‘Marriott Wouldn’t Help’: She Booked A Quiet Night Away — And Found Herself Standing Outside An Unfinished Hotel

Booking new hotels is always a risk. Hotel openings are delayed more often than not. When you make a reservation far in advance, there’s a decent chance you’ll wind up getting moved – if they honor your reservation at all. Check you email for updates on new hotels you plan to stay at!

That is, if they let you know about opening changes at all. One guest tried to check into the TownePlace Suites by Marriott Murfreesboro. Marriott even let them know it was time to check in! But their attempt to do so was… unsuccessful.

Platinum Elite. Booked a hotel two months ago on points for my first ever night away completely ALONE in 5 years since having my child… Arrived at the hotel, just now, for check-in,and it’s not finished being built!!! Doors locked, furniture still in wrappers, pool not finished, construction underway.

I received all the check-in emails and app reminders. Phone not attended – just a full voicemail.
Called customer service and they wouldn’t help.

Said they can’t “walk me” since I’m not able to go inside to be “walked” by the staff. They were willing to rebook me at nearby Courtyard for double points of what I already spent. They emailed current hotel for eventual points refund since they cannot be reached to cancel reservation.

You might think, but they booked through Marriott. That’s guaranteed! Why should they have to spend double the points to stay somewhere else that night? At a minimum shouldn’t their reservation get them a room somewhere, without additional charge?

Marriott’s Ultimate Reservation Guarantee only applies if the property is “open and operational.” Marriott’s program terms state,

A Participating Property must be open and operational for the Ultimate Reservation Guarantee benefit/compensation to apply.

For a true delayed opening, the Ultimate Reservation Guarantee does not apply. There’s no published requirement in the Bonvoy rules for an unopened hotel to “walk” you or pay cash and points compensation, regardless of whether they notified you in advance.

Generally when you’re ‘walked’ by a hotel (declined a room despite a reservation) you’ll be entitled to be put up at another comparable hotel. The hotel you’ve booked won’t charge for the room you did not get, and should cover the cost of the room night they arrange for you somewhere else, plus cover the cost of transportation to that other hotel.

That’s true at most chain hotels. Independent hotels may not handle it the same way, unless they’re luxury properties. And at best Airbnb might give you a $100 credit towards another property for the night.

When a hotel isn’t open yet, they’ll usually contact you in advance. They may offer assistance in booking somewhere else but they may not offer compensation. This varies a lot.

Here, though, the hotel appears to not have been open but didn’t notify the customer in advance and that’s a whole different level of disservice (it’s worse!).

Sometimes it’s not new hotels that have this problem – the property closes, it changes brands, or it gets converted to a different use… but no one bothers to tell the guests.

• By the time one guest reached the Holiday Inn LaGuardia it wasn’t a hotel anymore but nobody bothered to let them know.

• Another guest showed up at their hotel but it was no longer accepting guests, since it had been turned into a homeless shelter (actually somewhat common in New York).

• And Marriott took a guest’s reservation but the hotel was shut down, parking lot empty and phones disconnected.

Just because you make a booking doesn’t mean you have a room. Unfortunately you may need to do more due diligence than making a reservation on a hotel website and showing up.