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Marriott Bonvoy Events program between Aug 18, 2018 and end of 2019

Old Dec 22, 2018, 4:05 pm
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Last edit by: rustykettel
As of January 1, 2020 the 10 night credit per meeting has ended. Events will only earn points after Jan 1. Room blocks will still earn night credits per T&C.

Rewarding Events offers points and nights for events/meetings booked at 25 brands of Marriott hotels


Marriott Rewarding Events


Participating brands:
Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, JW Marriott, The Luxury Collection, W Hotels, EDITION, Marriott Hotels, Sheraton, Marriott Vacation Club, Delta Hotels by Marriott, Le Meridian, Westin, The Autograph Collection, Renaissance, Tribute Portfolio, Gaylord Hotels, Courtyard by Marriott, Four Points by Sheraton, Springhill Suites by Marriott, Protea Hotels by Marriott, Fairfield by Marriott, AC Hotels by Marriott, Aloft, Moxy Hotels, Element

Non-participating brands:
TownePlace Suites, Residence Inn, Marriott Executive Appartments, and Design Hotels


How to Book a Rewarding Event

There is an online interface to get quotes for meetings. Or you can call the sales office of each hotel you are interested in directly for a quote.

Rewarding Events Online Booking


Rewards

2 points per $1 USD or 1 mile per $1 USD spent per qualifying event (base members can earn up to 60,000 points; while Platinum Premier Elite members can earn up to 105,000 points per qualifying event).

Get 10 Elite Qualifying Nights for the first meeting and achieve Silver Elite status automatically.

Earn one Elite Qualifying Night for every additional 20 room nights booked up to 20 Elite Qualifying Nights per contract.

Note: Money spent on events reportedly does not count towards the $20,000 spend needed for Ambassador status.


Changes from Old Program

10 elite nights are earned only for the first meeting every year. Previously, it was 10 elite nights per meeting.


FAQ

Do I have to show up? - Maybe. Some people have no-showed at events and still had them post. Others have had no-shows that did not post.

What is a good rate? - Around $100 is considered a good rate for a meeting that lasts an hour or two.

What should I ask for if book a meeting just for the 10 elite nights? - It is recommended to ask for a meeting room for 2 people for 30 minutes or an hour. You can say it is for an interview. No audio/visual or catering is needed, and the meeting time is flexible.

Which hotels have the lowest rates for meetings? - Typically, the lower priced brands like Fairfield, Courtyard, etc., have small meeting rooms that can be less expensive. But it depends on the location.
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Marriott Bonvoy Events program between Aug 18, 2018 and end of 2019

Old Aug 21, 2018, 7:49 am
  #136  
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Originally Posted by phltraveler
The fact that there are multiple people who have had meetings post on 08/18 or beyond and either have none of them post any nights whatsoever, and one person who had 6 meetings post with the first meeting giving 10 nights and all subsequent giving no nights, is a pretty strong indicator. If all had said 10 nights and maybe none had posted, or none mentioned nights - then maybe an IT glitch on the merger.

Between the case where someone had six meetings post on 08/18 and only the first gave any nights, and the pre-08/18 email language for GPT email not mentioning nights at all (see @xar in post #127 ) because each meeting in the old program gave 10 nights per the terms...and now the new one having a nights line, because between 1st meeting granting 10 nights and all meetings being eligible to get up to 20 EQN (1 EQN for every 20 related room booking nights) and the 2nd + subsequent meetings being blank on that line if there were no related room booking nights or <20 of them... the treatment under the 08/18 T&C for Rewarding Events seems abundantly clear at this point.

I'm sure those who had pre-08/18 meetings post on or after 08/18 and not get 10 nights per meeting will be able to have Marriott correct it, but the behavior described ITT of the GPT on 08/18 seems to have confirmed the new normal for Rewarding Events, IMO.
Keep in mind this is a multiple-step process, the property posts the event on-site using the GPT and points get credited. Then notification is sent to MR (now MPG) that the event has occurred and they post the nights. I'm thinking that is the bottle neck right now with them not processing the nights until their system settles out. Just like CC points, these can be easily held up and processed as a bigger batch when everything has been worked out. Make sense?
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Old Aug 21, 2018, 7:54 am
  #137  
 
