A Titanium elite recounts being walked from a Sheraton to a pricier Aloft next door, then denied Marriott's ultimate reservation guarantee.
What an absolute load of crap by Marriott. I can understand your frustration about something that should be cut and dry. Hopefully someone in the blogosphere can help amplify your issue and get proper resolution.
@samar I recall Gary at VFTW had posted about @sftraveler88 's incident recently, on September 10, 2026:
So, the word is getting out, thanks to folks like Ben and Gary!
If I were in a bad mood Ben and Gary would not do it for me as I would rather go for Ben and Jerry.
Stanley C gets it. If Marriott won't budge here, the only safe answer is a generous pint of Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream, the vanilla ice cream with fudge-covered waffle cone pieces & a caramel swirl. Even after the "Late Show" ended (sad face), the Vermont-based company confirmed that the popular flavor "isn't going anywhere." Phew!
Van Leeuwen is right down the block from that Sheraton though, may as well support the local NYC chain option instead of Unilever (Van Leeuwen of course took hedge fund money to fund their expansion as well, but... eh, closer to home).
Por que no los dos, Peter? Grab an Americone Dream from your local Bodega, and stop by any of the several local Van Leeuwen ice cream parlors... bah!
I am the author of the story and am glad this is getting out. This was also published on View From The Wing. I am upset and will publicly air my grievance. I am sending Marriott the links every time this gets published.
@Sftraveler88 Not sure if you saw the comments at the VFTW story, but I did recommend, if you wanted, to pursue a formal complaint with the New York Attorney General’s Consumer Frauds Bureau. NY GBL § 349 prohibits deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any business, trade, or commerce in the state. While the AG’s office doesn’t typically litigate individual single-night refund disputes, a pattern of complaints against a specific property or chain can trigger state enforcement or investigations.
Of course, you could also hire an attorney (or represent yourself, *gulp*) and sue under ‘breach of contract’ but that may cost you more than you ever recover. You can also complain via BBB, but they're mostly toothless. Still, in the aggregate, if everyone calls out bad actors, it starts to add up. I say, well done for at least getting the word out. It was a hot summer in NYC, and hotels should have provided rooms with AC.
its Marriott they HATE their "customers" ie the guests they only care about the owners. As a general rule STAY ELSEWHERE
after what they did in the Sonder mess why anyone would ever trust Marriott for anything is beyond me
When Sonder happened I cashed in all my points cancelled all my reservations and went elsewhere. YOU SHOULD TOO
Oh man, I remember when that Sonder incident happened. Didn't affect me, personally, but still, it was appalling. https://onemileatatime.com/news/marriott-sonder-end-partnership/
Gary reported on a Titanium that allegedly was out more than $5K on a prepaid stay; that poor soul got just 40K points from Marriott corporate as 'goodwill' consolation. Talk about 'Yikes.'
Moral of the story....time and time again, Marriott isn't worth it. Status there is at the discretion of an individual.
I am Titanium Elite Bonvoy status and had a 6 month reservation at the Marriott Diplomatic Quarter, Riyadh Saudi Arabia. I negotiated a very very good long term stay deal, which was low.
During a 3 week period during my stay, there were several high level international conferences and events that were going on: FII, WTA women’s tennis finals, and something else.
The marriott could sell my room for 10X the rate I had so they moved me to another marriott property several miles away. They didn’t ask, just told me via a note under the door that my reservation had changed and I had to be out.
My work was next to the original marriott and now had to pay significant costs daily to come and go from where I worked, when I was able to walk 5 minutes to work. I incurred several hundred dollars in transportation costs.
They didn’t apologize. Didn’t do a darn thing. I complained and they didn’t want to hear it. I contacted Marriott corporate HQ and only after several calls and letters to the CEO did I ever get a response. I was given 40k Bonvoy points as my compensation. With the million plus points I have, I don’t really care about points. It’s the principle and the fact that they treated a 250+ night/year marriott customer like that is outrageous.
Since I am platinum for life marriott, I don’t go to Marriotts any more because of this. I am getting my status elsewhere and giving my hard earned money to those with far better customer service
Why did you redact their names? Also, I find it easier to just file a small claims suit (in Florida they work well) and the company usually settles during mediation and pays the court costs. I never sign an NDA because I also publish settlement results when they get snitty with me.
We stayed in the Hilton Garden Inn in Hanoi anf had a reservation for one night for our return from Halong Bay. When we arrived they walked us to the Hanoi Hilton against our wishes because they had a tour group .We protested to no avail because we already had a reservation at the Hilton for the next night and needed the HGI "stay" to qualify for another year of Diamond.
They properly followed the free night compensation rule and, upon request, compensated the $100 for walking us. We never did get the "stay".
My experience is that Hilton used to follow most of the rules, as opposed to being "Bonvoyed"
@Azamaraal So, you needed the Hilton stay credit and reluctantly moved to a different hotel but only to not have it properly credited? Did you reach out to Hilton customer care? It seems that Marriott and Hilton treat their elite customers the same way AA/DL would.
Easy solution an I know you won't like it since you "worked" to get Titanium elite: give up. :Life is short. Marriott wins the fight and loses the war as you go free agent. Since I've done that I've discovered a world of wonderful hotels that value service over points, as I do also.
