In October 2025, I booked a one night reward reservation for 37,000 points for Thursday June 25, 2026, in NYC at the Sheraton Brooklyn.
I was advised upon arrival late in the evening by the check in staff that the hotel did not have any rooms left with functional air conditioning and was told I could be walked to the Aloft next door instead. This was during NYC’s summer so it was quite hot — why would I accept a room without air conditioning? Had I accepted the room it would’ve been miserable, and that’s awful in NYC during the sweltering humid summer. I assumed this would lead to compensation for the Marriott Ultimate Reservation Guarantee, given that I am a Marriott Titanium.
Turns out later that I was refunded the 37,000 points and then charged the market rate of 52,000 points. Their “alternate” option was just having me cancel the original booking and making a new one that cost more — without telling me — next door.
I attempted to call Marriott customer service weekly for approximately seven weeks without resolution until the Case Resolution department got involved. Multiple times Marriott told me they attempted to contact the Sheraton but were unable to get ahold of the front desk or the manager because the phones weren’t working. Ultimately, they told me that because I accepted the alternative room at the Aloft (despite being charged more and not being told this at the time) that I was not eligible for the Ultimate Guarantee.
I was expecting the $200 and the 90,000 points as compensation for being walked. They provided me 20,000 points as compensation but told me I would not be honored the original 37,000 points reservation. All in all for all of this I only received 5,000 points as compensation, if you consider the difference in points. I thus told them I was upset about this resolution and would submit this to various travel blogs to highlight Marriott’s customer service.
Apparently it’s okay to say that the rooms we have aren’t functional so you can pay more and go next door for a more expensive room. What’s the point of even making a reservation then if someone can charge you a rack market rate which is usually more expensive? It goes to show that hotels within the franchise can skirt the rules and perhaps customer service is powerless to help.
I guess I should be grateful that I didn’t lose any money or points in this whole transaction, but it doesn’t sit right with me that a hotel can offer you to pay for a more expensive room when they don’t have functional rooms at their hotel, especially to elites. The amount of times I had to contact Marriott customer service without hearing back from them was also annoying — it seemed like they were hoping that I would give up to make the problem go away.
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