When you make a reservation at a hotel, you expect to have a room. But that doesn’t always happen. Hotels will overbook, knowing that some guests won’t show up. But sometimes everyone shows up! They have more guests than rooms and they have to ‘walk’ someone. In other words, they turn the guest away even though they have a confirmed reservation.
One of the benefits of hotel loyalty program elite status is that this is not supposed to happen to you. Marriott even goes so far as to promise that not only will a hotel pay for your room somewhere else, they’ll pay you casn and give you points. But one hotel has figured out a loophole not to do that!
I’m seeking advice on a Marriott Bonvoy Ultimate Reservation Guarantee issue. Can a Marriott hotel deny compensation for a “walk” if they notify me 24 hours in advance, or do I have recourse? This feels against the spirit of the guarantee.
Here’s the background: I booked a one-night stay at Le Meridien NYC for my return from a Europe trip. Initially, the hotel tried to cancel my reservation, claiming my credit card “wasn’t processing.” I promptly completed a credit authorization form, but a few hours later, I received an email stating they couldn’t honor my reservation and rebooked me at Hotel 57 (not sure what that is). They’re offering to cover the alternate hotel but claim I’m not owed the $200 and 90,000 points compensation because the cancellation was pre-arrival.
…After 16 years of Marriott loyalty and over 1,000 nights, I’m frustrated that Marriott’s loyalty line seems unable to enforce the guarantee. Any advice on how to push for compensation or bring attention to this issue? I’ve shifted my loyalty to Hyatt…
One thing we know about the ‘ultimate’ benefit guarantee from Marriott is that it’s only guaranteed if the hotel agrees to pay it. If the hotel says no, guarantee notwithstanding, you’re out of luck. And if you complain to Marriott about a hotel failing to deliver as-promised, they may just ban you as a customer.
But let’s take the guarantee at face value. Depending on hotel brand, Marriott guarnatees specific amounts of cash and points if a hotel walks you.
- They aren’t supposed to walk elites, and that’s the incentive for them to correctly walk non-elite guests if they’ve overbooked.
- You get your hotel night at another property paid for and you get $200 + 90,000 points at Sheraton, Westin, and above. At Courtyards Silvers and Golds get $100 while Platinums and above get 90,000 points.
The guest here, though, is running into a few things.
- The Ultimate Reservation Guarantee isn’t meant to offer a loophole that a property just has to refuse to honor a booking prior to arrival, but the T&C are actually a bit unfortunately-worded here. That’s because the idea is that’s how walks typically happen – you show up and they don’t have your room. The drafters really didn’t envision “we’ll just make sure to dishonor bookings before the guest shows up.” The intention is to make sure that when a hotel is going to walk guests, that they’re careful not to walk elite members.
- However, here’s what the T&C says: “if an Elite Member has a confirmed reservation, but is relocated from the property upon arrival, the Participating Property will pay the Ultimate Reservation Guarantee compensation in place on that date under the Program Rules.” So that gives the hotel a leg to stand on in their argument!
- Marriott always sides with the hotel. It’s almost invariably the case in my experience that customer service makes an excuse for hotel behavior, no matter what the rules actually say.
- Even if they don’t there’s very little they can or at least will do about it.
Squeaky enough wheel often gets the grease in these sorts of situations. And I’ve even seen Marriott make good when the hotel won’t. But it’s not an easy path.
Its really special when they do that and the room was booked by calling Marriot reservation line. that happened to me in the wonderful weekend in Atlanta.
In my opinion the value to Marriott of buying out Starwood was in the loyal SPG members. And what do they do? Trash the value by not honoring the established policies or twisting them to suit their own means. As a small (very small) shareholder since I was invested since the time of ITT, this offends me. THis is not how customers should be treated. It brings to mind a time I arrived very late and exhausted to a hotel, with a migraine, and vomiting a real possibility. I can’t imagine getting this news on arrival. WHere is the hospitality of the original Marriott family?
The hospitality of the original Marriott family was a product of a bygone era, before Big Data and quantitative marketing, when the thesis that if you do right by customers, you’ll be profitable, was accepted by investors at the time. Businesses (not just Marriott) now have the data to show that doing right by customers does not pay off whatsoever.
Want to make a profit? Rip off your customers. And what a great time culturally to do so. Every customer who complains about anything can be brushed off as a “Karen,” even if the complaint is legitimate – and as Gary astutely notes in this article – per Marriott’s own T&C, it is not clear this customer even has a legitimate complaint.
Robin – the value of Marriott buying out Starwood was the hotel footprint, particularly the upper upscale and luxury contracts (Westin, St Regis, W, Luxury Collection, etc). I would have included Sheraton, but Sheraton was seen as a “problem brand” and from what I can tell has continued to not grow much since the deal. The transaction had nothing to do with Starwood’s loyal customers – in fact, Starwood’s loyal customers were probably a slight negative to the deal as they demanded too much.
That particular Le Meridien is awful. It used to be great, but has gone far downhill. The best remaining part was the rooftop bar, but someone built a tower in front and now it’s just a view of a vacant office building.
Man, do I miss Starwood. It’s where “customer service” was defined as servicing the customer, not the franchisee. It’s where elite status AND LOYALTY was taken care of, instead of making excuses to do the opposite.
