Cancelling/Changing Old SPG Reservations Post Aug 18 - Points Refund Delay
#46
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: DSM & CPT
Programs: UA 1K, AS MVP; Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 33
I made an original 90k per night St Regis Reservation on July 30th, cancelled August 19th and did not receive the points refunded.
I spoke with SPG several times throughout the week and got answers ranging from confusion and being hung up on to wait 24 to 48 hours or maybe 10 days and it will sort itself out. Some of this was even from SPG Supervisors.
Just spoke with the Marriott Rewards line and after quoting the agent my new SPG number and the situation she was able to correctly refund and even book the new reservation for me at the new rate of 60k points per night.
#47
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 494
I am wondering if anyone has yet managed to do a straight adjustment to a prior reservation, not involving cancellation and rebooking. I have a booking where there is no longer award space and don't want to chance it being cancelled. So far it seems changes have involved cancelling rather than adjusting?
#48
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 134
I am wondering if anyone has yet managed to do a straight adjustment to a prior reservation, not involving cancellation and rebooking. I have a booking where there is no longer award space and don't want to chance it being cancelled. So far it seems changes have involved cancelling rather than adjusting?
#49
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: MD/DC
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum, Marriott Titanium, TK Gold
Posts: 1,536
I am wondering if anyone has yet managed to do a straight adjustment to a prior reservation, not involving cancellation and rebooking. I have a booking where there is no longer award space and don't want to chance it being cancelled. So far it seems changes have involved cancelling rather than adjusting?
#50
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: KC Area
Posts: 82
I am wondering if anyone has yet managed to do a straight adjustment to a prior reservation, not involving cancellation and rebooking. I have a booking where there is no longer award space and don't want to chance it being cancelled. So far it seems changes have involved cancelling rather than adjusting?
#51
Community Director Emerita
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Anywhere warm
Posts: 33,681
No, you aren't. The agent did not have correct information. If it is a Marriott property, they should be able to make the adjustment easily. If it is a Starwood property and you can wait, call after you see reports of others getting their Starwood points back. Otherwise, if it is within the next few days, call now and they can notate the record. Keep track of who told you what when.
#52
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Chicago, IL
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold, Airline Nobody
Posts: 64
YAY!
Marriott and SPG were completely unhelpful over the phone so I decided to risk it and just cancel/rebook myself and hope the points and booking went well. I had the Prince de Galles in Paris booked for 5 nights @ 120k starpoints. I cancelled online just now and the 360k marriott points refunded immediately; I was then able to rebook at 240k marriott points for the same dates.
I hesitate to really suggest anyone do the same (cancel/attempt to rebook) because the IT is still wonky, but if you're at your wits end, tired of stressing about it, and don't feel like waiting around for the hotel to sell out maybe it's worth a shot to just try it yourself online. Good luck everyone
EDIT: to be clear I had made the original reservation on Aug 8
Marriott and SPG were completely unhelpful over the phone so I decided to risk it and just cancel/rebook myself and hope the points and booking went well. I had the Prince de Galles in Paris booked for 5 nights @ 120k starpoints. I cancelled online just now and the 360k marriott points refunded immediately; I was then able to rebook at 240k marriott points for the same dates.
I hesitate to really suggest anyone do the same (cancel/attempt to rebook) because the IT is still wonky, but if you're at your wits end, tired of stressing about it, and don't feel like waiting around for the hotel to sell out maybe it's worth a shot to just try it yourself online. Good luck everyone
EDIT: to be clear I had made the original reservation on Aug 8
#53
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,846
Followed MD/DC Flyer's lead and THIS WORKED!
I made an original 90k per night St Regis Reservation on July 30th, cancelled August 19th and did not receive the points refunded.
I spoke with SPG several times throughout the week and got answers ranging from confusion and being hung up on to wait 24 to 48 hours or maybe 10 days and it will sort itself out. Some of this was even from SPG Supervisors.
Just spoke with the Marriott Rewards line and after quoting the agent my new SPG number and the situation she was able to correctly refund and even book the new reservation for me at the new rate of 60k points per night.
I made an original 90k per night St Regis Reservation on July 30th, cancelled August 19th and did not receive the points refunded.
I spoke with SPG several times throughout the week and got answers ranging from confusion and being hung up on to wait 24 to 48 hours or maybe 10 days and it will sort itself out. Some of this was even from SPG Supervisors.
Just spoke with the Marriott Rewards line and after quoting the agent my new SPG number and the situation she was able to correctly refund and even book the new reservation for me at the new rate of 60k points per night.
I was transferred to an escalated agent, and she had to 'detach/cancel' the certificate attached to the old reservation to release the points.
