others. It does sound like you won't get night credit though.
Here from the T&C:

"member is eligible to receive points for staying at participating Marriott Rewards hotels for his/her guestroom and up to two additional rooms. All rooms must be reserved and registered in the member's name and the member must make arrangements for payment of all rooms on a consolidated bill, which should be requested at time of hotel check-in."

in the past i've had issues with marriott not giving points on rates negotiated by a convention, even when rooms were booked on marriott's site

Turns out that won't be a problem. I got a call from the event manager and the final word is that my best bet, even though I'm booking 10 rooms, is to book them in groups of 3 online, as the standard offered-to-everyone rate the best they can do.

I understand that 10 rooms isn't a big chunk, but at the same time, I don't know why I can't use the event folks to reserve the rooms. They can give me the internet rate w/ no discount, that's OK I guess, but why make me go to the hassle of having to go through four sets of reservations (3, 3, 3, 1) to get the rooms? Either open up the website to let me book 10 rooms at once or allow me to get the same rates when working with the group rates people...

Even if they give you the same rate, the Events and Meetings group would make you sign a contract. And that contract binds you as it doesn't allow for cancellations. So you are probably better off using the online tool as they suggested. I have done that before with over 20 rooms.

And as has been suggested, instead of putting your Marriott number in all the reservations, find 3 others who have Marriott numbers and put their number in. Remember you will only get points for up to three rooms. So basically, 3 people can get points for 3 rooms and one person can get points for 1 room.

Like hhoope01, I have had good luck speaking directly with the GM to get a discounted rate.