We paid for our holiday vacation rental but Marriott didn’t book it – help!

Last October, James Han used Homes and Villas by Marriott to find what he hoped would be the perfect rental in Florida for his family's Christmas vacation. The price was right, and as a Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Gold Elite member, Han liked that he could earn Marriott Bonvoy bonus points with a 25% bonus for the vacation rental.

After booking and paying for the property through Marriott's online portal, Han quickly received an email confirmation from Homes and Villas. He found the reservation process straightforward and easy, and the family began cementing their holiday plans.

A few weeks later, however, Han discovered his booking with Marriott Homes and Villas had never actually been completed. His family didn't have a confirmed vacation rental for the busy Christmas week after all.

When Marriott's suggested fix was to redo the booking for the same vacation rental but at a much higher rate, Han balked. Instead, with the holidays fast approaching, he contacted TPG for help.

Han found it unfair that Marriott expected him to pay an extra $1,500 to correct what he was sure was the company's mistake.

But what really went wrong with this Marriott Homes and Villas booking? That's what we wanted to find out.

Booking a vacation rental through Homes and Villas by Marriott

As the Hans began planning their holiday getaway, everyone quickly agreed that a vacation rental was the right choice for their family of six. A private home would give them space to spread out and relax, and a pool would be great for the kids.

Scrolling through the Homes and Villas by Marriott website, Han quickly zeroed in on a four-bedroom rental. Its location close to all the major attractions in the Orlando area was appealing and it had the pool that the family wanted.

"I clicked on the book-the-property button and provided my credit card information," Han recalled. "I would pay $1,206 immediately, and then 15 days before checking in, Marriott would charge the other $1,206."

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Within seconds, Han received the message that Homes and Villas was processing his reservation.

A few days later, Han noticed the deposit charge of $1,206 on his credit card and a new email from Marriott. This message seemed to confirm that the vacation rental reservation was booked.

"Hello, James,

Thank you for your recent reservation through Homes and Villas by Marriott International.

Your reservation is confirmed on our portal.

For questions related to this home and for arrival process information, I invite you to communicate directly with Wonder Vacation Homes, as they will have further home details to provide.

For your convenience, I have added them to this email string to answer your questions, as well as adding their Customer Service contact information for future reference."

[Marriott confirmation]

However, a week later, when Han hadn't received anything from Wonder Vacation Homes, the property management company for the home he had rented, he began to wonder if his reservation was actually confirmed. When his emails to Wonder Vacation Homes only resulted in auto-responses with no follow-up, Han gave them a call.

That's when an employee told Han she could find no reservation in her system for his family. She encouraged Han to call Marriott for additional information.

Suddenly the family's holiday plans appeared in jeopardy.

Wonder Vacation Homes: Marriott never completed the reservation

With Wonder Homes unable to find his vacation rental reservation, Han returned to Marriott for answers.

"Marriott continued to assure me that our reservation was confirmed. So I opened a chat with Wonder Vacation Homes," Han told me. "That's when the agent told me that our reservation had 'expired.'"

In a seemingly endless and confusing go-round with the Wonder Vacation Homes chat agent that Han shared with me, he asked why his reservation had expired after payment.

The Wonder Vacation Homes agent confirmed that Marriott had sent a request to reserve the vacation rental, but had not completed the reservation. Han sent a new email to Marriott and attached the chat he had with the management company.

"Hi All,

I just chatted with Wonder Vacation Homes again (see below). They said they do not have my reservation. Their system says the request has expired since Wonder Vacation Homes did not receive the final reservation from Marriott. Not sure how that occurred.

Marriott has already charged 50% of the costs. How do I get this fixed?

Thanks, James"

By now, it was the end of October and Han was becoming concerned that the family would not have a place to stay for Christmas week in Florida.

Looking at the Homes and Villas website, the property in question was still showing as available. This further proved to Han that his family didn't have a reserved vacation rental despite what Marriott claimed.