I'll eventually use my orphan points on my own terms.
It just goes to show, that these loyalty programs are a scam and Ponzi scheme. We all play the game, but when push comes to shove ---- where the supposed superior benefits that you have as an exclusive upper tier member ---- are not Honored.... Whether it's upgrades, guarantees or irregular operations - you are just like everyone else. Marriott in particular is becoming horrible - the multiple brands and especially the franchise run properties - don't honor the corporate hype.
We could better regulate these programs, ensuring that these corporate pseudo-currencies maintain relative values, cannot be changed on a whim without adequate notice, opportunity to cash-out points, a baseline of consumer protections and guardrails. Or, we can just not participate. Or, we can go to competitors, but they all start to copy each other.
My dude... consumer protections aren't tax policy. We can and should regulate unfair business practices, like sudden, unannounced devaluations. No one has to re-write tax code to do that. You conflate antitrust and oversight with a 'points tax,' which is just a scare tactic to keep people from touching the broken status quo. Doing nothing out of fear just protects corporate profits while you and your fellow travelers get screwed. Doesn't have to be this way.
The author writes that he shouldn't be treated so badly because he is an elite member.
NOOOO! That is a good reason to treat you worse. After all, you have plenty of money/points. You should be punished with higher taxes or made to pay more in money and points.
It would be bad treatment if done to a regular member but it was done to an elite, which justifies it!
Punish them rich people. Make them pay their fair share.
is this satire? im titanium and im not "rich" or what I consider actually wealthy by any means. Why on earth would someone care about points when they hit the status u are implying...nope.
Elites in hotel loyalty programs mean they are loyal, they spend, and of course get treated better. and savvy. dont be mad for being less smart. learn.
I wonder if there is anything deeper here. Does both properties have the same ownership for example?
If this is how they treat a prominent blogger there is little hope for how they treat the rest of us. I do suspect the 2 properties have common ownership.
Sftraveler88, congratulations, Bobo considers you a 'prominent blogger'... (this is a Reader Story... like something you, too, can submit, then Ben and team review, publish on their site) Still, it'd be concerning, regardless, whether this happened to a random guest, or a 'VIP,' alike.
I am the author of the story and was hoping Ben would post it to the main page to air my grievance. This is still decent I guess. Maybe he will eventually?
Recently, I've noticed, Ben (Jeremy, Howie, etc.) post our Reader Stories in the Community section, then after a few days they appear in the main page. They also appear to have added a new 'subsection' on the main page, which features the 3 latest Reader Stories. It's relatively new for them; I think this all started in August 2026 with their new site updates. Glad your story is getting out, because it's not great what happened (and others should be warned.)
Poor form, def affects my future hotel
Choices.
I hope that was the members last Marriott stay and he transfers all remaining points to his favorite airline program.
I am the author and I am sending these articles to Marriott as they get published. I also got this published on View From the Wing
So interesting....this past summer I needed a night extra to cap off my week in nyc and...saw this property which had a great points deal, in BK, and sometimes with bad ratings I try to see, is it bc of a renovation, review bombing etc etc...things that wouldn't affect me or titanium status as well....but the reviews were BAD. shady with the AC and mgmt and even the customer Marriott service admits this since they cant get a response. people should avoid this property. so weird they pushed back so hard. what are the actual rules for "walking" a guest to another property vs ultimate guarantee? I mean Bonvoy has millions upon millions of rooms and members and guests so ofc there will be bad stories. that property needs to be deflagged.
Yep. There are thousands of hotels in NYC, and hundreds of thousands of hotels around the world. There are tens of airlines. We have to deal with the airlines. Hotels are mostly a dime a dozen - just go somewhere else. Brand often means very little at a hotel these days.
Small claims court is your friend for egregiously illegal contract violations like this. Marriott sells points for a price. A judge is unlikely to stand for these games.
So having stayed at this Aloft for 200 nights, I know the management plays game because, I believe, they are owned by the same property management company. In fact, something similar happened to my work friend, who checked in at the Aloft and walked her next door. I called out the front desk manager on this, basically if she wanted to stay at the Sheraton, she would have booked a Sheraton. This was during SPG days, so she got one night comped but still received the equivalent points and night stay.
With that said, Ben's situation is unique. They do have rooms available, but they are not fully functioning. Also, it's disingenuous to basically rebook the reservation without permission, especially with points. But technically this does not qualify for the ultimate room guarantee unless they pull the rooms out of inventory. Would I stay at the crappy room and ask for compensation? probably not. But I would not agree to a higher rate to move next door either.
Just sucks all around.
This is a Community Post and not Ben's personal experience. @ben can you make it somehow more apparent upfront in the blog piece?
I like the new stories concept but it's getting confusing.
Just say no to Marriott!
The guarantee argument almost feels secondary than if a hotel can’t provide the room I reserved, and moving me next door is one thing but quietly cancelling my original award and rebooking me at a higher points rate is quite another. I can understand there being technicalities around whether this qualifies as being “walked,” but I struggle to understand how the guest should ever end up paying more because the original hotel couldn’t provide a functional room. Absolutely ridiculous.