How To Extend Marriott Travel Packages After The Merger
My buddy reached out to me to let me know of some changes he experienced with his Marriott 7 night travel package. This is the same buddy who told me about the terrible Airbnb gift card terms. I guess I owe him a beer or two you could say.
His Story
My buddy still has his 7 night stay certificate he earned back in 2017. He earned it when he was making the mad dash for Companion Pass status before it vanished. He was able to easily extend the certificate earlier this year with Shawn’s trick. It was expiring again in a few days so he decided to give them a call this time.
He came to the realization that he would probably never use it and just wanted points for it. He had the old category 1-5 certificate which was turned into a category 1-4 certificate after the merger. In the past you were able to just ask for a refund of the hotel portion of the package and they would issue you the points.
They told him the terms would not allow that to happen. He tried 3 different agents and they all referenced these terms, sections 3.14.c.ii.:
ii.     the hotel award portion of the Travel Package is non-refundable to the Member if cancelled or not used.
They claim that this has been in the terms all along. That may be true but it wasn’t enforced if it was in the terms in the past. He does have Platinum status with them as well.
So he moved on to trying to get it extended. He got a lot more push back this time around and after talking with the third agent they were finally willing to extend the expiration date.
Conclusion
Technically Marriott is in the right here and didn’t even have to offer him the courtesy of extending the expiration date. Having said that it is a change of course from what they have offered in the past. I am sure many people have expiring certs in their possession so I wanted to give you all a heads up just in case. Expect a little more push back this year and it seems extension is the only option left.
Just another reason Marriott is dead to me.
Hat Tip: Ryan J
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The reps varied on this in my experience. I was able to get one to give me points back, even though at least one other said it wasn’t possible in the past month in the same 48 hrs when I did it, even though I hated how few points it was and in most cases don’t recommend it even if they will let you (I did it in order to book cat 8’s as a cat 7 (the Ritz Carlton Central Park) prior to the shift when the cost of going from cat 6 (my package) to 7 in cash in NYC was about double & my wife was set on NYC).
Thanks for the DP Adam. I agree that using them offers a ton more value but so few people are able, or willing, to stay in one place for 7 days. And sometimes you just need the points 🙂
Do you know if Amex ever has a promotion on transfer to Marriott or SPG like they did with Hilton or Virgin Atlantic? I hope Marriott also running selling discount point like SPG did in th past.
I think they used to occasionally have SPG transfer bonuses but it has been a while.
I was unsuccessful trying to upgrade.
That stinks – did you try to call back and see if another agent was willing to do it?
Called about a month ago and tried two more times recently with no luck.
They all put me on hold to check with a supervisor and then shut it down.
I’m surprised by that…seems like no one knows what is going on.
Is it possible to upgrade to higher category?
That should be fine and should extend the life of the certificate
Just called yesterday and was able to get the package refunded. HUCA!
He did HUCA 3 times. I am guessing you got a sympathetic agent. Thanks for the DP – I don’t think it will be as easy as in the past.
Another data point – I called in yesterday to convert my old category 6 certificate to a new category 1-4. I waited until now, hoping that the expiration date on the converted award would be extended to allow to redeem for Christmas 2019. I was told that they can only be converted when you’re ready to make a reservation, so I created a cancellable one for next summer. My account is now showing a new cat 1-4 cert with an expiration of Dec 28, 2019, with a subtraction of 45,000 points and an addition of 75,000. All is good.
Downgrading is another option for those who have higher category certs – thanks for the DP.
[…] today Mark Ostermann wrote that Marriott travel packages can no longer be cancelled for a partial points refund. It turns out […]
Had a very negative experience trying to use a package that had been downgraded in the transition. Wanted to stay at a hotel that had been a category 9 with what had been category 9 points. My points were reassigned to a category 6 in the transition and the hotel was reassigned a category 7 so I could no longer use them for that hotel without paying $2000 for the week. I made the mistake of asking for a supervisor and was on terminal hold to be told that all they could do was convert the points and give me 3 nights instead of 7. Should have used them earlier- broke one of the cardinal rules of this game and paid dearly.
Man that sucks – sorry to hear that.
I have to do the same thing with my Category 8 I bought up to in July
Best of luck!
Dang. I still need to call to see if I can get 30,000 for my Cat 8 package (I think…whichever one got hosed on the merger). Been putting it off since I’ve heard so many horror stories about all the issues since the merger and extended call times. Hopefully this will be different, since I still want the hotel portion.
Hopefully that goes smoothly. I would do it sooner rather than later so they don’t deny it because of time frame etc.