Tag Archives for marriott bonvoy.
It can be a pain to ask for the benefits guarantee, and Marriott will often deny it in the first instance based on the hotel claiming to have been compliant when they obviously weren’t. But it’s worth claiming the money because – since Marriott doesn’t do enough to keep hotels delivering on program benefits – consistently having to pay out for their elite benefits misdeeds is what will keep properties in line.
Marriott offers complimentary breakfast at most of its brands to Platinum elites and higher. Hoewver they don’t really say what breakfast means. And some hotels have figured out that the terms and conditions of the Bonvoy program don’t actually define ‘complimentary’ so they interpret it to mean “charged to the customer, but just for less money.” The Tribute Portfolio Royal Palm South Beach Miami is one of those hotels.
The Hotel June West LA was my recent choice for an LAX airport hotel. It offers stylish public space, spartan rooms and indifferent service.
Marriott has myriad airline partners – at 38 it’s way more than bank transfer programs. We’re now seeing a change to the Marriott points-to-miles transfer bonus. Specifically, the hotel chain informed customers this morning that the bonus would no longer be available on transfers to American AAdvantage, Delta SkyMiles, or Avianca LifeMiles effective October 31. Transferring 60,000 Marriott points will yield only 20,000 AAdvantage miles going forward – not 25,000.
Marriott told us that next year’s award pricing will be worse than what it is today. We should believe them.
Check your credit cards for erroneous charges billed by Marriott.
Marriott started letting members ‘top off’ free night certificates at the end of April. You can add up to 15,000 points to a certificate, making it easier to book rooms. Or at least that’s how it’s supposed to work, but Bonvoy members have been reporting that it’s gone very wrong.
Despite adding the minimum spend requirement (which Starwood didn’t have) on top of staying 100 nights, Marriott has stopped providing an actual Ambassador to Ambassador members. They’ve said they’re going to make an investment in the program and they’re sending out emails asking for members to give stay preferences to an online form, instead of to an Ambassador agent.
Ritz-Carlton Reserve is finally joining Marriott Bonvoy. While Ritz-Carlton has been part of the program, the 5 ‘Reserve’ properties have not. That has now changed.
Elite benefits, and redemption pricing, are different than you’ll find elsewhere in the program.
Gratuity is part of the cost of breakfast so for a breakfast to be considered complimentary guests must not be expected to pay cash out of pocket when they eat it. But the Delta Hotel Daytona Beach Oceanfront has figured out a way to charge elite guests a cash co-pay for their ‘free’ breakfast.
I’ve never realized that Marriott Bonvoy has a set of ‘supplemental’ terms and conditions and that benefits are completely different at all-inclusive properties. In typical Marriott fashion they’re complicated, because they do not apply to all all-inclusives. Instead these ‘special’ terms apply to new all-inclusives that are not part of a legacy brand, and not to Westins and Marriotts et al that happen to be all-inclusive.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
