Last month, I was having trouble attaching a 40,000 (max) award night certificate earned as my
Elite Choice Benefit for accruing 75 elite nights with Bonvoy last year. Both in the app and on the website, it wouldn’t appear as an option despite showing in my account and the room costing exactly 40,000 points.
I booked with points and then asked Marriott’s Twitter team to assist with swapping the points out for the certificate. They did as requested and all was well. No big deal.
In this article
Marriott Keeps the Certificate; Takes the Points, Too
Today I awoke to a middle of the night “confirmation” email from the hotel, thanking me for booking and showing in that I redeemed 40,000 points.
Uh oh.
Sure enough, my account was suddenly 40,000 points lighter and the certificate wasn’t returned to the account either.
I contacted the Twitter team again. They didn’t immediately understand what I was saying happened, but once I replied in more detail, they did and they fixed it as well.
I pressed a bit on the cause (because I know we have seen this before, although I also recall seeing a post somewhere that the issue had been fixed and people were getting emails notifying them of the points being returned proactively).
I was told this current system issue is related specifically to the 75 night Choice Benefit free night awards and they are working to fix the problem.
What Should You Do If this Happens To You?
I am posting not to slam Bonvoy, but rather so you are aware of the issue and pay attention to a ”confirmation” email you may receive weeks after the fact. If this happens, contact Marriott via your Ambassador or customer care or via Twitter @MBonvoyAssist. Be sure to explain *exactly* what happened and they should be able to quickly fix it for you.
There’s really no excuse for this kind of IT issue, but there’s nothing we can do there. We just need to remain alert and aware until these bugs are all resolved.
Bonvoy?
Let me know here, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group.
You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards.
New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.
