Update: I was expecting a long battle with Marriott saying too bad, so sad. However while Marriott was not able to restore my travel package certificate that they accidentally deleted, they confirmed that my math in this post is correct and my certificate would have been credited with 700,000 points on 3/1 had it not been attached to a reservation or cancelled.
As such, they credited my account with an additional 695,000 points on top of the 5,000 points that were previously refunded accidentally, for a total refund of 700,000 points!
Congrats to everyone with unused travel packages, you’re going to get a windfall of points on 3/1!
Originally posted on 1/27:
Back in 2019 I redeemed 540K Marriott points for 120K Alaska miles and a Ritz-Carlton Tier 5 hotel certificate for a 7 night stay and it’s been a fun ride ever since.
- The certificates were downgraded soon after.
- After 9 phone calls I got it converted into a new category 7 certificate, but the agent charged me twice for that, which took weeks to fix.
- I was able to use it for a S. Regis hotel stay the day before Marriott created a category 8, but then a Marriott phone rep accidentally cancelled that stay when trying to cancel a different one, and Marriott wasn’t able to reattach it as the certificate was only good for a category 7.
- Marriott was unable to figure out how to refund it for 315K points as was originally promised, but after weeks of going back and forth with Marriott, I got through to a rep in Marriott’s executive offices that upgraded the certificate to category 8 due to Marriott’s previous error.
I had the certificate booked for a 7 night S. Regis stay this month when the incredible news broke that Marriott would be refunding certificates at their peak point value on 3/1. Given that the stay wasn’t for all peak dates and that Marriott offers the 5th night free on awards, I figured that I may as well ask Marriott to detach the travel package and charge me 525,000 points for the stay. That way I’d get back 700,000 points on March 1st.
I asked @MBonvoyAssist if they could help with that, but they said I’d have to call Marriott to do that. That account used to be far more useful, but it seems that it has been Bonvoyed as well and they rarely help anymore. So I called the Marriott Titanium elite line to detach my certificate and charge me the points for the stay and hoped for the best. Hoping for the best is never a good strategy with Marriott.
The agent said she would have to get her supervisor to detach the certificate and she came back after 15 minutes to let me know that it was done. I saw the points were taken out, but didn’t see the certificate in my account, so the agent placed me on hold for another 20 minutes, and came back to let me know that I should see the certificate now. Except I did not. She said she would put me on hold again, and then proceeded to disconnect the call.
That’s when I noticed that the agent refunded me 5,000 points instead of detaching the travel certificate. Uh oh. 5,000 points is what you get when you cancel the current version of travel certificates and I certainly did not want to do that.
I called back right away and explained that I had asked for my travel package certificate to be detached and returned to my account for future use, but the agent said it was too late and there was nothing that could be done to reverse it as Marriott no longer sells travel packages. I got back 5,000 points and that was it. I asked for her manager and she saw the error that the previous agent had made opened up a case for me. She told me to follow up today if I didn’t hear back from Marriott.
I called back today and the agent that answered said the case had been assigned to an agent, but there was no resolution for it and to check back in another week. She was in shock that an agent would cancel the certificate instead of just detaching it as it would get a 700,000 points refund automatically on 3/1, but said there was nothing she could do to fix it on her own as she couldn’t just deposit 700,000 points into my account or issue a new travel package certificate.
Boy do I miss SPG.
If you do try this same strategy to detach a certificate and hope to find a Bonvoy agent that knows how to competently do that, may the odds be ever in your favor.
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51 Comments On "[WOW! Certificate Refunded At Full Peak Rate!] Getting Bonvoyed Detaching A Marriott Travel Package Certificate From A Hotel Stay"
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When they open a case, it pretty much means #Bonvoyed!
I have close to 15 cases open with no one following back on it!
Worst system ever with tons of glitches and errors!
I have had 2 cases resolved on this certificate in the past, though they were not fast.
Hoping for the best here, but what a mess they are.
What’s the best way to book at the jw
Marriot turnburry?
Wow! They certainly are giving you a run for your money and putting you to work. What a waste of time for you to have to be busy with this 🙁 .
