Spouse MVC owners AND spouse Bonvoy accounts

[LUVourMarriotts]

The other "Co-owners" thread and a stay this past weekend, that didn't go exactly as planned, got me thinking that there is probably someone who is an expert on here, or has experienced similar.

My wife and I own 3 weeks and additional MVC points. All purchased together, all deeded the exact same way. I have always done all of the travel planning via my MVC login, although my wife has one, just never logs in. She pays the bills, so she logs in at MF time to pay those. I used to travel a lot for work, and always stayed at Marriott's so I built up a decent status, and we also had my Bonvoy account tied to our MVC account. But, when we purchased the points, the salesman said we should open a Bonvoy account for my wife and put her account number on the account as primary so she would have her own status if she travelled without me. So we did. I'm Lifetime Platinum, based on my own travel. She is Titanium, based on our MVC owner level.

We've been traveling a lot lately for volleyball tournaments for our daughter. About a month ago, in Atlanta, one of our teammate parents mentioned about Bonvoy status and points multipliers that I, stupidly, never thought about before. Titanium gets a bigger multiplier and better perks, yet we always used my Bonvoy. So, I changed our stay last weekend in Knoxville to her account, via a phone call to customer service. I told them what I was doing and also said that it was likely I would be checking in without her, as she would arrive later. They said no problem. Well, it was a problem. I could not check-in because I was not my wife. Even though I had every piece of info about her, I wasn't her. This was quite annoying to me, since I was standing there with a full luggage cart of stuff, my daughter, and our car was already brought to valet parking. Luckily she showed up sooner than expected, so we didn't wait too long. They said the only way to do this going foward is to make reservations under her account with me as the guest, or add my name as a guest. Easy, but customer service should have told me.

We also have an upcoming MVC stay, that is currently all under my account/Bonvoy, because I booked it with my login. They said if I book things with my wife's login, it will go to her Bonvoy. So, I need to go into all of my reservations and fill out the guest form to have them all transferred to her, but they will still show up under my login, not hers, since she is considered a guest, not the "owner" on the reservation. Has anyone done this and can confirm this is true? I have 3 reservations for the upcoming trip, which splits a volleyball tournament stay with MVC resort stays.

Tie all this in with the Bonvoy credit card. We have the older Bonvoy Premier card. Again, it is under me and my Bonvoy, always has been. My wife has a card as an authorized user. I called Chase customer service asking if we could change the card to use her Bonvoy account and they said yes. They submitted the change a few weeks before our Knoxville trip. I never saw the change in my Chase app. I then got a letter yesterday saying Marriott has informed Chase that my Bonvoy account has invalid account details and I need to call them. I call Marriott to find out that Chase should have never attempted to change the Bonvoy account number on the card, because it has to match the primary card holder name. In the end, I'm hoping we are still going to get the same total number of points, just in 2 different accounts, unless we open a new card under my wife's name.

Per a Chase Marriott page I found, the Bonvoy on the card used doesn't matter to the Bonvoy on the reservation used. Hopefully that's true, but we will see when this latest trip hits. I guess I've never really done the calculations, but it says we will get:
Card: Marriott spend X 5 = total points
Stay: Marriott spend X 10 X 7.5 = total points (it says 10 for being a Marriott Bonvoy member and additional 7.5 multiplier for Titanium)

 

[LeslieDet]

I'd suggest your wife get her own BonVoy branded credit card, and you refer her and get the bonus for the referral.

As to the hotel check in -- they treated your correctly. Because the reservations were in her name and your name wasn't on the res and it was her BonVoy account, she needed to be there to check in per the T&C. She could have called the hotel saying she is arriving late and to please let her H check in, but that is never a guarantee. Marriott Hotels has been cracking down on abuses of the system with third parties (whether spouses or other family perhaps) using a reservation that is not in their name and for which the actual BonVoy account holder isn't checking in. In that situation, the ENC cannot be earned and there is no status perks when the non-BonVoy member is staying on someone else's account, regardless of whether or not it is a cash paid reservation or a BonVoy point reservation.

I'm surprised Chase told you they could link her BonVoy number to the credit card for which you are the primary card holder and she is just an authorized user. It should have never happened. It isn't her card. The points earned from using the card only go to the primary card holder's BonVoy account.

I'm not following the last paragraph of your post. You don't have to use any Marriott branded credit card to pay for a hotel stay. If you do use a Marriott branded VISA or AmEx to pay for the hotel stay, then the points earned from the stay will post to the account owner's BonVoy account. So, even if your W used the credit card for which she is only and AU, the credit card based points earned from the stay will be linked to your BonVoy account and paid to your BonVoy account, not to her BonVoy account. That is why she needs to have her own credit card. Also, not to be morbid, but if you were to pass suddenly, that credit card will be locked. She has no right to continue using your credit card as an AU when you, the card holder, are dead.

