Marriott apparently has yet another one of their IT meltdowns and this time it affects the use of free night certificates through the website or app which is currently impossible to accomplish.
All Bonvoy members have to call Marriott in order to apply their certificate and the wait times are crazy at the moment on top of it all.
Marriott issues free night certificates for multiple reasons ranging from new member signups to promotions, credit card issued free nights as well as Elite Choice selections.
Usually it’s very easy to apply the free night award to a points reservation both on the app and especially on the website but since at least this week this isn’t possible anymore.
Despite having two certificates in my account the Marriott site only offers me to redeem points.
Gotta love how it says “The option to use your certificate should already be checked.” Well it doesn’t.
This is how it displays when trying to redeem the award night:
The option to use the certificate has disappeared and a quick google search shows this is a well documented problem for at least the last week. People have to constantly call Marriott to redeem their certificates.
Conclusion
If you have free night certificates in your account and look to redeem them then right now there is no other way than calling Marriott and go through these hoops as the website is useless again. Not sure how such a big company can afford to constantly have these pervasive IT issues.
Prepare to be asked all sorts of ridiculous verification questions on the phone despite the phone system even greeting you by name and verifying your ID when calling in from a registered number. Welcome to good old Marriott!
