Do new point requirements apply when reservation is changed?
 

I booked a 2 week stay for Hawaii right before the point restructuring went into effect. We knew we wanted to stay for one week but wasn't sure what actually days we would use. I thought we would be able to cut the ressie to one week and keep the lower point requirement when ammending the ressie. I just tried to do this today and was told the ressie would have to be "recalculated" to the higher point level.
Is this true.
Thanks for help and advice.

I believe that is the policy... as being reported here several times.

It is true.

Yes, that's how it was explained when the change was announced.

Did you book two one-week stays instead of a two-week stay? Since the points started over after 7 days, the result would have been the same and would have given you some flexibility. Did you check to see if they technically created two reservations?

Not in my experience; as long as YOU ARE NOT CHANGING THE ARRIVAL DATE. In late February I changed a March 10-nights award stay (for my boss who has no status) that had been booked prior to the 1-15-09 change, to a 7-nights stay with no problem. It was no big deal at all, they just refunded the points for the 3 nights and kept the remaining 7-nights award as previously booked. The confirmation number did not change, it just reflected a 7-nights award stay instead 10-nights. He was NOT using the Hotel portion of a travel package. Note the the hotel where this stay was booked has not changed category levels.

Did you talk with guest services or reservations? Try calling again and see what happens. Remember dumb and helpless goes a long way. Think business commitment during the second week of your currently reserved stay. That was the actual reason my boss and I had to make changes to our reservations. Good luck. Keep in mind that you are modifying a reservation that was made before 1-15-09, not rebooking. So use the term modify, and don't use the term rebook. See FAQs for more info (Q 11 & 12): http://www.marriott.com/rewards/lra-faq.mi#question11

Were these hotel-only reservations or were they part of a travel package?

I changed the dates of 7-night reservation that was part of a travel package earlier this week. I was initially told that I would be charged the difference in points, but the agent subsequently changed the story because it was part of a travel package award (and also because this hotel did not change categories in January). i was able to change the reservation with no additional point charge.

Well the ressies were just hotel only... not a package.
Was for Hawaii and we'll probably not use any of the days so I'm not too upset. I also had redeemed the 7 night "hawaii hopper" awards to use "just in case" we were unable to trim the dates on a ressie. On a cat. 6 used at the same hotel for week it will "cost" a little more from the original week rate but still is a heck of a lot lower than the new point requirements.
On another note, while checking dates in December for Kauai I find that room aren't even available for point stay but are available for $$ especially in the plain garden view rooms. I thought that the new "enhancement" had improved the inventory availability (and lowered points) on the anytime award. Just proves what these "enhancements" truly are.
Thanks for the advice.
Carolyn

I changed the dates for a hotel stay that was part of a travel package and was able to keep the same points needed. Had to also chae a separate Hotel stay I had booked at the Champs Lysee in Paris and the total went from 110,000 points to 160,000 points needed.

would trimming the dates and an existing ressie be consider a total change? I'm just asking but probably won't consider if now anyway.

Read post #5

funny, because I went through something similar a few days ago too. Had booked up a bunch of properties prior to the "enhancements" and ordered the hawaii hopper. I finally figured out what days I wanted.

It took about 4 calls, first to reservations, then to Platinum Concierge, then conference calls with the Concierge and the hotels themselves, but I was able to get them to modify the reservation for the dates I wanted and still be able to use the hopper award.

If you´re Platinum, I would recommend trying this. If not, try working with the hotel directly and maybe you´ll have luck. One of the people I was on the conference call with said that she had to override the system to make it work and that Marriott was scrutinizing changes with the old point structure so I might have just had luck because I was using the sampler award.

If you politely and respectivefully request Customer Service for Marriott Rewards (be sure to ask for them) to evaluate this and see whether they would be willing to let you keep 1 of the weeks only at the old point rate, you may be pleasantly surprised. Not something they have to do, but certainly the kind of favor that they may be willing to do for a loyal customer (especially since you already have the dates reserved at that rate).

It had nothing to do with luck and everything to do with having a hopper award. The Hopper Awards along with Hotel portion of Travel Packages issued prior to January 15, 2009 are handled differently than regular award reservations made prior January 15.

When making reservations when using Hopper Awards or the Hotel portion of Travel Package Awards, you may make the reservations now. You should call reservations to make the reservation and tell them you already have certificates which are paper in the case of Hopper Awards and electronic in the case of the Hotel portion of Travel Package Awards. They will set up the reservation accordingly so additional points are not deducted and either the electronic Hotel portion of Travel Package Awards is attached to the reservation, or the res is set up for paper certificate for Euro Hopper and Hawaii Hopper paper certificates. Now if certificate expiration dates have passed then you are out of luck, but that is a completely different subject that is caused by user error.

The OP's reservation is a regular 2 weeks awards made prior to January 15. He ALSO has Hawaii Hopper award certificates that he is considering using in place of, or in conjunction with, this award. HOWEVER, he should not need to do that IF he is just shortening his 14 nights reservation by 7 nights, meaning his arrival date does not change. If he changes his arrival date then the reservation needs to be rebooked which means the reservation was no longer made prior to January 15. FYI, as previously detailed in post #5 I did just this in February for a March stay and it was no big deal at all. Now maybe I lucked out. I was expecting otherwise and made that clear to the Plat CSR that helped me, but she just dropped the 3 nights, refunded the points for the 3 nights and kept the first 7 nights as previously booked and no additional points were deducted.

I would suggest that if anyone encounters problems using unexpired Hopper Awards or the Hotel portion of Travel Package Awards, that you contact Marriott Concierge immediately for assistance. OP, you may also find assistance from Marriott Concierge to be helpful.

I did not have that experience. I tried to cut my 7 day award stay short by 3 days and was told I had to rebook at the higher rate. I was arriving on the same day. Possibly if I had been persistent about it I may have succeeded in doing just that. In any case, I'm glad I decided to stick with the 7 day stay.

I may not have provided all the relevant information in my first post. I had a regular reservation, not tied to a hopper award, that I then wanted to apply the hopper award for my stay. Also, my arrival date did change, which is probably why it took so many calls to work out.

Since my original reservation still covered all the nights I would be staying so even if I changed the arrival date, they agreed to make the change and not charge more points.

Good to know about the distinction with changing/not changing arrival dates and how that affects the reservation. Hopefully there won't be anymore structural changes to the point system in the near future so this won't matter. :p