Update 5/7/19: A reader pointed out to me that KM article 6115 doesn’t help if you’re trying to attach a credit card certificate, as they can’t add the necessary amount of points to those certificates.
Honoring Points Advance!
Last weekend, I was a pretty bummed that Marriott Bonvoy wouldn’t attach my 7 Night Travel Package certificate to my Points Advance Reservation. On top of that, I was told that points advance wouldn’t be honored and that you would have had to attach certificates prior to the category increase.
So after that I emailed marriott.bonvoychampion@marriott-service.com and on Monday I got the following reply from the Social Media Specialist.
As of now, Points Advance bookings made before the category changes went into effect are being honored at the original rate booked. Our best suggestion is to call back and if you are given any push-back, ask them to read KM article 6115. If they still insist they can do nothing, ask to speak to a supervisor.
Cool! So, I called back to Marriott Bonvoy, and mentioning KM article 6115 definitely helped! What they ended up doing was cancelling my 7 Night Category 5 Package, credited me 90,000 points, and ordered a new 7 Night Category 6 Package. Then, the rep said it was all attached!
But….it never attached so I had to call again a day later and it took 1 hour but they thankfully were able to attach it. Now it shows up as attached and we are (hopefully) all set.
So in short, if you’re having any problems with Points Advance reservations on Marriott Bonvoy, KM article 6115 will be your best friend when speaking to reps.
A decently long process, which was annoying but I’m happy it’s resolved! Let’s hope I can check in…
Are any of you having Marriott Bonvoy Issues? Comment below!
Cheers,
theresorttraveler
Very disappointing phone call just now with Bonvoy. We booked a hotel at the 35K rate before the category change using points advance. It is now 50K points. Our 35K free night certificate just hit our account, so I called to have it applied. Marriott refused to apply it, saying that they won’t honor the 35K rate we locked in with our points advance reservations if we are using a free night cert. They will only honor the 35K rate with points, and they do that by adding the difference in points between the old rate and the new rate to your account balance. Obviously that does nothing to help us since we only have the free night cert, not 35K points sitting in our account. Just really disheartened–the representative and supervisor were not helpful at all.
That sucks!! Thanks for sharing.
Hi! Great post thanks for the information. Just curious, how are you able to tell if the certificate attached correctly?
Hi Josh,
If you log on and pull up your reservation from the website, it should say something like this at the top!
“This reservation has e-certificate(s).
Your Reward certificates will be sent to your hotel.”
On the reservation, it says “You need additional points to make your hotel stay. Please remember to return here and deduct the points after you’ve earned them.
If you do not have sufficient points to use for a Redemption intended to be paid with points 15 days prior to your reservation, Marriott Bonvoy reserves the right to cancel your reservation. See terms and conditions. ”
I tweeted at @Marriott and they said it was attached. I don’t see the certificate in my account at least..
What do you think?
That seems fishy. Did you receive a confirmation email after attaching? In my confirmation email it says under “Summary of Points” – PARTIAL PACKAGE – 7 NIGHTS CATEGORY 6
I called and she said she saw it attached in the back end *shrugs*
Oof. Did you get any confirmation email?
I booked points advance and then applied the certificate after so maybe that’s the difference?
Hmm, I did that as well. I would maybe ask for a confirmation email be sent to you in case. Not sure how reliable Marriott is at the moment.
5th times the charm! Ironically the person who had no clue about travel packages was able to update the system to make the website show correctly that my certificate is ordered. Thanks for the post, advice, and persistence! 🙂
Haha I’m glad the 5th time worked! Thanks for the update!
Hey, your social media links are broken. I’m trying to reach out to you but can’t find any of your contact info.
Hey thanks for reaching out! I fixed all the links! Also feel free to email me at theresorttraveler@gmail.com.