Master Post and Thread for Marriott Passkey Card Declined Email

[alladinsane.livejournal.com]

Saw several posts in the mod queue and on Facebook concerning email messages from Passkey concerning Marriott reservations along the lines of this:

Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2012 16:49:36 -0400 (EDT)From: Dragon Con 2012 Reply-To: xxxxxxxxxxx

Thank you for selecting the Atlanta Marriott Marquis for your stay during the Dragon Con Conference.

At this time I am getting ready to cancel all reservations with declined Credit cards, please contact Marriott reservation TODAY July 19th, at 866-469-5475 to update your credit card information are your reservation will be cancel. Once your reservation is canceled it will not be reinstated at the group rate.

So we dont have umpteen different posts on this same subject, I'm going to consolidate things under this master post. If any solution or resolution is found on this matter, I'll update this post and/or post another to get the word out.

If you have a post waiting in the mod queue on this, it'll be rejected but with a message directing you here. This way the discussion will be in one place rather than a dozen.


UPDATE: From the comments and from Facebook, apparently this email was sent out in error; as you could see from the poor grammar on it, it wasnt even finished before it was sent out. I would strongly urge that if you received this mail to go ahead and call and reconfirm your reservations and related charges and make sure all is in order if you havent already done so.


Thanks everyone.

Comments

[noelleleithe.livejournal.com]

I called in response to the email, because I'd updated my credit card last week but subsequently lost it and had to get a replacement. The person I spoke with said the message went to everyone, even if your credit card info was fine or already updated. They will charge all room deposits tonight when they close out the systems for the day. If your card is declined at that point, your reservations will be cancelled.

I changed my credit card info with no problem, just FTR.

[silvers-shadows.livejournal.com]

The person I spoke with said the message went to everyone, even if your credit card info was fine or already updated.

I think they meant everyone who was having a payment processed that day, because I didn't recieved the e-mail at all. Thankfully I already had confirmation they recieved my deposit.

[cad583.livejournal.com]

I also called and the nice lady on the phone said that it appears that some error happened, because of the volume of calls she was getting. Informed me to call 404-521-0000 to verify with the hotel between 9-5, but with the volume of calls coming in, and the fact that the message was sent so late in the day that it would be impossible to get them back on the phone before end of business day, that an error was likely the cause. I already have a confirmation from sunday stating that my reservation was confirmed.

Looking at the form email sent out, looks like someone screwed up and sent it to everyone, not just those who were declined.

[deborak]

. . . are your reservation will be cancel . . .

English AND notification fail . . . oh, Passkey! Their email was so typo-riddenI thought it was a phish at first.

Knowing there wasn't any problem with my card, I called and was also told the email was a screw up. I made the person on the line verify all my reservation numbers nonetheless.

[muntahz.livejournal.com]

I actually read the message to the Marriott rep and mentioned that lovely error.

[greycoupon.livejournal.com]

I got the email as well and was really confused since they charged me last week. Calling them compounded the problem as they kept transferring me ...to Mariquis...the event manager who is out of town till next week...2nd call, they try and send me to the accounting department and I end up on endless hold with international reservations. 3rd call I begged them not to transfer me and after 15 minutes of being on and off hold while they conferred with a supervisor, they confirmed my reservation is fine.

This should have been really simple for verify with them. Instead this took 3 phone calls and 45 minutes. Not impressed with Passkey.

[ayame-faye.livejournal.com]

Okay, so what is Passkey?

[wettermark.livejournal.com]

lol

[thedrunkenjedi.livejournal.com]

WTF?

[dreadnot.livejournal.com]

Rather than joining the queue of WTF, I will take this question at face value.

Passkey is the reservation system that has regularly fu-- complicated the Marriott reservation system for the past couple of years.

If you have a Marriott reservation at con rates, you would have obtained it through Passkey. If you do not have a Marriott reservation, you're in an interesting place to be inquiring.

[ayame-faye.livejournal.com]

Our room reservation is not in my name. I simply saw this thread scrolling through my lj feed and was curious about why rooms would be cancelled. As a first year D*C attendee, it seemed like something I may have wanted to read. It really was a simple question and could have been answered by simply stating that it was a reservation system for the Marriott. I don't understand the WTF's and LOL's in response to a legitimate question. Thanks to dreadnot for the reply.

[eidolon-bird.livejournal.com]

For the record, Passkey also runs the Hyatt's reservations as well as reservations for many other unrelated group events. If you spend any amount of time in this community, you will hear lots of bitching about the company.

[pixiekingtom.livejournal.com]

It's a valid question. Have your friend check th eres on line if there's issues and make sure that their bank records show the deposit taken out.

[laura47.livejournal.com]

i actually did have the wrong number, cause my card number changed, but people in my group who had their emails listed as other roomates but no credit card listed also got mail. i changed it online at passkey, then called the marriott, and they confirmed the right number was there and said everything was good to go. i was on hold for maybe 60 seconds?

i still hate having passkey involved at all, argh.

