Plat arrival gift

[pwrshift]

The last time I got $100 delivered to my hotel door was at Westfield's in Chantilly and my room rate was $79. Good deal. I never bring up the 'gift' at check in in hopes they forget, but that seldom happens.

Funny thing about the gifts....if you stay 1 night in a hotel you get the gift. If you stay 3 nights at the same hotel you get only 1 gift. But if you stay in 3 different hotels for 1 night, you get 3 gifts. I guess thats why they call it a 'welcome' gift.

 

[gsb]

I've been a plat with Marriott for nearly 10 years and have only asked for compensation once, and then only because of the attitude of the front desk staff. In other occasions when front desk staff have forgotten to ask, I'll simply request that they apply points to my account. I see the points (like upgrades and everything else) as a gift, not a trap.

Marriott has been very good to me over the years. That's why I continue to stay with them, and why we began purchasing vacation club weeks more than 20 years ago.

 

[Quilter]

What about consecutive weeks? At some resorts I've gotten 500 points for each consecutive week. This makes sense since they are separate confirmation nos. However, at a couple others I have only gotten the 500 points for the first week.

I'm answering my own question since no one else did DaveM once told me that if someone didn't answer my question it may be that no one knew the answer. I also asked it on Marriott Insiders but didn't get an answer there either. Today I spoke with someone at Owner Services and here's the outcome.

We had 2 weeks at both Canyon Villas and Ocean Pointe but only got 500 points for the first week of each stay. The size of the rooms were different and each room had a separate reservation no. When we arrived at Barony I was given the silver card about the points so I asked the front desk clerk what the rule was if a person had consecutive weeks. He said he'd have to ask. When he came back he said if a person has to move rooms then they give them the 500 for each week. Last year I had multiple weeks at OceanWatch and got the 500 for each so this made sense.

Back to the current OP and CV issue. Both of them fit the criteria of moving room to room. I talked with someone at Owner Services today who looked at both my husband's and my Rewards accounts and then she called Rewards. In the end I got 500 for each of the weeks.

 

[pwrshift]

It does appear that you only get 500 pts for the first week of your stay...I was at BP for Three weeks and only got 500 points...not 1500. If the points were worth more than $6.25 for the 500 I might get on the phone and complain. But, it doesn't make sense to not give the gift for each week reservation simply because changing rooms costs the resort more than you staying in the same room.

Brian

 

[bazzap]

I am not sure if this could be a resort dependent issue, but fortunately for all my recent non US multi-week stays I have successfully received 500 pts for all the weeks of our stay (and in the last year or so I have not even had to ask for these to be credited)

 

[dioxide45]

It does appear that you only get 500 pts for the first week of your stay...I was at BP for Three weeks and only got 500 points...not 1500. If the points were worth more than $6.25 for the 500 I might get on the phone and complain. But, it doesn't make sense to not give the gift for each week reservation simply because changing rooms costs the resort more than you staying in the same room.

Brian

I guess the reason you would only get the points once is because it is a "welcome gift". By definition since you only arrive once, a welcome gift would only be appropriate once.

 

[Quilter]

It does appear that you only get 500 pts for the first week of your stay...I was at BP for Three weeks and only got 500 points...not 1500. If the points were worth more than $6.25 for the 500 I might get on the phone and complain. But, it doesn't make sense to not give the gift for each week reservation simply because changing rooms costs the resort more than you staying in the same room.

Brian

Like pocket change in a piggy bank, every little bit helps. With 10 weeks this Spring the arrival gifts add up to 5,000 MR points.

 

[Quilter]

I guess the reason you would only get the points once is because it is a "welcome gift". By definition since you only arrive once, a welcome gift would only be appropriate once.

Yes, you could say that but you could also argue that each week carries it's own reservation no., each week has it's own maintenance fee, each week has to be reserved with individual inventory, the front desk gives you a separate invoice for each week. These ownerships are "business" with Marriott and it's all about profits for the shareholders. In return the owners get their own profits.

Last year our daughter stayed 9 weeks at a TownePlace Suites in Tampa. The Manager generously gave us a special rate and his staff kept an eye out for our daughter. One arrival gift was more than enough for me on that occasion.

 

[BocaBoy]

That's right, I forgot about Maui. However, I stayed there 3 times in 2011 (the most recent was Sept. 2011) and I was never offered a plat amenity. The 500 points were credited with my stay on my Marriott Rewards account.

So Maui must have changed things since Sept. 2011.

Yes, it changed sometime between September 2011 and Thanksgiving 2011.

 

[kds4]

My understanding is that at MVCI resorts all you get is the 500 points as a Plat Elite. They just add it automatically. Remember these are not hotels.

That is correct. At MVCI properties, the Platinum Arrival Gift is a 500 point bonus. It is credited automatically after your stay. Which, in a way, really prevents anyone from invoking the guarantee as it always is not posted until after, and if it doesn't post you have already checked out of the property and are outside the time period to invoke the guarantee. Pretty sneaky.

However, I understand why they are doing it this way. As these are not Marriott Hotels, there is no 'kitchen' per se to prepare an alternative arrival gift - "fruit and cheese, please".

I have invoked this guarantee on one occasion in 20 years of Marriott Rewards membership - at a full-service Marriott. What I received at check-out from the front desk was a $100 Marriott Gift Card usable toward a future stay. Not cash. Not negotiable for any purpose other than returning to Marriott for another stay (of at least $100, as no change is given when the card is used).