Have you been Bonvoyed?

I booked a stay 190k point stay using app but was short 30k points. A few days later I made up the difference by buying some points during a promotion. Checked the app and nothing regarding any amount owed or if points required being changed. Fast forward two months (a week before trip). Checked my reservation on the desktop website and said it that I owed 32k points still. Customer service agent was the worst I've ever dealt with. He was slow and literally unresponsive (think Zootopia Sloth) and was not able to do anything to help me. I had to purchase $400 in points to make sure I had a place to stay during my trip. Long story short, if you are going to book a trip on points or using FNC, use the desktop website, the Marriott app is useless and doesn't show you all the details of your stay regarding points and price. If you didn't pay for your stay upfront I would recommend you use the desktop website, otherwise you might get bonvoyed like me. This makes me really consider switching to Hilton or Hyatt next time I travel.

My husband and I recently booked one night in Sonoma for 70k points. At the time of booking, we had 69k points and so we chose the "advance booking" option. After getting to 70k a week later, we assumed our reservation was booked. This was months ago. Today, we were emailed that our reservation for next week was being cancelled because we didn't have sufficient funds. Apparently after the Marriott Category change in March, our hotel had jumped to 100k points a night and now they were saying we had to buy 30k more points. Had we known, we would have just purchased the 1k points at time of booking. After hours on the phone, a man told me "I'm sorry you didn't read the terms and conditions. Rates can go up or down at any time without notice. You were emailed a notice." (which we were absolutely not, by the way). I sincerely feel that this was not obvious at time of booking and that they are taking advantage of people with this policy. Did nothing to help us fix this. The Sonoma property itself agreed that this was not fair and purchased points for us on behalf of the property, but Marriot did not. I believe this is an unfair business practice and all of a sudden we were notified a week before our vacation though we booked months ago. So disappointed and we will be using Status Match to never stay at a Marriott again. This property was nice enough to gift us the points, so we may stay separately but never again Marriott.

We are original SPG members and have been a part of their and now Marriott’s loyalty program for over 20 years. Under the SPG program there were NO blackout dates as long as a standard room was available. Since Marriott has taken over this has changed and now is entirely at the discretion of the individual hotels to set the number of rooms offered for point redemption! These hotels enjoy Marriott’s marketing, reservation system, and access to Marriott’s elite members who spend thousands of dollars in their hotels, accumulate points and then summarily deny them the benefits they’ve earned. Marriott should police it’s own hotel members and enforce compliance with the intent of the loyalty program, to reward loyalty! I guess Marriott considers customer loyalty not as important any longer by turning a blind eye to the dilution of its benefits program by its member hotels. In the last few years it has been increasingly difficult to book rooms at hotels using points. Even more so since COVID. Recently, we tried to book a room in Kauai for one night, over six months in advance, through the Bonvoy app, and realized there was nothing available using points. There are rooms available because the app shows them for cash! We contacted Elite Member services, which after much discussion were told there is nothing they can do! How disappointing this Marriott journey has become. There should be a way that previous customers, that have been a part of this loyalty system for years, should be grandfathered in with SPG’s previous rules! I wish there was a petition initiative or class action lawsuit started against Marriott. We are all subject to Marriott’s whims to change any of our promised benefits at any given moment to benefit them!

I have been attempting to book through Homes and Villas for TWO WEEKS now. They have no Phone number so all communication is via email. This causes major delays and by the time two weeks have passed my reservation was still not made in the rates have doubled. I called customer service and spent an hour on the phone. And although the customer service representative was professional and polite, she was unable to contact Homes and villas because the policy is via email only. THERE IS ZERO INTERNAL COMMUNICATION!! Absolutely infuriating!

Going to make my review very transparent. First, I want to acknowledge three awesome front desk workers (Damien; Monique and Marie) – all three were professional and courteous. Now on to the management. Being a retired Transactional Attorney (emphasis Acquisitions and Mergers), who now a Business Development Consultant – this property had all “chiefs” out at the same time, both the General Manager and Director of Operations. Being that I structure companies, that’s a huge no no, especially during holiday season. I encountered a situation, emailed the GM and to this day I have never heard back from Lisa Timbo. I was at the property December 25, 2021 to January 1, 2022. Said email was sent on December 26, 2021. During my stay it became quite evident that they cater more to Airline employees. Regardless of us elites, who like myself didn’t earn my status via a corporate expense account; my funds got me to it's current level and have maintain my loyalty for years the same way. If it’s the intent to have this facility for the Airline, don’t offer any rooms to the rest of us, as I assure you other programs will gladly take our money. As for me personally this overall experience has put such a bad “Bonvoy” taste in my mouth I am strongly considering taking me and my personal funds to a different program. There are far to many options and other hotels who’d gladly accept my stays as when I book, it’s generally for a week or longer as I like to travel to explore and toggle in work based my time. I spend more time in hotels then my home (as I tell people home is just where I happen to store my handbags and shoes; I want to see the world now that I set my own work hours). The Westin O’Hare was indeed an experience I won’t forget.

