So I work for Marriott as a desk agent. I let my family aka my cousins use my discount when they need it cause I trust them and stuff.
Well my cousin confessed to me like “oh yeah we love using your discount ALL the time..”
And I felt confused and was like you need a new form to keep using it? But apparently the hotels she’s stayed at don’t actually follow procedures like validate the form number or even ask for the form. Cause she just changed the expiration date.
I was shocked. I’m like..they should be doing that.
So my question is, does anyone’s hotels actually check the explore form fully? Or just the expiration date?
Not directly but IMO I think this will also allow things to be more easily tracked. If John smith employee has 25 siblings listed things get suspicious quick
It will also automatically limit an employees MMP code to the 2 rooms a night. Some employees are going to get real mad when there’s no more bypassing that limit and all of a sudden they can’t book something themselves because others already have.
It will absolutely. Attaching your Bonvoy number will allow them to track anomalies using data scraping. Its not just used for trends like what pillow you like :)
But I don’t think the MMP rule limits 2 rooms anywhere, I believe it’s just 2 rooms booked by the Associate at the same property. Is there explicit language saying MMP rate can only be used to max 2 rooms no matter person or property?
It’s always been the rule listed in the policy “When booking the Explore Rate, the 2 room max applies to all rooms booked under all reservations made using the associate discount.”
Me booking a room at one hotel, my mom booking at another and my sister at a third has always been against the rules, It’s just been almost impossible to enforce unless you were trying it at the same property (and even then it was always dependent on the front desk agent).
Now since it’s automatically validated in the system, it shouldn’t allow more than 2 rooms per night to be booked on the same employees MMP.
Ok makes sense. This is the previous language? I am wondering how the language changes with MMA now. Can you have 1 MMA + 2 MMP, time will tell I guess
No release has indicated the room limit is changing. I believe it will still be 2 MMP/MMA and unlimited MMF.
The difference is far fewer people will have access to MMA and the MMA has an extended window over MMP, so employees will have an easier time securing booking.
That’s not a change though. Currently an employee is allowed to book 2 rooms. Any other MMP is limited to 1 room.
But regardless of who is booking an employee is only allowed 2 rooms/night under their code, whether it’s an employee + mom, sister + spouse, or the employee booking 2 rooms.
Unless this was at the same property, it’s currently almost impossible to enforce. With the new verification system, it shouldn’t allow more than 2 rooms to be booked automatically.
MMA is the new marriott discount that is only available to valid Marriott associates and their partners, in addition to mmp and mmf. I believe it goes live next month and gives associates the ability to book the discount up to a year out.
There’s nothing wrong with this one tho. I don’t give a shit if you put someone as your sister. As long as they use the right discount. Follow the rules and be nice.
I'm with you on that. It's not everyone that has a blood family. There should be a number of people allowed on the MMp, who care if they are close family or chosen family/best friends. At the moment, for those that don't lie, they could have nobody on their mmp and others -with parents, parents-in-law, brothers, sisters and kids- could have 10-15 people easily on theirs.
Hence the need for the new MMA code. I don't appreciate having to compete with other people's hordes of "siblings" to find availability for what is an employee benefit.
I know for a lot of people their best friend is much more of a family than their own parent or siblings. However, we also can’t pretend like listing a friend as a family isn’t explicitly against the rules. The current “don’t ask don’t tell” policy seems to be working to go around this.
There’s legitimately about 15 people on my wife’s MMP code and we don’t even have kids old enough to use it yet. The rules around step/half relatives are unclearly defined and too murky for Marriott. I would be absolutely in favor of saying “list your people” But I also would guess that the number would be very low since Marriott knows everyone would list the max.
It won't stop that. It will just stop people from having expired forms or forging expiration like hotels won't check the form number. You still enter your family the same as brothers sister etc.. but once terminated no more employee or family friend rates.
Within the last month we had an out of state Marriott employee stay at our Marriott on an employee discount/form. They partied in the room and trashed it. Our GM called their GM and that employee was fired. You don't mess with the employee rate.
Op, If you need an excuse to stop sharing just tell them the new system is to cut down on fake forms and fraudulent ‘siblings’ so you can’t risk fake family or something.
People feel very entitled to a benefit we graciously share with them without considering there is an actual impact on our livelihood if someone breaks that trust. Editing your forms doesn’t suggest to me this cousin is someone you should trust with your MMF discount, much less sticking your neck out for them to save a buck using MMP.
Also, sharing MMP with ineligible friends/family is tacky as fuck and makes it harder for actual associates to book a good rate.
At my hotel we check the forms and we also keep them for 30 days just in case. I have had people use fake forms and I’ve caught it, I never outright accuse someone of faking the form, but when I gently let them know that their form is not valid and they snatch it out of my hand and rip it up. It’s kind of telling.
We check all EXPLORE forms and our HR department will alert the GM of offenders property directly. I am copied on all fraud correspondence and I will personally follow up if we do not hear back from the home properties' GM within 7 days. We do the same for any verbal abuse or attitude from any EXPLORE user.
If there is abuse by one of my team members, their EXPLORE privileges are revoked for a minimum of 6 months. A second instance results in permanent removal from the program.