I have no idea how they are going to get this resolved without manual intervention. Best for anyone waiting for the points to call Marriott to get this resolved. You may have to tell them how to do it - I had to mention this to the agent before she figured it out.
#54
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 494
I just called Marriott reservations to see if I could get this to work - and YES it did.
I was transferred to an escalated agent, and she had to 'detach/cancel' the certificate attached to the old reservation to release the points.
I have no idea how they are going to get this resolved without manual intervention. Best for anyone waiting for the points to call Marriott to get this resolved. You may have to tell them how to do it - I had to mention this to the agent before she figured it out.
I was transferred to an escalated agent, and she had to 'detach/cancel' the certificate attached to the old reservation to release the points.
I have no idea how they are going to get this resolved without manual intervention. Best for anyone waiting for the points to call Marriott to get this resolved. You may have to tell them how to do it - I had to mention this to the agent before she figured it out.
Any thoughts from Lurkers would be helpful on this.
#55
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 134
I just called Marriott reservations to see if I could get this to work - and YES it did.
I was transferred to an escalated agent, and she had to 'detach/cancel' the certificate attached to the old reservation to release the points.
I have no idea how they are going to get this resolved without manual intervention. Best for anyone waiting for the points to call Marriott to get this resolved. You may have to tell them how to do it - I had to mention this to the agent before she figured it out.
I was transferred to an escalated agent, and she had to 'detach/cancel' the certificate attached to the old reservation to release the points.
I have no idea how they are going to get this resolved without manual intervention. Best for anyone waiting for the points to call Marriott to get this resolved. You may have to tell them how to do it - I had to mention this to the agent before she figured it out.
#56
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 188
soooo... I called and got my points back for the Marriott reservation. I asked about an SPG reservation that I had cancelled, but lost the points on, and said "i'm assuming you can still do nothing about those?", and the agent said "please hold, we are getting more leeway with this". She came back and said SPG is fixing the problem, but the points may take 7 days to come back. I decided to try cancelling my other SPG reservation online, and success. The points came back immediately. I rebooked at the new lower rate. I then cancelled a couple SPG points reservations in my dad's account, and same thing, points came back right away, and I could rebook both at the new, lower rate. I think they may have fixed it for cancellations from now on, just haven't totally figured out how to get us our lost points back yet.
#57
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,846
Was your reservation for a Spg property? And was there any award availability for your dates when you got the refund? I'm wondering if they are modifying reservations or canceling/rebooking. Since canceling does not necessarily release the award back into the available pool, it is important to know
I am not sure if they are able to process a points adjustment. I think the only way their system can handle it is to cancel and rebook. I think it may work if you call to cancel, get them to manually release the cert, and then re-book right away.
#58
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Silver, AA Platinum, Alaska MVP, Hyatt Discoverist, National Executive
Posts: 116
Had an SPG award reservation for October that I cancelled after combining SPG and Marriott accounts. Points lost now and I need them to book the better hotel at the same per night rate. Going on 4 days, and SPG reps said 1) wait 72 business hours and 2) supervisors are saying three weeks for this known issue to be fixed.
I've booked the better hotel using the Marriott advance feature, but patience is quickly running out....
I've booked the better hotel using the Marriott advance feature, but patience is quickly running out....
#59
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 494
Yes, it was for a Westin I booked in July. I actually rebooked online first because there was availability, and I had the required points in my account. Then cancelled the old reservation and was expecting the refund, but it didn't post.
I am not sure if they are able to process a points adjustment. I think the only way their system can handle it is to cancel and rebook. I think it may work if you call to cancel, get them to manually release the cert, and then re-book right away.
I am not sure if they are able to process a points adjustment. I think the only way their system can handle it is to cancel and rebook. I think it may work if you call to cancel, get them to manually release the cert, and then re-book right away.
#60
Community Director Emerita
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Anywhere warm
Posts: 33,681
It was made clear that they should be able to do this, by detaching the existing award certificate and attaching the new. This was standard under Marriott I believe if a hotel changed categories etc. But would be good to hear from someone who has managed to get it done for a spg property.
I tried the technique above for calling Marriott about missing points from a Starwood cancellation. I gave her the Starwood reservation number and the cancellation number. She couldn't see it. She said only Starwood could work on that property.
My understanding is that the Starwood hotels are being migrated to the Marriott software platform but no one seems to know at what pace and in what order. Thus, there are the occasional successes on the Marriott side but certainly not for any of the hotels where I am impacted.
I had one success. I have an upcoming booking at a Marriott property where the award cert wasn't pulled. It moved up from 10,000 points to 17,500 points. The agent advanced 7,500 points to my account and then took 17,500, attaching that cert to the booking.