Keyser

i did this with spg earlier last year....my flight was cancelled so i had to stay back in a particular city....it was after midnight so i couldn't book online....i went to the property directly & booked the stay there....gave them my spg number & got the points & stay credit....

don't know if things have changed with marriott however i would be surprised it booking directly with the property would count as an ineligible stay....

LAX

Thanks for your data point. According to Marriott's website, stays at a Design Hotel not booked through Marriott won't earn stay/night credits. However, it doesn't specify about points earning. I suspect CC bonus points might be okay as the CC issuer probably won't know whether a stay is booked through Marriott or not as long as the charges come from an eligible property.

LAX

phant0m

It was a pain to get my points credited and mine was booked through SPG at the time. From what I understand, the hotel submits the spend to Marriott and they credit. If not, Marriott can manually enter in the points, which took a while after the hotel and Marriott kept pointing the finger at each other. Ask for a paper invoice when you leave. It'll be your life saver if you have to go the route I did.

kcaluwae

I have an upcoming booking in the Furnas Boutique Hotel (Ponta Delgado, Azores, Portugal). Just received a mail that they're leaving Marriott on May 14th.
There's a second Design hotel in Ponta Delgado, the Azor hotel. It seems they're also leaving.

There's no statement on the Marriott site but both hotels show no availability behind May 14th.

It is still possible to book them on designhotels.com
Makes me wonder : is Design Hotels not a brand owned by Marriott? Is this just a partnership?

TerryK

It is a partnership. Many Design Hotels don't even participate to begin with.

martina

escape4

I know that used to be the case, but is this true even as of 2019? I thought by now you could earn points / night credits at all of them. Am I wrong?

TerryK

Are you sure you can earn points/nights on all Design Hotels?

From FAQ:
The way I read is that you seem to be able to earn points, not nights, at participating hotels irrespective of booking channel. It is still limited to participating hotels.

Please prove me wrong as I would love to earn points/nights at The Omnia or Cervo Mountain.

https://design-hotels.marriott.com/member-benefits/faq/

escape4

Darn! I had no idea.

The link to the list of participating properties seems to be broken. Also I thought they had pulled the plug on BRG completely from Design and now I find out from the T&C that they are still included in some way shape or form? But again the link is not working for that either.

GoldenItalianBoy

Do Bookings done through Marriott website get both POINTS and ELITE CREDIT nights?
It is not very clear.

And where we can find a list of participating Design Hotels? The link provided on the website seems not to be working fine.

I am thinking about a stay at the MONTANA Lodge Design Hote La Thuile (Italy).

TerryK

Looks crystal clear to me.
https://design-hotels.marriott.com/member-benefits/

https://design-hotels.marriott.com/member-benefits/faq/

​​​​
Participating Design Hotels are what you can book via marriott.com.

​​​Yes, I have stayed at Montana Lodge, albeit under SPG, and received both points and nights credit.

escape4

I stayed there earlier this year (under Bonvoy) and I can confirm: I earned points and night credits. No room upgrade however.

escape4

http://www.marriott.com/online-hotel...ng.mi#bestrate
Looking at the T&Cs, it is clear that BRG has been removed from Design in December 2018 so the other link contains outdated info

Star_Guy

ftrichard

So, by the looks of it, Marriott wants these independent Design Hotels to sign a new agreement for reservations made through the Marriott channels. No hint as to whether this will result in different or better benefits for Bonvoy elites at participating Design Hotels. But given that, currently, bookings at Design Hotels made through Marriott channels qualify for nights, points, and the welcome bonus only then I'd hope Marriott is taking the opportunity to harmonise these benefits to include breakfast, upgrades, and late check outs for eligible elites.

If only because harmonising the benefits will shut down so many of these threads from outraged DYKWIA Platinums who booked a Design Hotel through the Marriott app and didn't understand that it's an independently owned and managed hotel with no obligation to offer breakfast, lounge access, upgrades, or late check outs to anyone and who also don't understand that nobody is forcing them at the point of a gun to stay there if they value fried food and freeflow entry-level wine in a lounge so highly.