Inconsistent properties
No quality control
No customer service (as I write this, I am on hold for 45 minutes with the titanium elite dedicated line-I can almost bet the farm that the phone will go dead before a manager picks up!)
Apathy
Upgrades are non existent even when hotels are empty
Most European properties do NOT have air conditioning, are dirty, have horrific customer service, etc.)
Luxury collection is not luxurious
Points for hotel nights are ridiculous
Dear Marriott: I am on hold for over 45 minutes. Please train your staff the following: When a customer has paid over 300K in hotel nights, you are NOT doing that customer a "favor" by upgrading the customer to an otherwise unused suite. That customer has EARNED THE BENEFIT AND PAID FOR THAT BENEFIT. A "HIGHER" FLOOR IS NOT AN UPGRADE. Your program states the "best" room that is available so please also train your staff that FRAUD AND EXTORTION IS illegal. i.e. "a suite s not available for the price that you paid for your reservation, if you pay us XXX amount more for your stay, then the suite is available.
Does anyone even care at Marriott? I believe NOT.

Customer service is non-existent. I recently called in multiple times for a mistaken selection. Apparently a simple fix for elite members is impossible for this $50 billion company to figure out. One rep interrupted to ask if I was serious. Status is worthless and customer service is unprofessional and incompetent. We miss SPG and this merger has dragged down that entire portfolio of brands. We'll be directing future corporate spend to the Four Seasons and Hyatts. At this point, it's worth making the effort to avoid Marriott at all costs; they just don't care, which is odd for a "hospitality" company.

Booked a Fairfield inn at the day, confirmed, and told no room available even with a legit confirmation. Called Titanium service and asked to be “re-accommodated” to a nearby comfort inn.

It was my daughter's birthday and I had planned for months.

But my daughter and I were left stranded in the middle of the night thousands of miles from home because MARRIOTT gave our room away to someone else. I had reserved the room in MARCH for a stay in July.
And they gave my room away
AFTER I had already checked in with the BONVOY MARRIOTT app and got the "YOUR ROOM IS READY" notice on my phone.

My plane landed late. She met me at the airport - 5 hours from her place. I checked in after my plane landed to make sure I could still get my room. Got a "YOUR ROOM IS READY" response back. So we drove the 90 minutes from the airport to get to our room only to find out that they gave it away to someone else!!
They wouldn't give us another room. They said they didn't have any others.

Then to top it off when I am sitting in their Lobby trying to reach Marriott on the phone so we can find somewhere else to go, the teenage kid they had left in charge (there was not even an adult manager on the premises) called the police on us for being in their lobby!
The police took one look at my reservation on my phone and ask the kid why he wasted his time calling them.

The lady on the phone kept saying that this Marriott still had rules left. But they told me they were full.
Marriott would not even help us find another hotel.

Then Marriott would not even apologize and acknowledge their mistake for months.
When they finally did it was offering me $100 bribe to shut my mouth about my experience!!

Before this I was a long time 10+ yr "Silver Elite" member who ONLY stayed at Marriotts.

when i call the ambassador line, it routes me to the titanium call waiting system. never get my upgrades or perks

Watch out! Marriott is now charging for basic WiFi even for Titanium users. Also, asking 200,000 points in average towns is insane! Quick math puts my redemption value at 1% of what I pay them. The shareholders are #1 now, while the customers are a distant #2.

same old story of 3rd party corporate booking
not eligible for stays and points..
After buying beers on my own cc for at least some points..
customer service agent says "beer/alcohol not eligible for points" What???
Why's it matter what is purchased ?
unbelievable...
I'm so sick of Marriott...

Stayed at a Hotel in Denver and was laying in bed thinking something does not smell right. stated looking around and found a tray of food under the bed. looked like it had been there for about a week or more. I asked to have someone come up and remove it and was told just to put it out side. with the mold and stuff growing on it I told them that the room needed to be recleaned and the tray removed. they did nothing.

Next week in OKC ended up leaving a hotel because there was seman all over the wall by the toilet and blood on a air return duct on the wall. I took pictures showed the manager, which was a temp hire, and left.

Prior to 2020/Covid, I could always use my Marriott free night e-certificates (an annual reward from my Marriott/now-Bonvoy Visa credit card) at any Marriott Hotel category 5 and below, which certainly offset the $85 fee I have had to pay for that card every year. However, the "new" policy for Bonvoy free-night e-certificates is they can only be used at hotels with points availability and nightly rates at 25,000 or below - or you can't use the free night at all (even at a Category 2 Fairfield Inn!). As a result, I've been sitting on 3 COVID-era Bonvoy e-certificates, two of which expire in January 2022 and the third of which expires in May 2022. With these new cheapskate restrictions, I either can't get the free night any day of the year in some places (Rapid City, SD properties cleverly set their point minimums above 30,000 year-round even in the off-season, when their room rates occasionally drop below $50 a night ) or I have to waste the free night certificate at a hotel offering 8500-12,500 point rates per night, with room rates often below $85. I wish I could convert each of my Bonvoy "free night" e-certificates into their so-called 25,000 point values, because they're so worthless as annual free-night rewards that they no longer offset the $85 fee I have to pay for having the Bonvoy credit card. Naturally, I'm going to shut down my Bonvoy credit card before my next anniversary (and $85 fee) comes around --with yet another now-worthless "free night" certificate that comes with it.