Things have changed, but at least for the customer, not for the better. We know the difference because Starwood taught us that we mattered to them..
@Robin Rosner is it really necessary to point out in every post that you are a shareholder? Does that somehow make your opinion more valid or one the company should care more about? If this is an effective strategy I’m going to buy one star elf every company I can do business with so I can begin my statements with, “well…as a shareholder…”
🙂
can we just organize a class action lawsuit please? false advertising, shady business practices.. anything to punish the brand and force them to correct their T&Cs and pay through the nose… why offer a guarantee just to leave Avenues to disregard it???
Now we know. Their guarantee is written on toilet paper There are other better hotels.
I became heavily involved with Marriott through the SPG merger and got to Lifetime Platinum last year.
Over the years since the merger I’ve gone from hopeful to angry to incredibly angry to just stunned as Marriott somehow manages to consistently make things worse for the guest. My incredulity should be worn out by now but Marriott still manages to find new ways to Bonvoy guests that provides fresh surprises. Now I just pretty much avoid Marriott wherever feasible.
We’re getting ready to shift to either Hilton or Hyatt, as Lifetime Titanium Elite Bonvoy has become more hassle than it’s worth. We’re also sick of staying at hotels that are less than 5 star that are providing housekeeping ONCE A WEEK. Tired of the filthy hallways with garbage and laundry in them, tired of the lack of amenities we used to get routinely (Lounge access, breakfast, room upgrades).
Thank you, as always, for naming and shaming these bad locations and operators, Gary!
To be fair …. last year I booked a 2-bedroom suite at a UK Marriott and was downgraded to two connecting rooms. I claimed that I had effectively been walked, asked for the Ultimate Reservation Guarantee compensation and got it. As it was only a one night stay and the hotel wasn’t expensive I obviously came away with a big profit ($200 off the rate plus 90k points on top of the usual ones).
Sue in small claims court.
All three parts of a binding contract were fulfilled, offer, acceptance and compensation. But in addition to breach of contract the claim of fraudulent inducement is warranted given the timing. It’s clear the hotel didn’t want to actually sell the room, at least at the price that was booked.
I’d also allege unjust enrichment since they probably are selling the room for a higher price to someone else.
Plaintiff could name the hotel, Marriott or both as defendants. If it was me I’d probably sue both and have the court issue a subpoena on both for a copy of the agreement between them. That ought to get their attention.
Did the customer stay at Hotel 57 and how was it if they did? Did they get relatively equal value?
Just say no to Marriott.
@Gene — Stayin’ at a Hyatt and an InterContinental, in your honor!
Never, ever stay at the Courtyard in Ft. Lauderdale. We are Titanium Elite and checked in online. We arrived after 10pm and went to get the key only to discover our reservation had been “canceled ” and the hotel was sold out (full of cruisers). The manager did not care and was completely rude. She did not offer to find us accommodations at any other nearby property and told us we were on our own. We figured since we had booked the stay through points, she canceled our reservation so she could sell the room someone else. She said that hotel doesn’t honor mobile check in. The Marriott app showed we were in the middle of our stay at the property and we showed her. She put her hand on her hip and told us we were holding up the line.
First, the Marriott property had to decide whether to rebook you at Hotel 57 or have you arrested for trespassing. You’re lucky they bothered to give you the rebooking option.
Remember, Marriott is now competing with Hertz to be the worst travel company in America.
Lifetime Platinum. 44 hotel nights this year, only 3 at Marriotts. Canceled their credit card as well. Not sure they even care. Between Bonvoy issues, closed lounges, poor service ……. I chose to leave. Maybe if enough ‘guests’ did that, it would send a signal.
Got walked at Marriott a few years ago. Got a room at a nothrtbpropertt paid for by hotel. Hotel denied compensation for ultimate guarantee. Saying they notified me before checking in. Marriott washed their hands of this and said it was between hotel that walked me and myself. Never got the compensation.
It is not just marriott. The monticello new york hampton inn said that the credit card did not process and denied a reservation. When I said that there is 100% guarantee the manager accused me of not listening to him because he was brown. I wrote to Hilton and they said they would send me a refund check although it is several weeks and i have not received one. So be aware card not processing can be used to deny a reservation
When will everyone figure out hotel loyalty programs are completely broken , pitting hotel owners against the chain’s best customers?
I just spent some delightful nights at the Martinhal Lisbon. Full kitchen with luxury appliances inside a hotel room,plenty of room…. nice gym, indoor/outdoor pools. Some minor hotel misstep I can’t recall yielded free breakfast without asking. Great for people with kids. I liked it so much I booked their resort in The Algarve. Great service , no loyalty program, I’ll stay there again. Loyalty is based on service not points. If I had 100 days per year I could allocate perhaps I’d think differently but I want my accommodations to be as close to home as possible. Did I mention the toilet washlet/bidet, Miele washer/dryer, etc?
You have several typos:
casn
guarnatees
That Hotel 57 that they tried to book you into looks like a dump! Massive downgrade, perhaps with complimentary bedbugs.
What a dog bites man story with no news value – just another customer getting Bonvoyed by Marriott.
Why does anyone stay at a Marriott property? This behavior is all too common.