I didn’t think of this. A good idea. I guess the best plan for me is to just cancel the stay and hope the 7-night certificate goes back to my account. If it doesn’t then I will call in. After that I will rebook for the lower points. Seem reasonable?
Seems reasonable, but this is Marriott. Anything that could go wrong likely will go wrong.
Just make sure that the stay is still bookable on points, maybe book that before you cancel. My stay was not.
Bonvoy is Marriott’s servicemarked word for snafu.
I recently did this. Cancelled a 7 night stay online which had the certificate attached, even though the site showed that I still owed points since there weren’t enough in my account to cover the stay without the certificate. The site refunded the points I hade been “charged” but the certificate which had been in my account and removed, didn’t come back. I called and it took about 2 minutes- the rep saw what had happened and restored the certificate.
Oh my! It’s always disastrous dealing with Marriott. I have a case with them from 8 months ago and no one seems to give a hoot about it. Seems like their customer service policy is to conveniently disconnect the call, as same happened to me. Nice policy Marriott!
If you can actually get a good redemption now I would not recommend doing this. I have a category 5 certificate and called several times trying to get a points refund now so I could do 5 nights at a category 7 instead. However no agent would do that and said I would have to wait until March 1st or 2nd. They also said that at that point categories will be removed. So even though you will get the points they will be so devalued that in my opinion you are better off booking something now. I also made a bunch of booking with the 50K certs because I found those will be as great going forward.
They also mentioned at that time there would be the top up of certs. But if it is really pegged at let’s say .5 cents then 15k top up is only $75 extra.
If you don’t have other points to use then you are correct.
If you have plenty of other points to use then you are not correct.
If there is still availability you are correct.
I forget there are others that hold 7 figure balances. I think the future will hold lots more airline transfers (while it lasts) and Bonvoy moments.
Dan,
Same exact same happened to me with a 7 night cat 6 certificate I asked to be detached from a reservation. I have had multiple calls with them and have a case opened which is waiting on an agent to figure out what they’re doing.
So ridiculous. Their IT is just garbage.
They are huge that simple no one comes close to their footprint. It’s just to bad.
Can I cash 35k and 50k certs from amex card benefit to points. ? Before they expire in 6/30. Thx.
No.
I am in a similar position. I have a 7 night Cat 6 Travel package attached for stay in February. I would like to detach it and take the flexibility of the points on March 1 but am afraid after reading about several people whose certs have been cancelled and are being given a run around for being restored.
My situation is unique in 2 ways – given my stay is for Feb, I can’t wait out the clock till March to cancel my stay. I have to decide soon whether to keep or cancel my stay. Fortunately, I have close to a million points so can book a backup stay with points if needed. Second, when I made my booking, the points rate was showing a meaningful cash copay for upgraded room type but when the representative attached my travel cert, I did not have to pay any cash. I am not sure if this is normal or if I am catching a lucky break.
Will be following your updates on how you get your cert back before deciding what to do. Please keep us posted
I think you picture these people working in the same office. They’ve probably been working from home, going on a couple years now. Inadequate training, especially on new procedures. Difficult to supervise when the boss is 50 miles away, if not 500. The company probably loses money on half its “favored” guests — eventually, they will figure out the loyalty programs are just not worth it.
What are you talking about? Issues with Bonvoy predates Covid and it is still all Marriott’s problem that reps are not trained or interested in helping and their IT systems are garbage.
If loyalty programs are not worth it for customers, then eventually it will not be worth it for companies.
Perhaps they’ll find out soon .
Marriott IT “intentionally” will hobble the software and do these tricks because its a positive future profit by not honoring these stays as “expenses”.
That’s such good news and so happy for a great resolution for you!
Thanks!
Dan – given your outcome, do you suggest others who have an Attached certificate be bold enough to try to detach it before 2/28 and take the points instead. I have it redeemed for late February but wouldn’t mind taking the points and redeeming for something else
Sure, as long as you’re ready to potentially be in for a fight.
How is this a windfall of if you bought in at 750,000? Didn’t you just lose 50,000 points?