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Originally Posted by RogerD408
Just like CC points, these can be easily held up and processed as a bigger batch when everything has been worked out. Make sense?
Yes makes sense, but who does one contact if the nights don't end up posting?
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Old Aug 21, 2018, 7:55 am
  #138  
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Originally Posted by Johnny Rocket
Yes makes sense, but who does one contact if the nights don't end up posting?
Since the nights come from MPG (formerly known as MR), contacting MPG would be my suggestion.
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Old Aug 21, 2018, 8:32 am
  #139  
 
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Originally Posted by RogerD408
Keep in mind this is a multiple-step process, the property posts the event on-site using the GPT and points get credited. Then notification is sent to MR (now MPG) that the event has occurred and they post the nights. I'm thinking that is the bottle neck right now with them not processing the nights until their system settles out. Just like CC points, these can be easily held up and processed as a bigger batch when everything has been worked out. Make sense?
Doesn't follow.

In the pre-08/18 emails, nights were not mentioned at all in the email sent to the meeting planner.
In the post-08/18 emails, there is a specific line added for nights. The first meeting someone had indicated NIGHTS: 10. The second and subsequent meetings had a nights line with zero content, because the meeting was not the first, and had no related room booking nights (for the 20 related room booking nights = 1 EQN, up to 20 EQNs in this way per meeting).

If the post-08/18 emails had no nights line (like the pre-08/18) and some people had some meetings credit and some not, we could very easily chalk that up to a batch process that hadn't run yet.
Or if the post-08/18 emails had the nights line, and each meeting said 10, but the activity didn't reflect - same thing. Plausible explanation that the GPT had been used, but maybe some batch process to credit the account hadn't.

In this case, we have confirmed reports of meetings that posted on or after 08/18 having blank nights lines and no nights credits. Now by itself we might consider this a glitch, an error in the GPT created by the Reward Systems updates/SPG & MR merger.
That falls flat when we have the example of @emag_eh7 having six meetings post through GPT on 08/18, with the first indicating the 10 nights in the new nights line in the GPT email to the member, and the other five having a blank nights line and crediting no nights.

With that set of facts, it is wayyyyy more likely that the GPT was adjusted to take the "Cynical" read of members.marriott.com and the new Marriott T&Cs that it is indeed only the first meeting that gets the 10 nights. The batch processing explanation falls flat with the combination of reports we've received.
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Old Aug 21, 2018, 8:42 am
  #140  
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Originally Posted by phltraveler
Doesn't follow.

In the pre-08/18 emails, nights were not mentioned at all in the email sent to the meeting planner.
In the post-08/18 emails, there is a specific line added for nights. The first meeting someone had indicated NIGHTS: 10. The second and subsequent meetings had a nights line with zero content, because the meeting was not the first, and had no related room booking nights (for the 20 related room booking nights = 1 EQN, up to 20 EQNs in this way per meeting).

If the post-08/18 emails had no nights line (like the pre-08/18) and some people had some meetings credit and some not, we could very easily chalk that up to a batch process that hadn't run yet.
Or if the post-08/18 emails had the nights line, and each meeting said 10, but the activity didn't reflect - same thing. Plausible explanation that the GPT had been used, but maybe some batch process to credit the account hadn't.

In this case, we have confirmed reports of meetings that posted on or after 08/18 having blank nights lines and no nights credits. Now by itself we might consider this a glitch, an error in the GPT created by the Reward Systems updates/SPG & MR merger.
That falls flat when we have the example of @emag_eh7 having six meetings post through GPT on 08/18, with the first indicating the 10 nights in the new nights line in the GPT email to the member, and the other five having a blank nights line and crediting no nights.

With that set of facts, it is wayyyyy more likely that the GPT was adjusted to take the "Cynical" read of members.marriott.com and the new Marriott T&Cs that it is indeed only the first meeting that gets the 10 nights. The batch processing explanation falls flat with the combination of reports we've received.
Or it could just be a simple update to the templates used by the GPT and the back-end processes are on hold... Way too early for conclusions other than things have changed.
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Old Aug 21, 2018, 8:50 am
  #141  
 
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Originally Posted by RogerD408
Or it could just be a simple update to the templates used by the GPT and the back-end processes are on hold... Way too early for conclusions other than things have changed.
I really hope you are right.. but the previous poster builds a logical case. Old emails had no nights listed, new one does. First meeting lists 10 nights in the email, the rest list none. Exactly in line with how people are interpreting the T&Cs.

It is far more likely that this 'loophole' is now closed than there being a glitch in the backend that just so happens to coincide with the new T&Cs.

