United and Marriott have a promotion that if you book airfare using united.com, you get the third night free at Marriott. I foolishly booked a United flight before learning that none of the Marriotts at my destination are participating in this offer. By the way, the united site was among the clumsiest I have ever used. Booking the flight was painful, more so when I learned my great deal wasn't so good after all. Hopefully this message will save someone else this aggravation.

You can save it for another Marriott stay, not sure when it expires but the Marriott stay does not have to coincide with the flight that you book.

LOL!

Well, hindsight is 20/20. But my point is that this is fine print and believe me it is nowhere near where you enter your credit card number. I began on marriott.com where it does mention that it's valid at "Participating" resorts; my big mistake was not reading this carefully and verifying whether my resorts were participating. From there I clicked the link to the united promotion. At that point, you are strictly in united's website and there is no further mention of Marriott - you are on your own to make your Marriott arrangements separately. Believe it or not, I am reasonably web-savvy and use the internet constantly. The reason I posted this is because I think it's a mistake that many others could make, not just people as stupid as I am!!

You know, Cindy is just trying to help others not make the same mistake she did. There's no sense in "rubbing it in" and telling her that she shouldn't have made the mistake in the first place. She knows that. That's why she's posting this advice. I don't understand why people get flamed here all the time for trying to help other people.
--I'm sure to get flamed now, I know, but I just had to say it.

I think part of the problem is the headline, which implies United and Marriott are "in cahoots" to screw the customer. "Beware" indeed. With ANY promotional item, you simply have to read the fine print as most "promotions" have a ton of it. If you read the promotion then book your United flight to a participating Marriott destination, then both UA and Marriott will have delivered what they promised in the first place. Nothing to "beware."

You agree that your mistake was not reading this carefully and verifying whether your resorts were participating.
We all know about Reading The Fine Print. Which is that " part of an agreement or document spelling out restrictions or limitations often in small type or obscure language " .
You admit you did not. I would assume then that this posting is unfairly blaming United and Marriott for your mistakes.
But, thank you for reminding us to be careful.

Thanks for the good faith effort, cindyd. You've apparently aroused some contrarians who need to feel superior. I'm sure they never make travel errors, lol.

I also booked a flight for this promotion, but first I called marriott and inquired about the hotel in nyc i wanted to book. They assured me it was available to be used with the promotion. They even checked with a supervisor, which assured me to go ahead and book. You are not given any info on the united flight regarding availability, etc till you have booked your nonrefundable flight. Of course thewn my hotel was notavailable. I then called marriott and they were confused, stating not one hotel in nyc is available for that promotion. A manager conference called united with me to get the facts because they were confused as well. Long story short, united refunded me my airfare since I could have gotten it cheaper thru ata, and I spent two hours of aggravation for nothing. Sorry I agree with the above poster, this promotion is very misleading.
Susan

Susan, I checked the promotion, and indeed it is a mess, as you report. As usual, United is misleading the public. Sad ins't it that cindyd tried to warn and got a lecture on fine print.

Hmmm...i saw this promotion yesterday while looking at Marriotts site for a reservation I am making in Vegas. Then I checked United and found a flight that was "reasonably" similar to the one I had planned on booking on another airline. I called Marriott's 800 number to make sure that the rate I would pay for the 4 nights was not the regular "rack rate" ($200 more per night than their leisure rate going on now) because the promotion states: not vaild with any other promotion. So this wouldnt have been a bargain at all had that been the case. When I spoke to the first person at Marriott, he had no clue as to what the promotion was about, suggesting that I was misinformed somehow. Second person was only slightly more informed, knew of the promotion but not what rate I would pay. Third person finally assured me that I would be charged the leisure rate (which he says is the "going rate" at this hotel at this time so it qualifies) and I would get my third night free once I supplied them with the code number United gave me after booking my flight. I felt fairly safe that I had covered all the bases and had made the proper inquiries. I was about to book it all today when I read this post this morning, but I still assumed that I knew the hotel I was going to would be participating and at what rate. However the last post by Susan now has me worried that even though they said it would be good doesnt make it so once you actually go to book it. I am staying at the hotel regardless for a minimum of 4 nights, but I would prefer to not fly the United flight times. I wonder how one can really be sure then that this promotion will work??? Susan's experience above indicates that all the checking in the world doesnt make it happen. I think I will just pass and forget about a free night at the JW Marriott, but it is a little frustrating because I am staying there anyway.

When it comes to promotional offers...dealing with United can be a nightmare or dealing with Marriott can be a nightmare. Dealing with them BOTH trying to co-ordinate together must be a sight to behold! After all, some of the phone personnel that you are dealing with are probably in India!

Cindy, I would call a couple of hotels directly. The manager might know that they are participating in this promotion, even though Marriott 800 number does not. Also, check later on, as more hotels will join the promotion as they see how popular it is, and that they are missing out. Don't give up!

Good alert to all except those who apparently have never made a mistake nor will ever make a mistake.

The fine detail folks probably travel rarely, thus cannot err. And if one repeats to the same places, the risk of error obviously goes down, because you need less planning and you have time to home in on those details.

My point is simply that you ALWAYS have to read the fine print and check to make sure partner A is working with partner B. Those of us who travel for a living know to do that! If we're going to use the word "beware" here, then by all means BEWARE ALL travel promotions you get because each and every one has restrictions!

The actual point here is that two dissembling corporations (United and Marriott) have hidden behind an unfathomable offer, fine print be damned, which in actuality offers nothing to consumers except a come-on and huge waste of time. Marketing means zip unless there's clear communication of the product being offered, and all the procedures for consumers have been worked out. Obvioulsly these two firms have screwed up, and cindyd provided a service to all you posters. IMHO.

My dad is a Mileage Plus elite with United and stays at Marriotts often. He said he saw the promotion in his statement but threw it away since he can "usually get better deals" than when using United's partners. Take it for what it's worth as it's just his opinion, but he does fly UA a lot.

It is really unconscionable that these companies purposely try to confuse and defraud the very customers they are supposedly trying to attract!! Who in their right mind would seek out either of these companies once they had been treated so shabbily?

Here's my thoughts: this promotion is so new that the employees of the companies dont yet have a clue as to what it is, where its offered, and what the "rules" are. Maybe by the time it is set to expire (Aug 16) they will know what the promotion is that their respective copmanies are offering. But in the meantime, the consumer is supposed to understand it all. I dont think its too much to ask of a company that places this big promo on the front page of their websites to inform their employees just what the heck the details are. And therefore be able to ACCURATELY inform their customers. Like I said earlier, to those that dont think its a great deal, I am already planning on staying at the JW Marriott Vegas for a minimum of four nights, one was a Saturday as their offer requires, and I have to fly to Vegas anyway, so why not book my flight on United and get one of my nights free? Makes sense to me, but apparently not to all. And apparently not to Marriott, as the above posts indicate.