I paid 540K and got back 700K and 120K Alaska miles.
what happens with the 35k and 50k free night certificates. Are these also being converted into points?
They will remain.
How do you reach Marriott executive offices? I have had no luck on several issues, including hotel certificates that disappeared instead of being extended as promised due to the pandemic.
Dan: I have an unattached Cat 1-4 7 night certificate that I totally forgot about until I read this post and remembered that I also did this back in 2019. What will they be giving back for the cat 1-4 on Mar 1? Thanks for the reminder. This post just got me 120k Alaska which I also forgot about.
Dan, I have my 7 night category 6 cert not attached to any reservation. I completely forgot what I even paid by remember getting 120k Alaska miles.
How many points I can get back if marriott converts my cert to Points?
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/milespoints/marriott-will-cancel-travel-packages-next-month-refund-peak-point-levels/
I also have a 7 night category 4 certificate expiring 6/20/22 not attached to any reservation. I have no plans on traveling until then, but want to understand, is there something we must do before March 1st? Is it better to book something just for the sake of cancelling it (from the posts it doesn’t seem advisable)?!
Dan, I currently have an unattached cat 4, 7 day cert. I have read that Marriott is going to credit you full value of the travel plan at the end of February, but I have not seen that in writing. Do you have anything you can post to support this program?
Link here:
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/milespoints/marriott-will-cancel-travel-packages-next-month-refund-peak-point-levels/
Hey Dan,
I have two 7nters attached. You think if I cancel the reservations on March 1 I will get the correct # of points back?
Thanks
You should, but it being Marriott, it will probably take a fight.
i opened my account this morning and no windfall! they confirmed earlier that I’m supposed to get the windfall . anyone know why?
No windfall for me either. I was expecting 210,000 points for my partial package on 3/1/22. Midnight California time was 21 minutes ago so it’s definitely 3/2/22 now.
Call and open a case, and ask for extra points for your time for having to call in for something that was supposed to be automatic. Screenshot your account with the 7-night cert showing, have the total amount you should be refunded ready to give the phone rep, reference this article (https://help.marriott.com/s/article/Article-22136), ask the phone rep for the actual certificate number AND the certificate type (the ‘QP’ or whatever 4 character code). I just spent 1hr 15min on the phone, got my cert ‘canceled’ and 5k refunded (same scenario as this post). Don’t expected to get it resolved over the phone as phone reps and their supervisors are only able to deposit 40k MAX into your account, so it has to go deeper into the loyalty care department for resolution (hence, having a case opened that you can track for documentation).
You won’t necessarily get an “automatic” windfall on 3/1, since it is now 3/3 and my travel packages weren’t automatically refunded, so the dreaded ‘call’ is about to take place.
“Partial Package – 7 nights up to 210,000PTS”
for my 7-night cat 5 cert, it’s still under the “free night certificates”, showing “partial TRVL-Package 7 nts up to 280000 pts.(expires Jun 30,2022).
I was expecting on Mar 1 the points would be refunded in to my point account, which the points won’t be expired and I can book any hotel night online. But now it seems it’s still a “certificate” but has a point value and expiring in 4 months…and for booking, I’ll have to call an agent to attach this certificate…？
Anyone has ideas? is this the way how Marriott ‘refund’ the points?
Any update?
@jack
@Dan replied to my comment asking what the status is, on another post on the same subject “Apparently it’s still in process, but delayed due to Marriott IT.”
@dan FYI to everyone, points from travel package conversions have posted!! 🙂 Congrats to all who have travel packages!!
Nice, was it automatic?
I opened a case on 3 March on a 1hr 15min call, waited the “3-5 Business Days”, called back today & was given the run-around. Asked for escalation and was transferred to a Supervisor. That Supervisor was able to “work with another team” to deposit the missing points from the 7-night cert at PEAK value for all 7 nights!!!
I had every possible aspect of the case documented though, so ensure you have screenshots, etc.
Hello-
Anyone interested in selling their certificate for 2 nights at the Marriott by Brooklyn bridge park?