Marriott Bonvoy Not Giving Points

[markbottrell]

Hello--

My Marriott stays this year are no longer qualifying to receive points. After contacting Marriott Bonvoy team directly I received the following note:

My hotel stays have always been booked through Concur, like I have always done and never had issues prior. Any ideas why this is happening?

Dear Mr. Bottrell

Thank you for your patience.

Upon reviewing your reservations at Courtyard By Marriott New Orleans French Quarter/Iberville and Aloft Austin Downtown, I found that those reservations were made through third party online retailers. You may wish to check with your corporate travel company on the rates booked via their channel. 

While I am unable to credit the Elite Nights for stays booked on Non-Qualifying Rates, I have credited 8,120 Points to your account for the room charges as a one-time gesture of goodwill.

Mr. Bottrell, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reply to this email or call us. We appreciate your loyalty to Marriott Bonvoy.

Best regards

Iqah S
Marriott Bonvoy™ Customer Care

[KevinD]

@markbottrell that seems odd that Marriott would have rates that do not qualify for nights toward your status, but I guess it is possible.

I would suggest calling your travel agency and have them pull your travel history and have them look to see if there was something in the room rate description that says the rates do not qualify towards status. 

[Jnfr_CovTrav]

Marriott, on its website, states that it will no longer be giving points for travel booked through third parties - this is a significant issue.  It will be another obstacle for employees who don't want to use an online booking tool and ask why they should book with Concur.   Also, the history of the stays don't show up in past stays.

Would using a hotel connector help resolve this issue?

[KevinD]

@Jnfr_CovTrav I am going to take a guess here that what they mean by third-party sites is Expedia, Travelocity, etc. I haven't confirmed this internally, but I think that if this were the case, some sort of announcement would have been sent out to us from our Travel team. 

I'm asking about this internally. I'll let you know what I hear back.

[KevinD]

@Jnfr_CovTrav I heard back internally and my guess was correct, that this applies to sites like Expedia and not so much corporate booking tools. Now, there are always exceptions, like what @tracyh312 mentioned, but for the most part, this shouldn't apply to Concur Travel bookings.

[Jnfr_CovTrav]

Thanks, Kevin

My Client Services team reached out to our Marriott contact. It confirmed that a booking made through an approved Travel Management Company (TMC) or third-party, as part of the business travel program, would allow guests to receive points, provided they are the ones paying. It’s not charged to a master account. While Priceline and Expedia are considered third-party websites, they do not qualify as travel partners who handle bookings and use tools like Concur. Additionally, this may be related to having an IATA number.

[Jnfr_CovTrav]

Thanks so much, Kevin.  I made my reservation using TP+ GDS, so I believe they mean any site other than the Marriott website.  The reservation flows into the Marriott app, but it will not show in the past history, and no credit is given.   I have also informed my agency of this matter to obtain answers and will keep you updated accordingly.  

[tracyh312]

Hello, I can tell you from past experience that some TMC's offer content from third party sites on the booking tool.  If you happen to select one of those rates, points are not awarded.  If you happen to book a "regular" rate on the booking tool then points ARE awarded.  You don't need to book on marriott.com to get points but they will not award points for rates that are more deeply discounted via those other third party channels.  I have asked my TMC to NOT allow those rates into the booking tool.  Hope this sheds a little light.

[TS1]

Look at the reply from Tracyh312, and ask your company's travel agency if they are importing rates from booking.com, expedia, etc. These are examples of the third-party online travel agencies Marriott is referring to. A lot of TMC's are doing this now to help prevent leakage of reservations being booked outside the TMC. However, if this is the case, and your company won't opt out, you may be able to opt out a the traveler profile level. Hotels have traditionally not made these reservations eligible for points because they're already cut-rate and the hotels are also paying a high commission.