Room available only on non-Marriott website
Nov 11, 2018, 8:50 am
#16
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Nov 11, 2018, 9:08 am
#18
Join Date: Nov 2014
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What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Answer: bilingual
What do you call someone who speaks one language? Answer: American
As an American, I hope it is OK to make fun of ourselves.
Nov 11, 2018, 9:20 am
#19
Original Poster
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But having visited Japan several times (and stayed there for couple months), that was my impression.
Even in Haneda International airport and Tokyo station, I encountered a number of staffs who do not know anything about foreign language.
Just to make clear: It's nothing bad or so about being unable to speak foreign languages in general, but in an international airport or international hotel chains, I expect the majority of staffs should be able to speak at least an extra international language.
And back to the topic: The reason I was not willing to book over phone on 4P Hakodate was because the receptionist need about 2 minutes to understand the sentence: "I would like to book a room".
I had to repeat that one sentence 4 or 5 times slowly - and BTW I'm not native English speaker either.
Nov 11, 2018, 10:00 am
#20
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Booking tactic
Yes, the inventory may very well be sold/blocked for OTAs leaving nothing for Marriott.com to sell. But I also run into the MLOS issues (both minimum and maximum). So when I'm looking for multiple nights at a property, I will check each day separately, the total stay, and all combinations of consecutive nights. Yes, it's a lot of work. No, it didn't save me a lot of money but some. Not sure (but often suspect it) if it is deliberate or a lack of knowledge on the property's part. There may be some game playing going on, especially when the system is geared to pick the highest price during the stay and offer that as the nightly rate, some pick the lowest nightly rate and offer that as the "rates starting at" rate only to bump the rate for other nights. And just about any combination of tactics. If you are one to walk in a store, grab an item off the shelf, pay for it, and walk out, fine. But if you like to comparison shop, expect to do some work.
Nov 11, 2018, 10:13 am
#21
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Nov 11, 2018, 10:25 am
#22
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Yes, the inventory may very well be sold/blocked for OTAs leaving nothing for Marriott.com to sell. But I also run into the MLOS issues (both minimum and maximum). So when I'm looking for multiple nights at a property, I will check each day separately, the total stay, and all combinations of consecutive night.
I’m staying at the Imperial because it’s a one of a kind hotel, but these games and errors are why I have moved away from SPG/ Marriott as my preferred option for the first time since 2010. There are issues of some sort with every_single_stay.
Nov 11, 2018, 10:28 am
#23
Join Date: Apr 2001
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I had this in Dusseldorf (Renaissance) and Munich (Airport) recently. Fully booked or more expensive on Marriott website. I booked on booking.com fully refundable and called up afterwards to see whether they can match the price. They could not find the reservation on the Marriott system, but only on a separate booking.com system after I gave them the reservation number. In both cases they matched the rate . Renaissance even gave me a guaranteed Suite upgrade after I mentioned that due to the website problems it is virtually impossible to use the SNAs
Nov 11, 2018, 8:50 pm
#24
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Nov 11, 2018, 8:54 pm
#25
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Nov 11, 2018, 10:17 pm
#27
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Single night stays at this property show nothing but weekends through mid-March, then nothing for a month, and no real availability until July, for single night stays. 2, 3, and 5 night stays aren't much different.
It's either an extremely popular business hotel or something is off with inventory.
I seem to recall this problem in the past with some overseas SPG properties - they loaded inventory at the beginning of the year, even for January. But the periodic availability, and availability in the summer, would argue against that.
It's either an extremely popular business hotel or something is off with inventory.
I seem to recall this problem in the past with some overseas SPG properties - they loaded inventory at the beginning of the year, even for January. But the periodic availability, and availability in the summer, would argue against that.
Nov 12, 2018, 12:03 am
#29
Company Representative - Starwood
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Guangzhou
Programs: SPG
Posts: 1,021
Does someone have experience with room availability problem, where Marriott hotel is only bookable on non-Marriott website?
Basically a room is available everywhere, except on Marriott website.
Is SPG planning something new or do I miss something here?
Case of Four Points Hakodate:
Room available everywhere ....
... except on it's own website
Basically a room is available everywhere, except on Marriott website.
Is SPG planning something new or do I miss something here?
Case of Four Points Hakodate:
Room available everywhere ....
... except on it's own website
We have contacted Four Points by Sheraton Hakodate. The hotel advised that there was a system issue and they are working to fix it.
Best Regards,
Christina Zhou
Social Media Specialist
Marriott International
[email protected]
Nov 12, 2018, 8:10 am
#30
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