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A week or so ago I wrote about the confluence of two deals that was making for some really cheap hotel stays [SEE ALSO: I’m confused: Why are more people not talking about this deal?]. Unfortunately, for scheduling reasons our family probably is not going to be able to really maximize this deal, but one thing we did want to do is spend one night at the historic Mariemont Inn.  The Mariemont Inn is a 45 room boutique hotel that opened in 1926 and recently underwent a multi-million dollar renovation.

It’s nearby our house and we’ve always wanted to stay but the cash cost is usually $200 / night or so (more than I want to pay for a staycation) and the points cost is 36,000 points / night (uhhh no).

The problem: blackout dates

So now that all Best Western hotels are temporarily only 10,000 points / night, I thought this was the perfect time to stay a night there.  The only problem is that for the night we wanted to book it, it says there are no points rates available

a screenshot of a hotel

This is even though there are cash rates available on that night.

Calling the hotel

Calling the main Best Western reservations line didn’t do anything – they just said “sorry, you can’t book this with points”.  So I thought I’d try calling the hotel directly.

I was actually (pleasantly?) surprised that the lady I spoke to on the phone seemed to have no problem with it.  When I told her I wanted to book with points, she took down all my information and booked the reservation

So… is this going to work?

But now I’m worried that it’s not going to work.  Either we’ll get there and they’ll try to charge us the cash rate, or they’ll try to charge us 36,000 points.  Even though the phone agent at the hotel said she’d email me a reservation, I never got one.  When I log on to my Best Western account, I see the reservation, but there are no details

a close-up of a reservation

So…. what do you think?  What are the odds that everything is going to go well?  What would you do in this situation?


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