If you plan on booking anything with Marriott, you may not want to do that today – or even tomorrow! Through a bit of bad timing, I had to do something with Marriott and found (before their own reps knew) that the Marriott Rewards website is down.
He Charlie, We checked it is working, perhaps try another browser.
— Marriott Rewards (@MarriottRewards) June 8, 2018
PSA: Marriott Rewards Site Down and Long Hold Times
Down – For How Long?
The Marriott site is up but if you try to log in to your account or make a reservation, you will be told that there is system maintenance going on. One of the reps I had been speaking with came back and told me she had just been sent an e-mail that the Marriott Rewards system was down and they could not tell which date it would be back up! That means it could be more than a few hours thing.
I don’t recall any kind of announcement by them about system integration of reservation work but it seems that this is what is going on. I do remember Hyatt having an announced system upgrade and that took them off line for a few days. So, if this is anything like that, I would not expect it to be back up anytime soon.
According to their website:
“We love our members, and our members love the idea of Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest coming together to deliver additional benefits, like linking accounts. We promise your new rewards are worth the wait – try again soon! If you have other account or stay-related needs, please call Marriott Rewards customer support at 801-468-4000 in the US and Canada. For international customer support numbers, please visit our directory.”
Reservations by Phone
If you do need to do anything with the Marriott Rewards program, the only way to handle booking reservations is through their phone system. The Twitter team has said they cannot handle reservations over social media due to changing rates.
Regrettably, we are unable to book reservations via social media as rates and availability are subject to change. Please call Marriott Reservation team at 1-800-228-9290. They are able and ready to assist you. Kind regards
— Marriott Rewards (@MarriottRewards) June 8, 2018
The problem is that there are long hold times going on right now and I have even experienced some phone numbers and departments bouncing their calls to other departments. So, you may be on the phone for a while and even transferred around before you are able to take care of your situation.
Being an elite member may not help. Some Platinum members are complaining about long hold times as well.
Booking Elsewhere?
Thanks to how hotel programs have been trying to cut out the middle man of OTAs, you won’t be able to book through something like Expedia and get the benefits offered by booking directly through Marriott. This includes elite benefits/rewards.
So, if you need to book something and you are a Marriott loyalist, your best bet would be to book with SPG (if they are where you need them to be). Otherwise, maybe it is time to check out another hotel program? 🙂
One more thing – try the Marriott app. It was allowing me to book rooms earlier and you can login to your account there as well.
