Are You Missing Out on Free and Valuable Points by Not Speaking up?
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Million Mile Secrets team member Keith recently spent 4 nights at the Courtyard by Marriott Santa Monica. The stay didn’t start off so great. But the hotel more than made up for it. I’ll let him tell you what happened!
Keith: My wife and I wanted to take advantage of the recent Marriott free night promotion, so we booked a staycation at the Courtyard by Marriott Santa Monica. This hotel was recently built and opened in February 2017. Given it’s so new, we were expecting a pleasant experience.
Unfortunately, within a few hours after check-in, we experienced:
- Limited water pressure in the bathroom sink
- No hot water in the shower
- Loud air conditioner rattling noise
- Heavy leak under the bathroom sink
- ~11:00 pm fire alarm
Rooms at this hotel cost $300+ per night. And given it’s essentially brand new, I wasn’t expecting any issues. That said, the hotel staff was incredible and quickly addressed them.
Don’t Check-Out Empty Handed!
My wife and I travel frequently and understand issues can arise. But I do like to provide feedback to hotels in hopes that future guests don’t have similar negative experiences.
So during my stay, I spoke with the hotel’s Assistant Manager. I learned that most of the issues we experienced related to the “efficient” construction design of the hotel. For example, the water pressure is consistently low (I mean really, really low) because there are special valves installed to avoid excessive water usage.
And the fire alarm was caused by an electrical issue with the air conditioning system.
The Assistant Manager was kind and asked what she could do the make up for the negative experiences. Of course, I asked for points! So she offered to give me the points equivalent of a free night, which was 40,000 Marriott points.
I definitely wasn’t expecting such a generous offer. The large amount of points certainly offset the inconveniences we experienced.
My wife and I typically prefer to stay at Starwood hotels. So we can convert the 40,000 Marriott points to ~13,000 Starwood points (3:1 transfer ratio). That’s enough points for a free night at The Westin Dublin, which is on our travel bucket list!
Rooms at this hotel typically cost $350+ per night if you pay cash. This makes the points we received extremely valuable!
Bottom Line
After a negative airline or hotel experience, it never hurts to voice your concerns.
Recently, team member Keith spoke with a hotel manager after several room issues. And he was pleasantly surprised to receive 40,000 free Marriott points as compensation for the inconveniences.
What’s the most compensation you’ve received following an airline or hotel inconvenience?
Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)
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