VISA Cert now bookable on-line!
 

Just made a few MR award stays, and each time it asked if I wished to use the Visa cert I had on file.

Must be a new feature, as when I made some res last week I was not asked and cert was on file then too.

Nice improvement of having to call it in!

thank you sophiegirl... I just started a thread asking that very question (which I guess can be deleted now)

I was never able to do that in the past, but when I called a couple days ago the lady on the phone said you can do it online.

Very Nice!

I see what you mean when making the res... it automatically defaults to the promo cert, so if you want to use points you have to change it. thanks again sophiegirl

Yeah I noticed that last week when I went looking to use the cert... it showed up as an option instead of points. :)

Good find! I saved more than enough using this cert to make up for the annual fee. It will be much nicer not to have to bother with phone calls.

Sorry to deflate the balloon but this has been the case for quite some time.

However, this is useful to warn others that it does default for the Cert.

This can be very bad for the unwary, as using an up to a Category 5 for below, or well below that category for an award booking is not a good deal.

So, Caveat Emptor when booking your award stays.

Hmmmm - my award cert lists May 20th. Since that time, I have made 7 different reward reservations - one last Friday - and not until today did it show up as a usable on line option. Perhaps it rolled-out in stages by either name or MR number???

The option has been available for at least a month. If you make an award reservation, it will ask if you want to pull the certificate or order one with points. Obviously, one should pay attention and not use a category 4 or 5 certificate for a category 1 or 2 award.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VA1379 (Post 10112434) .....Obviously, one should pay attention and not use a category 4 or 5 certificate for a category 1 or 2 award.

It is obvious to those of us extremely familiar with the website and/or cert. For newbies to either, not so much....

Sophiegirl, thanks for this useful information. I booked a room in Niagara Falls CA a month ago, and this option was not available to me at that time. I specifically went online pretending to book a one night award to check availability; it did not offer me the option of using the Visa cert; I then called the Platinum line to reserve the room.

This was great info....I called twice to use this cert and they botched it both times. :td: I was able to successfully do it tonight on the website. ^

There is an screen for online award redemption (step 4) where you are asked to choose the method of payment if you have a Visa certificate. You can either attach the Visa certificate or order another certificate (with the required point deduction). The information is not hidden, and you should be able to see it on the browser. I think it is fairly obvious unless you are rushing to confirm the reservation and do not bother to read the information written. If that is the case, Marriott is not at fault.

I don't know how long this feature has been around, but I can confirm that it was around on or before July 3rd when I used this feature to book a room in Boston over July 4th weekend. It was great not to have to call and deal with a person!

Quote:

Originally Posted by VA1379 (Post 10118703) ....If that is the case, Marriott is not at fault.

:confused::confused::confused:
I can find nowhere in this thread that anyone thinks Marriott is at fault - from what I am reading, everyone is quite complimentary...