But here is to hoping you are right because I've used this technique for the last 3 years to get platinum!
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Old Aug 21, 2018, 9:24 am
  #142  
 
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Originally Posted by RogerD408
Or it could just be a simple update to the templates used by the GPT and the back-end processes are on hold... Way too early for conclusions other than things have changed.
Okay...

The addition of the nights line makes sense under either interpretation (positive - that all meetings per contract will still earn the 10 nights per contract - and negative - that only the first meeting per year or ever will earn the 10 nights right off the bat).
This is due to the addition of the SPG Pro-esque clause that meetings earn 1 EQN for up to twenty related room booking nights, up to twenty EQNS per meeting (400 room booking nights / 20 nights per meeting related EQN for planner = 20 EQNS for meeting planner).

The fact that for six meetings that all posted on the same day and emails sent at the same time that one meeting listed 10 nights and the other listed all blank is pretty supportive of the "cynical"/"negative" interpretation of the terms (that only the first meeting automatically earns 10 nights) - the "10 nights"/"thereafter" SPG Pro-esque for subsequent meetings in the terms. The alternative would be that there was a combination of bugs/pending batch processes, that somehow the template filled correctly for the first meeting but none of the others (hence how the emails were sent with NIGHTS lines with no number of nights listed) and that this will be correctly run in a batch process that hasn't run yet, perhaps because it is suspended due to other data loads/transformations or merger related troubleshooting going on.

The amount of coincidences/circumstances that would have to occur for the behavior observed post-08/18 with meetings, GPT, and meeting credits would make it very highly unlikely to support the "positive" interpretations of the T&C.

Can it absolutely be disproven? Not until MR says otherwise, and RE postings are probably pretty low on the totem pole compared to other issues in the merger, so I doubt a spokesperson will clarify language that many people consider "clear" (not ITT, obviously, hence the whole discussion) for a while. I can't prove that MR won't announce that category 1 will be re-valued to a million points for off-peak redemption tomorrow. I also think that's very highly unlikely, but I can't prove that it won't happen. The terms would technically permit it, and I don't work for MR or affiliates, so I can't say with certainty that it couldn't happen.

Again though, it would be grossly inconsistent when Marriott has minimized the availability of the free/"cheap" nights and paths to status (new chase card eliminating 1 night/$3K spend, only one credit card giving 15 EQNs to a member, elimination of being able to earn EQNs for up to three rooms at the same time as legacy SPG permitted, etc.) and would also render the SPG Pro related aspects of the program a moot point (you would earn EQNs much more easily by separating the meeting room contracts over driving tons of related room bookings to a meeting).

At this point, IMO, we're basically searching for a needle in a haystack in some odd combination of factors that has some plausible explanation on why the current behavior from the GPT we're seeing is only giving 10 EQNs for the first meeting, and that as an unintended bug with MR taking the "positive"/"optimistic" use of the terms of 10 meetings per each and every contract still despite the "first" language.
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Last edited by phltraveler; Aug 21, 2018 at 9:34 am Reason: edited last sentence for clarity
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Old Aug 21, 2018, 9:34 am
  #143  
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OK, @RogerD408 and @phltraveler, I think you both have made your points clear about how the 10 elite qualifying night bonus will proceed under the new Terms & Conditions. Your back and forth exchange now seems to be getting so myopic that its dizzying and not particularly constructive. You know its sad when even I am saying that!

Lets put a cork in that discussion until we have the soon-to-be-revealed evidence and clarifications that will make it obvious which position is actually correct. The discussion isnt helping. The facts will be revealed in due course.
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Old Aug 21, 2018, 9:34 am
  #144  
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Originally Posted by phltraveler
Okay...
...
At this point, IMO, we're basically searching for a needle in a haystack in some odd combination of factors that has some plausible explanation on why the current behavior from the GPT we're seeing is only giving 10 EQNs for the first meeting.
Yes, we all are searching for the needle. with no means to get a definitive answer. Not that I would even trust a statement from MR (they have been wrong too). It's way too early to have any anecdotal evidence yet, so let's wait and see.

As for it applying to only the first meeting that is supposed at this time. That phrase of "per contract" is still in the T&Cs.
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Old Aug 21, 2018, 9:38 am
  #145  
 
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Originally Posted by bhrubin
OK, @RogerD408 and @phltraveler, I think you both have made your points clear about how the 10 elite qualifying night bonus will proceed under the new Terms & Conditions. Your back and forth exchange now seems to be getting so myopic that its dizzying and not particularly constructive. You know its sad when even I am saying that!

