Earlier today I was looking for a way to use my Marriott free night certificates in Albuquerque during the Balloon Fiesta next weekend. Well, I found the Residence Inn-North, a category 3 property.
I figure everything that it would be easy to apply my free night certificates and move along. Well, I was sadly mistaken.
I logged into my account to verify that I could apply the certificates during the booking process. Well, the booking jumped from Step 1 to Step 3 (confirmed booking) without asking me to apply the certificates or to verify the reservation. Puzzled, I figured that I would cancel the reservation and all would end well. That’s when I saw this…
Under normal circumstances, you can cancel a reservation until three days prior to check in. However, this was a Special Rate, so you have until 30 days prior to check in to cancel. WTH??? This was a first for me. I called Customer Care and the agent stated that she would reach out to the hotel on my behalf.
I was still nervous about having to pay the huge cancellation fee, so I reached out to Marriott’s Twitter team. They were awesome.
Let this be be a cautionary tale to all of you out there. Marriott properties sometimes have a special rate when big events are happening in a given town. Today was my first encounter with this cancellation policy. Hopefully it is my last one as well. A huge thanks to the Customer Care agent who contacted the hotel and the Twitter team that helped remedy the situation.
