Not long ago, I wrote about how I found a use for my 25K Marriott Bonvoy free night certificate. As occasionally happens when dealing with redemptions, an even better opportunity can arise. That meant I needed to cancel my free night reservation.
Marriott makes the cancelation part of the process amazingly easy. I was well within the cancelation window so with just a few clicks the reservation was no more. The webpage said that the certificate should be back in my account shortly.
However (in my best Morgan Freeman voice), the certificate was not deposited back into my account.
I had another use for it but I wasn’t a redemption I feared would disappear immediately. Realistically, how many people are looking at a roadside Springhill Suites for 17,500 points a night?
Nevertheless, it was over a day and still no certificate. I remember reading about people getting Bonvoyed and having to fight with Marriott to get free night certificates. I decided I needed to contact them. I didn’t want to call so I went to see if there was a chat function on the website, which there wasn’t.
From there, I went to my next best line to get a customer service response from a company, Twitter.
Granted, it’s not always perfect and some companies have Twitterbots that reply with useless dribble, but some companies staff their Twitter accounts with actual people who can solve problems.
I gave it a try and sent a message to @MBonvoyAssist. My first tweet went unanswered but my second one a few hours later asked me to take the conversation to a Direct Message.
After I explained my problem, they asked several questions to confirm my identity. Shortly after, I received this message. It’s directed to Sharon since the certificate was under her account.
Just as they said, the certificate was back in her account when I logged in.
While they’re not perfect, the Marriott Twitter team can often fix a problem and save you the time talking with a phone representative who may or may not be able to help you. For me, I’d rather have a DM conversation on Twitter than being stuck on the phone trying to explain that I’m missing a free night from my account.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