Having read previous stories about Marriott confirming and sending travelers to non-available properties, Han did not want his family to face that same fate, so he pressed both Marriott and Wonder Vacation Homes for help.

An expensive fix from Marriott: Cancel and rebook

Instead of the help confirming the vacation rental at the price he agreed to, a Marriott representative recommended Han cancel the reservation through the Homes and Villas portal and start all over.

The representative emailed him:

"Hello, James,

I apologize for the confusion. [The vacation rental] is confirmed on our end. However, I would recommend canceling and rebooking so the Homes and Villas and Wonder Vacation Homes reservation syncs.

Best,

***** (Homes and Villas by Marriott)"

Han found this course of action unacceptable. The weekly rate for the vacation rental had increased significantly since his initial reservation.

If Han canceled and rebooked, he would be forced to pay nearly $1,500 more than the original price.

Not willing to follow Marriott's expensive recommendation and unable to get the two companies to work together to fix the problem, Han got another idea: He would ask TPG for assistance.

Can TPG help to fix this vacation rental problem?

When Han sent his request for help to TPG, he was running out of time.

"Can you help me?" he wrote. "Right now, I don't have a vacation rental booked (according to Wonder Home Rentals). The Marriott agents seem confused about what's gone wrong. They say we have a reservation."

Going through Han's paper trail, I could see that Homes and Villas by Marriott had collected $1,206 to confirm the reservation. It had also scheduled the next payment of $1,206 for Dec. 10. Nothing seemed to be awry with the booking from Marriott's point of view.

However, Wonder Vacation Homes showed no reservation for the family. This would obviously be a significant problem if the family arrived at the property on Christmas Eve.

Armed with the proof that Han had paid for the reservation, I thought Wonder Vacation Homes might be able to correct whatever had gone wrong with this booking.

However, in a phone call with Wonder Vacation Homes, a spokesperson told me it had not received payment for Han's reservation and so the "request" from Marriott had expired.

The property was still available for the holiday week but at a much higher rate. Ironically, this increase in the cost of the rental was likely caused by the interest in the property from the Han family – and the fact that it was now three weeks closer to the end-of-the-year holidays.

Now I had questions for Marriott: If Han's $1,206 hadn't been sent to the Wonder Vacation Homes, where was it? And why was this loyal Bonvoy member being asked to bear the financial impact of a mistake he had nothing to do with?

TPG asks Marriott: Can Christmas be saved?

I sent a summary of Han's frustrating experience to our helpful Marriott executive contact (this is a person I can contact directly as a consumer advocate and member of the media, but not someone available to the general public).

It was less than a month before Christmas, and we were running out of time. Han was becoming more concerned and was considering giving up the battle with Marriott.

"We might just cancel this reservation. If Marriott isn't going to fix this, then I need to book something else," Han told me.

If he canceled, I knew that Marriott would have no further motivation to correct this problem in his favor. I advised him to hold off on the cancellation until I followed up with Marriott again.

This case proved to be more of a challenge than I expected. The Marriott team investigated … and continued investigating as the calendar inched closer to Christmas. I sent additional documentation to Marriott, and we waited.

Finally, just days before the additional payment was due, Han got the news he hoped to receive, writing to me:

"Michelle,

Thank you so much for all your help. I just got the confirmation from Wonder Vacation Homes. I'm filling out the paperwork now [for the vacation rental]. **** from Marriott also just called to confirm that we're all set.

Thank you again!

James"

In the end, our executive contact at Marriott made sure that Homes and Villas honored Han's original contract and price.

"This was an unusual case caused by a transmission error," my Marriott contact told me. "In the end, we were able to honor the guest's original booking. We apologize and regret the error."

Han and his family had a wonderful holiday; writing me:

"Hi, Michelle,

Thank you again [to you and TPG] for helping me with the reservation at Marriott/Wonder Vacation Homes. We had a wonderful time in Orlando despite the unexpected cold weather.