If you are using BonVoy points for any of the multiple stays for the tournaments, then make sure that the person whose account is being used is the one staying. A BonVoy holder can gift up to 5 point stays a year to another person (spouse included). Those reservation can only be made by calling. You cannot do it online. When you make a gifted point based reservation, none of the perks apply to that res and no ENC is earned by the one whose account was used to make the reservation.

You were smart in assigning your W as the primary name for the timeshare ownership level BonVoy perks. That is the way to do it for the lifetime status benefits to apply. Since you have LT platinum the old fashioned way, and she is titanium given your timeshare owner level, if you are traveling together, you need to make the decision as to whether or not you want the "titanium" benefits -- if so, use her BonVoy and her own cc. I'd note that if you travel a lot, you could get yourself to 75 ENCs in the year, then secure your titanium benefits for the next use year, and then decide on a stay by stay basis who will be earning the extra points if you are traveling together. You just need to keep track so you don't run into the situation of needing the other person to be there to check in.

As to the timeshare stays, if both of you are checking in at the same time, don't worry about a guest form. If your W is staying at a MVC without you and the reservation was made from your owner login, and not hers, then unless you added her name at the time of login, you will need to fill out the guest form. In the future, since each owner has their own login, if you make the timeshare reservations from the login of the person who is staying for the reservation then it will match. Since you made the reservations under your login, and are changing them to your wife make sure she verifies her BonVoy number at check in to receive the ENC for the timeshare stay. And when you make the change to the timeshare reservation, if you check the box that says you are not staying at the property during that reservation, then it will no longer be visible in your BonVoy app as an upcoming reservation. Your W may have to go and pull it into her BonVoy app by the reservation number to add it if it doesn't show up automatically because the system already has her BonVoy number.

 

[NboroGirl]

The other "Co-owners" thread and a stay this past weekend, that didn't go exactly as planned, got me thinking that there is probably someone who is an expert on here, or has experienced similar.

My wife and I own 3 weeks and additional MVC points. All purchased together, all deeded the exact same way. I have always done all of the travel planning via my MVC login, although my wife has one, just never logs in. She pays the bills, so she logs in at MF time to pay those. I used to travel a lot for work, and always stayed at Marriott's so I built up a decent status, and we also had my Bonvoy account tied to our MVC account. But, when we purchased the points, the salesman said we should open a Bonvoy account for my wife and put her account number on the account as primary so she would have her own status if she travelled without me. So we did. I'm Lifetime Platinum, based on my own travel. She is Titanium, based on our MVC owner level.

My husband and I own 3 weeks, no points. Both our names are on the deeds. I can't remember, but I think we both had to have Bonvoy (at the time "Marriott Rewards") accounts, but we always just used mine to accrue points. My husband did a lot of traveling back in the day before retiring, and he used my Marriott Rewards/Bonvoy account when he or his Admin booked Marriotts. I occasionally made a reservation for him, like when his flight was canceled and he had to book another night. I would book it in his name using my number. Never once did we ever encounter a problem with this arrangement. It's like we shared the account - accumulating points from our vacations + his work travel under one number.

 

[LUVourMarriotts]

My husband and I own 3 weeks, no points. Both our names are on the deeds. I can't remember, but I think we both had to have Bonvoy (at the time "Marriott Rewards") accounts, but we always just used mine to accrue points. My husband did a lot of traveling back in the day before retiring, and he used my Marriott Rewards/Bonvoy account when he or his Admin booked Marriotts. I occasionally made a reservation for him, like when his flight was canceled and he had to book another night. I would book it in his name using my number. Never once did we ever encounter a problem with this arrangement. It's like we shared the account - accumulating points from our vacations + his work travel under one number.

Our of curiosity, when is the last time you did something like this? Every year for the last 10+ years, when my parents did their winter trip from NH to FL, I would always use one of my free night certs and cover a room for them on their way down. This year, Marriott would not let me. When I made the reservation online, it would not allow me to change the guest name, like it had always allowed in the past. So I made the reservation and called in. The rep asked if I would be showing up later than them. I said no, I was gifting it to them. They said they can't do it. I said I've done it for years. They said it was never supposed to be allowed, and it was just ignored as a rule in the past, but Marriott is now coming down hard on the rules. So they said my parents would need to pay cash if I didn't show up with my ID at some point in the night. So I said, convert it to points and give me my cert back. They said, OK, but so you know, we are also only allowing up to 4, or maybe she said 5, don't remember, gift reservations per year via points, where you are not going to be staying. I thought it was crazy, but whatever. This ties into my explanation in my OP where, I said they wouldn't let me check-in in Knoxville when the reservation was under my wife's name.