Lets put a cork in that discussion until we have the soon-to-be-revealed evidence and clarifications that will make it obvious which position is actually correct. The discussion isnt helping. The facts will be revealed in due course.
At this point, agreed. We've both seen 08/18 events post and still both interpret it differently. Now we wait.

Originally Posted by RogerD408
That phrase of "per contract" is still in the T&Cs.
We've already had that debate upthread, so I'm not going to repeat our different interpretations of the use of that phrase in section 5.3.d of the MR T&Cs.
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Old Aug 21, 2018, 11:26 am
  #146  
 
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Originally Posted by phltraveler
The fact that there are multiple people who have had meetings post on 08/18 or beyond and either have none of them post any nights whatsoever, and one person who had 6 meetings post with the first meeting giving 10 nights and all subsequent giving no nights, is a pretty strong indicator. If all had said 10 nights and maybe none had posted, or none mentioned nights - then maybe an IT glitch on the merger.

Between the case where someone had six meetings post on 08/18 and only the first gave any nights, and the pre-08/18 email language for GPT email not mentioning nights at all (see @xar in post #127 ) because each meeting in the old program gave 10 nights per the terms...and now the new one having a nights line, because between 1st meeting granting 10 nights and all meetings being eligible to get up to 20 EQN (1 EQN for every 20 related room booking nights) and the 2nd + subsequent meetings being blank on that line if there were no related room booking nights or <20 of them... the treatment under the 08/18 T&C for Rewarding Events seems abundantly clear at this point.

I'm sure those who had pre-08/18 meetings post on or after 08/18 and not get 10 nights per meeting will be able to have Marriott correct it, but the behavior described ITT of the GPT on 08/18 seems to have confirmed the new normal for Rewarding Events, IMO.
I'm not denying that it will be implemented that way (only 10 nights for first meeting), and yes the early evidence seems to suggest that that's how it will be handled. Just pointing out that the T&C's are not clear.
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Old Aug 21, 2018, 1:35 pm
  #147  
 
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Originally Posted by GoPhils
I'm not denying that it will be implemented that way (only 10 nights for first meeting), and yes the early evidence seems to suggest that that's how it will be handled. Just pointing out that the T&C's are not clear.
That's still agreed upon. Unfortunately, the use of therafter and per contract leads to different interpretations, depending on how you read it.

Reminds me of all of the oxford comma jokes, like the difference between
Reporter meets with the pope, a stripper and druglord
(where the descriptions after the comma could be interpreted as both being descriptors of the pope)
and
Reporter meets with the pope, a stripper, and druglord
Where it's clear that all three are separate.

English is a funny thing and 25,000+ words in, I'm sure not all were considered as carefully. Clarification would be very much welcome, as the language seems "plain" to all of us, and yet some people read it in two very contrary ways.
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Old Aug 21, 2018, 1:39 pm
  #148  
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Come on, everyone. The T&Cs aren't clear to some and are clear to others.

The final say will be revealed in due course. Let's wait until that information is released by Marriott.

The continued back and forth discussion about punctuation and grammatical use is not productive or helpful at all. It's just clogging up the thread and posting updates unnecessarily for those of us looking for actually useful information.
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Old Aug 21, 2018, 1:51 pm
  #149  
 
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Originally Posted by phltraveler
That's still agreed upon. Unfortunately, the use of therafter and per contract leads to different interpretations, depending on how you read it.
The different interpretations are each clear to me and we definitely need clarification. At first I thought it meant something different, but when the fact there was uncertainty around what was meant by "first" has changed my opinion. Again, my only certainty is uncertainty at this point, but "first" could mean lifetime, annual or per contract, but the rule does not include the terms lifetime or annual, only per contract. This means first was either left undefined, which seems very sloppy, or meant to be per contract. We will not know for sure until Marriott clarifies, but based on what it says now it may actually be per contract, IMO.
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Old Aug 21, 2018, 4:29 pm
  #150  
 
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To the people that had to talk to Marriott corporate to get their EQN pre-merger, what email/phone number did you use? And what did they ask for? Up until now I've just been talking to the events and general managers of the FI that I did the meetings at, but they said they have no idea about the missing EQN. I expected that, but I'm not sure if corporate will give me a hard time since all of the meetings that that posted points to my account say canceled. I have the original contracts and the 6 separate receipts though, so I think I should have enough proof to get the missing EQN.
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