View from the Wing covers a report from a supposed Marriott insider indicating that Marriott is cracking down on what they deem to be “account sharing” (where two or more people travel separately but try to share the same account). I’m not sure whether this will become a widespread issue, but there are plenty of cases where I could imagine this could cause major inconvenience with no ill intent on the part of the guest, so it’s worth knowing what’s going on and planning accordingly.
View from the Wing points to a reddit report (with some “not safe for work” language in it), but I saw a similar report somewhere else over the past week (I can’t recall where) indicating that Marriott is pushing properties to turn away an additional guest, not allowing them to check in without the member whose account made the reservation being present.
The idea here is that Marriott doesn’t want multiple people “sharing” an account. For instance, they don’t want me making a reservation through my account with intent for my friend Joe to actually be the person checking in and enjoying elite benefits and/or earning elite night credit for me (which I might try to achieve my reserving a room in my name and adding Joe as an “additional guest” so that he could presumably check in without me present). Unlike Hyatt, Marriott does not provide a way for elite members to share benefits with others, so there are probably some members who Marriott thinks are abusing the system in this way.
Similarly, Marriott has a policy against gifting free night certificates to others. While Marriott does allow you to redeem your points for a reservation that you gift to someone else (up to a limit of 5 gifted award stays per year), they do not allow you to give your free night certificate to someone else. Presumably, they want some breakage there and want to make sure that only the member receiving the certificate can use it.
It’s worth noting that although Marriott has a way to use your points and gift a stay to someone else 5 times per year, they don’t make it easy. You have to call to do it, which means that you have to find a phone representative familiar with how to make the reservation. The member to which you gift the stay does not get your elite benefits and neither of you receive elite night credit. You can see more detail here.
Even if we accept that what Marriott is trying to enforce here is reasonable, the implementation is sure to cause some confusion and frustration. I think of the many times I have arrived separately and met my wife and kids at a hotel. Particularly when our sons were very little, I can only imagine my wife’s frustration if she arrived at a hotel ahead of me and was turned away because I wouldn’t be arriving until later in the evening. The obvious “solution” is to have made the reservation in her name, but what sense would that make if I would indeed be staying, albeit arriving a few hours later?
The reports I’ve seen indicate that in such a situation, my wife would be turned away and that my account might be reported for fraud and closed without warning. That just doesn’t make sense to me. I understand what they are looking to avoid, but the method of doing so here doesn’t appear to leave enough room for reasonable accommodation of members.
To be clear, enforcement here is up to the property, and it has long been against program terms to book a stay for someone else (apart from those 5 award stays per year that can be booked over the phone). I imagine that enforcement will always vary widely here, but the word on the street is that Marriott is pushing properties to be more vigilant. While I’m sure that properties don’t want to honor elite benefits for non-elite guests, I could also imagine a lack of incentive for them to turn away a paying guest. I’m not sure what to expect in real-world experience, but it’s worth being aware that this may be on the radar.
For what it’s worth, I imagine that most front desk agents won’t be looking to report a member and get their Marriott account closed unless they either have increased reason to suspect fraud or the person trying to check in early (or the member who made the reservation) reacts rudely (whether in person or in calling the front desk), but I could imagine some members being unpleasantly surprised here if “enforcement” ramps up.
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What about immediate family , spouse children who have marriott accounts and has same address. One spouse may have the points but is unable to vacation because of some other commitments, but can the spouse and children be “gifted the stay”
I think it depends on the property. Starwood was very particular before the merger so nothing new. My own experience comes from 2010 when I booked a room at sheraton LA and I had to personally check in because they changed the room rate from AAA to rack rate on my brother. And then wouldn’t give me the points because the credit card used wasn’t my name exactly. After that I always knew that any starwood property I had to make sure I checked in first and used my credit card even if partial payment in order to get the points.
This has to be considered breakage, right? I have booked plenty of rooms on points for others with Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, Choice by phone (when im not staying). Everyone knows they won’t get my paltry benefits of credit card hotel status & I won’t get credit for the stay. On the other hand, if they turn anyone away arriving before me when I’m staying, poop is going to get real. As someone else said, if they’re encouraging properties to do this, it will certainly be a pad piece of business in the long run.
When you’re in an abusive relationship, just leave, otherwise the abuse you suffer is your fault too. Leave Marriott.
Marriott better be careful. The first time this happened to my wife would be the last time they get my business. This is cutting off your nose to spite your face level of stupidity. I don’t care one bit if one of your best customers gets some extra points worth pennies. Embarrassing a family member of mine will cost you tens of thousands as there are almost always comparable hotel choices.
I thinks the objective is to stop abuse like someone booking for different persons however why would Marriott have added the option to add a second guest name on a upcoming reservation if they plan to ban second guest usage?
They haven’t? IHG and Hilton can add 2nd guest online. Marriott and Hyatt can’t.
You can add via phone though, and it will show up on the reservation online
Marriott allows you to add a second guest name if you call Reservations. It’s disabled online and through the app because of account hacking.
I have been able to book my daughter under my name and have her check in without me. Once the hotel has called me to get a verbal consent to allow her to check in (she was 20 at the time). This will be a bummer if it is widely enforced.
Boooo…… yea get her bonvoyed benefits…. Whoop whoop
Anyway as a lifetime Platinum and someone who has used this in the past, I’m officially giving Marriott ZERO stays this year.
Based on my own experience, I would suggest most hotels don’t really care as long as they are getting the revenue from the booking (paid or points).
Interesting that Marriott seems interested in enforcing rules that benefit them but not those that benefit customer loyalty (i.e. free breakfast for platinum & titanium elites).
Exactly what I was going to say. If they want to enforce this then they should punish those properties that try to skirt handing out benefits