I have stayed at this property several times on business trips. On each visit the hotel refused to give me Bonvoy points supposedly because the room was booked by a travel agent.

I am pretty sure this is a recent change, as I've definitely canceled my own reservations that are part of a block (event). Now it seems like Marriott makes you contact the organizer to cancel your own booking. So when I have to cancel plans to attend a wedding due to COVID, I now have to bother the bride and groom not just to un-RSVP in general, but also to ask them to cancel my hotel. Good grief.

Let me start by the beginning of when I got my Marriott account opened All the sudden my account was combined with another account not done by me so I try to complain about it that my screen was flashing from one account to the other it would do nothing about it they had group rooms under my reservations other peoples credit cards on my reservations letting people check in with my mobile key and not giving it to me for instants I was at Marriott hotel and the airport hotel and I tried to check to go get in but I didn’t have my keys so I went to the desk with a witness that was with me and the lady was so rude she called security to walk me up to my room while they held open the door and watched me get my ID and come back all the way down like it was ridiculous I have never seen A hotel be so rude they’re the same ones that had a passport on my receipt in which I will put pictures of evidence as well of everything I’m saying I can back up and if you need to call corporate what a joke they’re the ones that merge my account and I have an email saying that she merged my account they did nothing to help me this is a safety issue when there’s group rooms underneath my name and by the looks of it around me by God I don’t want to know what was going on in those rooms because it was nothing good so the only help I’ve got but I’m not in a hotel anymore I have my own apartment so I’m not needy like I was was they took my whole entire titanium account and put all my rooms off of my account there’s customer service is horrible they are nasty and their behavior is very concerning I would like my titanium member account back because it took a lot of money to get to where I was I’m not rich I live day today and was desperate and then the street and have three daughters and I was just trying to survive why they had all this illegal activity going around me and using my account for it and corporate knows it and I have a picture of a girl that befriended me that works at customer service pretending she was helping me Out in which she wasn’t really helping me out it is concerning when you call corporate office and they behave the way that they did to me the only reason that they took my account away is because they know that they were wrong and what they did was illegal so I’ve been out of the hotels for five months and I wanted to make a point so I made a reservation at a Marriott Fairfield a new one I go to check in he the guy says oh it’s not going through can’t check in meanwhile my app is saying mobile key check in and somebody was already checked in with my mobile key because it was asking do I want towels do I want this this is after I’m already home and my app is saying I’m checked in so I was really confused I called my Bank of America the next day and they have transactions three times once was the next day at three in the morning somebody they are swiping my card how are they swiping my card when I’ve already left the group rooms were never addressed and that is a major safety concern oh damn I would like to be compensated for that night recently that they did not let me check in on because this was the worst treatment I have ever experienced and I will never stop going up and up and up until I get the help I need the lady in corporate told me I’ll never find out who is doing this to me and that’s supposed to be corporate I have screenshots of receipts and paper receipts the last hotel I stayed in for two weeks was a Sheraton Riverwalk Hotel The employee was drinking alcohol behind the desk at the hotel and he logged me off of my own app by Bluetooth I have proof of everything so I’ve been on Twitter and I’ve been on here and I’m gonna keep going on every single website because I am not able to swallow this and just keep on going like just take it and just keep on going it’s not a situation as where you can just swallow your pride and just keep on going no it was completely ridiculous and it was disrespectful and if anybody else was disrespected the way I was they would do the same thing probably worse and I know they were giving people my mobile key because I tried to go to the desk of the airport and asked for it and they said oh it’s not working now but meanwhile we couldn’t get out of the garage because you have to haveThe key to leave the garage some random man walked over and put his phone on the thing to let us out of the garage so when I thought about it I was like he’s the one that has my mobile key because the mobile key is tied to the parking lot inside of the phone is tied to your account so who is the black guy I think they have some kind of trafficking situation going on down there

I was a starwood member for 15 years. Their categories of hotel were reasonable enough that you could stay several nights on points and/or use your "free night" reward just about anywhere. Since being Bonvoyed, I have to purchase extra points for stays, and my free night rewards arent good anywhere but hotels that are NOWHERE near resort areas. It's ridiculous. My family and I go to VA beach annually and their hotels are in the same luxury resort category as more exotic and expensive locales. Not pleased.

I bought airline tickets through the Marriott website, car and air. Spent 110,000 points and $249. They misspelled names, as the confirmation had names incorrect. Only Marriott could correct it as the booking agent. After hours on hold I never spoke to a human to correct it. I repurchased the tickets and spent another $736. After exhausting all avenues I get emails telling me to call the same unanswered number. It is a joke and thievery at its best!

Been trying to become a member for 3 days now. Even tried through the hotel. Not able to. Which also means I don’t receive the 5,000 points they owe me.