[James Han]"

What to know about Homes and Villas by Marriott

A vacation rental can be an excellent option for families looking for privacy and extra space during their travels. However, before you choose Homes and Villas by Marriott to book your next getaway, there are a few things you should know.

Marriott Homes and Villas differs from similar companies, like Airbnb or Vrbo, in one critical way: The vacation rentals listed on its portal are managed by professional third-party companies.

Unfortunately, at this time, it's not possible to see the name of the individual property's management company on Homes and Villas by Marriott until after you book a property. So, you'll have no way to determine what the track record is for that company before reserving your stay.

Additionally, there is also no review section on the site as there is on other listing sites. You won't be able to know what other guests have experienced at the property.

The good news is because every property on the Homes and Villas by Marriott site is vetted by a professional property management company, in theory, the risk of being blindsided by a filthy or fake vacation rental is reduced.

Additionally, Homes and Villas frequently runs promotions that allow Marriott Bonvoy members to earn extra points.

How to confirm your Homes and Villas by Marriott booking

Here's how to increase your chances of having a trouble-free booking experience with Homes and Villas by Marriott.

Make sure you receive a confirmation from the property management company

When you make a reservation through the Homes and Villas by Marriott website, you should receive two confirmations: One from Marriott and one from the specific property's management company. In Han's case, he never received the crucial confirmation from the vacation rental's management company. But because he had never used Homes and Villas before, he was unaware that this should have been a red flag.

Follow up with Homes and Villas by Marriott

Always follow up with Marriott if, 24 hours after booking a property, you have not received a welcome confirmation from the management company. At this time, Homes and Villas doesn't have phone support. Contact Marriott at HomesandVillas@Marriott.com.

Also, your initial email from Marriott should give you the name of the management company. Follow up with that company as well.

Check your credit card

If you do not receive a reservation confirmation, you'll want to check if your credit card company has approved payment. I frequently receive pleas for help from consumers who thought they made airline, hotel or vacation rental reservations but found out later that their credit card company declined the charge.

If your credit card company rejects a charge, many travel vendors will simply cancel your reservation, and you might not find out until it's too late to save your trip. If you set up purchase alerts on your credit card, you'll know immediately if a charge was approved or declined.

On the other hand, if your credit card has been charged for a vacation rental and you don't actually have a reservation (as in Han's case), it's not always cause for worry.

The Fair Credit Billing Act will protect you if the company doesn't provide the vacation rental as agreed, and you can dispute the charge. However, whatever you do, do not dispute the charge while you are trying to resolve the problem with the company. If you dispute the charge, your credit card company takes the money back during the investigation and the transaction you were trying to fix will be canceled by the company that no longer has payment and will be less inclined to resolve the issue with you.

Do not cancel — ask to speak to a supervisor

If you discover a problem with your reservation, don't cancel, even if a customer service representative recommends it. This customer service ploy will only end in you losing your leverage to correct the problem in your favor. If you cancel, Marriott could legitimately consider the case closed — you no longer have a reservation to fix, after all. Instead, escalate your complaint to a supervisor and make a record of the names of anyone you speak with. Set an expectation that you want the problem resolved in a way in which you aren't financially affected.

Escalate your complaint

If you've tried everything to fix your problem, as Han did, but have hit a wall, your next step is to escalate your complaint up the executive ladder. To do that, you'll need the name and email address of an executive willing to help. Consumer Rescue, my advocacy organization, provides a free executive contact finder service to help consumers bring problems to specific people who we know within various corporations to help you, including Marriott.

Bottom line

Han's frustrating first experience with Homes and Villas by Marriott is not typical. It's unclear exactly what caused the misfire with his reservation, but if you follow the steps above, you likely won't find yourself in a similar predicament.

We're pleased to have facilitated a positive outcome for the family. If you are struggling to fix a problem with a vacation rental company, car rental agency, airline, cruise line or credit card company, send a request for help to tips@tpg.com and we will be happy to help you, too.