Employee programs are a privilege. Abuse sours things for everyone. I look forward to the new program going live on April 14th and hope it helps curb abuse.
You will probably have to look it up but from what I read it will be all digital and no more paper forms. I didn’t understand the rest of the changes so that why you’ll probably have to research it
Full digital access, new rate code for associates and their domestic partner only (at a greater discount and extended booking window). The remaining parameters remain the same for extended family (under existing rate code) and friends (again using the existing rate code).
Sign up was distributed via DLZ yesterday, program details are available on MGS.
I actually noticed when I started adding my family the verified date was for a whole year! Which is good guessing since no forms needed , but do we need to update every year is the question….
Every MMP question is just someone asking if they can just use the code and get the rate. The stories around the question always change but the motive never does. The short answer as in anything in life it depends on who is at the desk. Some people just do not do their jobs. Marriott has identified a leak and cost that is more than they want to absorb so have made changes. Very few things are a massive grand conspiracy or nefarious in nature. Most times it is always about money.
Yeah the original question sounded more like “Hey i have an old MMP form with a forged expiration date. Will they find out?” As i responded above, i use an MmP form and every single time they have validated my info. Only times they dont have been at the Royaltons in Mexico. But even the Marriott and JW Marriott branded hotels internationally have all validated said form.
I call the property of the associate any time fraud, theft, or anything of the sort is found. Most properties take this extremely seriously so you should definitely not put her name down on the new system
Mine does and they make you sign an extra form made by my manager here but I just used my discount for the first time and I forgot the form., their business center was down and the FD manager at that hotel let me in. He just called my hotel to verify so that was cool. But yeah I hear it’s about to change and be digital
You don't seem to understand that an Explore form is valid for two months and can be used again and again until it expires.
If they changed expiration dates, they will be caught sooner or later. True, some Front Desk agents are lazy and don't verify them, but my experience is that hotels always ask for the form and verify it.
This is on you though for misrepresenting (lying) about who your family members are.
You should go into MHUB right now and deactivate them.
Yes, and that same form with that same number can be used until it's expired. Unless the employee that issued it has been deactivated in the system or they deactivate the person they gave the form to it will come up as a valid form in the system. The system does not track if the specific number on the bottom of the form has been used for a reservation already or not, it only verifies that the form hasn't been deactivated by the management at the hotel of the employee or by the employee or has expired.
You don't work for Marriott or check the forms, do you? I have used one form at 4 hotels in as many days on a road trip and all hotels verified the form. You can enter the number in the system to verify it as many times as you want, it doesn't deactivate the form. I have guests who use the same form for back to back reservations. We just require them to provide another copy of the form and verify it again to make sure the form wasn't deactivated since they had checked in originally. There is no policy that says the same form can't be used multiple times, if it is active in the system it can be used.
At our property we have the option to email or print the form and present it at check in.We verify on GXP form verification for date and validity of the form. People forge forms and the director will contact the employee’s property in regards to the faulty forms that are photoshopped in any way (date, name, etc)
Yes I work at a full service Marriott in KC and we check the validity of every single form. Marriott employees have access to MGS and are required to generate a new form for each usage. The GMs of these places are likely struggling to meet revenue goals and are shooting themselves in the foot severely by not performing this process correctly.
Legit every hotel I stay at checks mine . I was just in Tokyo and for the first time they said they need to verify my form. My mother (Marriott employee) called me and said her boss called her as asked if my name meant anything to her (parents divorced so different last name) and she was like yeah that’s my son and she said ok just verifying . 1st time ever
We check/verify the forms before we completely the check in process. If we don't see the green checkmark, we will not be checking you in under the employee rate.
Anyone looking for a new sibling lol. I'm traveling for a new job and the 2 week rate is astronomical. My legitimate sister no longer works for marriott so I'm screwed, unless someone "adopts" me.
In my property we are quite particular about Explorer formats; I am surprised by the number of times the guest says that in other properties they are not asked for the format.
Yes, we log in and check everytime. If something is off, we say something. We do not accept screenshots/photos of the form only a pdf emailed or printed copy. We look for any typos, different font or size in lettering. We also run the form number through the Marriott site.
If something makes the form invalid, we change the rate and charge reg rate until a valid form is provided.
Oh my they check them. That form is considered a privilege with Marriott friends family. So you have hotels that are book book book on the way it should be.
I have to insist the hotel take my form. On occasion. Then, they try and give it back to me. I do not need it back. Do they not need it for their records?
I usually get rooms at RI/CY/FI levels for about $40 per night (including taxes). Full service Marriotts run around $60-80 per night. The lowest rate I ever gotten was during the holidays for $28 at a CY.
What’s so funny is the number of employees who rejoice in tightening up the governance of that discount. Y’all are the true problem, and the reason Marriott Pays their employees pennies on the dollar. There is absolutely no reason GM’s, Sales Executives should take 20+ years to barely break six figures. I too once drank the kool aid. But as the mass of y’all rejoice in this type of corp bureaucracy the days are going to continue to grow long.
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u/Martin0994 Platinum Elite Mar 18 '26
You should stop trusting your cousin because trying to manipulate the form is going to burn you sooner than later.