[jamie-dadonna.livejournal.com]

My credit card charge cleared tonight so if they cancel me I'm gonna be pissed.

[thedrunkenjedi.livejournal.com]

same here.

[thepinnacle.livejournal.com]

After calling Marriott and confirming that they had the correct number, I checked my original email from Passkey. There is a link in that email that you can follow to check/modify your reservation. When I checked by that method, I discovered that my reservation in the Passkey system had an expired card, despite Marriott's system having the updated one.

Using that link you can modify your reservation and make certain that your information is correct.

Hope this helps.

-Pinnacle

[thepinnacle.livejournal.com]

After everything, I ended up calling the hotel itself, and they charged my deposit.

[dene1963.livejournal.com]

I got the e-mail and called immediately the direct hotel number since my credit card credited the e-mail last week. The woman was friendly and confirmed a mass of these e-mails were sent in error. Never hurts to confirm your reservation and check with your credit card to see if the deposit was deducted.

[muntahz.livejournal.com]

We also called and were told there was no issue however we were charged 3 nights. Our CC verified it so basically most of our stay has already been covered. Also, we had what we are lovingly calling mystery reservations as one night was consolidate and yet was still also on its own. Plus a night we never made a reservation for and the rep has no idea why it was in the system as she could not tell where it came from. And so tomorrow we will yet again be on the phone dealing with issues.

[xffan-2000.livejournal.com]

I got the cancellation e-mail to MY e-mail, but the salutation was my roommate's name (my husband). So, that was the first odd thing. The second, was -- as others have said -- the "phishing" looking nature of it, especially since my credit card had already been charged the hold-fee last week.

I called the Marriott Rewards line directly...not the number on the e-mail. They couldn't find anything wrong with my reservation, confirmed I still had it and noted my call/concerns on my account.

Passkey sucks. Has sucked. And will continue to suck. I hope many people write scathing letters to Marriott/DragonCon/Passkey (as I plan to) about this incident and maybe it'll sway some sort of change.

[maddantanner.livejournal.com]

So, did anyone else have a massive panic after opening up the email? You know, until you noticed the grammar...
I spoke with a lady about it and she was absolutely wonderful. She escalated the issue to a supervisor and gave me all kinds of help. She also provided me with a number of some lady at the Marriott who is, from what I understand, in charge of some of the big events (such as D*C), special rates, etc. She told me I could call her if I wanted to triple check that everything was okay. If anyone wants the number/extension of this lady, let me know and I'll be glad to post it. If you're paranoid like me, it's totally understandable to want to check everything.

[laurahcory1.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, panic attack here. And what's more, I'd reserved the room with a corporate AmEx and I didn't think those could bounce.

[alladinsane.livejournal.com]

Something like this is definitely worth getting paranoid about....glad you got such good help and service rectifying the matter...

[pocket epiphany (from livejournal.com)]

Would you be able to list the number? I tried just getting a name from a supremely unhelpful person at the hotel. Thanks in advance!

[maddantanner.livejournal.com]

Gladly. It's 404-521-0000 extension 6138. The name is Esther or Ester. Not sure on the spelling.

[silvers-shadows.livejournal.com]

Ester iirc, I've been dealing with her through e-mail (yay third party authorisations! *facepalm*)

[trybutez.livejournal.com]

I am so tired of Marriott and passkey... They make it so difficult to do business with them.

1. Having to get up at 5 AM local to *try* and reserve a room
2. The website crashes.
3. Interminable hold times on the phone to try and get a room.
4. Able to book my desired dates, but ONLY through three different reservations (Thur Night, Fri-Sun, Mon)
5. Unable to readily combine those reservations into one, and thus, facing $660 in NONrefundable charges in July.
6. 1 hour plus on the phone trying to consolidate said reservations- Passkey forwards me to Marriott Marquis who passes me to customer service, to a supervisor back at Passkey and the circle goes on and on. Finally get Ester's name, but since I'm not local, she's never there when I have an opportunity to speak with her, so I finally give up and pray nothing happens. (should I be unable to attend D*C, between these nonrefundable charges, and the nonrefundable plane tickets, I'm out a $1000)
7. Being told by the Marriott that D*C chose to use Passkey, and even though they can charge my account, they can see the reservation under my name, they can't change the reservation until a week or so before the con is just... maddening! I'm giving you over a thousand dollars, for pete's sake! And... if D*C *has* chosen to use Passkey, why not with the Westin, Sheraton, and Hilton? Those are certainly newer contracts. And why would the Hyatt have a different day? I call BS on being told D*C chose to use passkey- I suspect that's Marriott and Hyatt through and through.
8. This email.
9. Another hour on the phone to confirm it's bogus.
10. Marriott employee having the gall to tell me how frustrating it is to have hundreds (maybe thousands) of people all calling in a panic because of a mistake they, or the company they contracted with, made.

Next year, the Hilton. As long as the Marriott is going to use passkey, I don't want anymore of that headache. It's just not worth it to me anymore.