 

[NboroGirl]

I have to admit, it's been several years since I or his Admin made a reservation in his name with my Bonvoy number, so I guess they don't allow this anymore.

 

[LeslieDet]

Our of curiosity, when is the last time you did something like this? Every year for the last 10+ years, when my parents did their winter trip from NH to FL, I would always use one of my free night certs and cover a room for them on their way down. This year, Marriott would not let me. When I made the reservation online, it would not allow me to change the guest name, like it had always allowed in the past. So I made the reservation and called in. The rep asked if I would be showing up later than them. I said no, I was gifting it to them. They said they can't do it. I said I've done it for years. They said it was never supposed to be allowed, and it was just ignored as a rule in the past, but Marriott is now coming down hard on the rules. So they said my parents would need to pay cash if I didn't show up with my ID at some point in the night. So I said, convert it to points and give me my cert back. They said, OK, but so you know, we are also only allowing up to 4, or maybe she said 5, don't remember, gift reservations per year via points, where you are not going to be staying. I thought it was crazy, but whatever. This ties into my explanation in my OP where, I said they wouldn't let me check-in in Knoxville when the reservation was under my wife's name.

The BonVoy T&C allow only what the rep communicated to you. FNA can only be used by the BonVoy account owner. You cannot gift them. Yep, you used to be able to get away with changing the name online, but that loophole has been closed. The same with BonVoy point reservations. The account owner must call to gift reservations made with BonVoy points. There is a max of 5 gifts per year allowed.

 

[LeslieDet]

My husband and I own 3 weeks, no points. Both our names are on the deeds. I can't remember, but I think we both had to have Bonvoy (at the time "Marriott Rewards") accounts, but we always just used mine to accrue points. My husband did a lot of traveling back in the day before retiring, and he used my Marriott Rewards/Bonvoy account when he or his Admin booked Marriotts. I occasionally made a reservation for him, like when his flight was canceled and he had to book another night. I would book it in his name using my number. Never once did we ever encounter a problem with this arrangement. It's like we shared the account - accumulating points from our vacations + his work travel under one number.

Back in the "old days" you could get away with that. That is no longer allowed. Each person has their own BonVoy number, and when someone other than the BonVoy account holder is staying in the room, no ENC is earned and none of the level perks are given.

 

[Dean]

Our of curiosity, when is the last time you did something like this? Every year for the last 10+ years, when my parents did their winter trip from NH to FL, I would always use one of my free night certs and cover a room for them on their way down. This year, Marriott would not let me. When I made the reservation online, it would not allow me to change the guest name, like it had always allowed in the past. So I made the reservation and called in. The rep asked if I would be showing up later than them. I said no, I was gifting it to them. They said they can't do it. I said I've done it for years. They said it was never supposed to be allowed, and it was just ignored as a rule in the past, but Marriott is now coming down hard on the rules. So they said my parents would need to pay cash if I didn't show up with my ID at some point in the night. So I said, convert it to points and give me my cert back. They said, OK, but so you know, we are also only allowing up to 4, or maybe she said 5, don't remember, gift reservations per year via points, where you are not going to be staying. I thought it was crazy, but whatever. This ties into my explanation in my OP where, I said they wouldn't let me check-in in Knoxville when the reservation was under my wife's name.

That's the technical and official answer. I've had some success at times reserving then calling the hotel directly.

 

[LUVourMarriotts]

That's the technical and official answer. I've had some success at times reserving then calling the hotel directly.

I actually called the hotel first and they said no, so I figured I’d call the 800 number, they’d see my status and just do it. But nope. I was put in my place.

 

[dioxide45]

It doesn't matter which account the credit card would have been tied to. There is no extra multiplier based on status when earning points for credit card spend. As noted, better to just have your wife apply for the card in her own name so she gets the signup bonus as well as a FNA every year.

 

[Dean]

I actually called the hotel first and they said no, so I figured I’d call the 800 number, they’d see my status and just do it. But nope. I was put in my place.

As I said, I've had a lot of luck in this situation. A couple of times I've had to call the hotel a second time. I know they've gotten more strict but I've also had success within the last few months. A couple were free stay certificates and several more were reservations using points. Technically the guest who's name is on the certificate is supposed to be present and had they said no after a second phone call, I would have looked at other options and have never argued with them about it. For Bonvoy points reservations you can't do so online but technically can call and get it changed. It's just easier to do so with the hotel than trying to call Bonvoy directly.