Marriott has started checking who books its corporate rates online
Marriott's corporate codes were easy to guess and listed on websites, with the front desk as the only check, so a traveler booking a company rate online now has to confirm a work email first
by Markus Busch
Driving the news. Marriott now asks travelers to prove they work for a company before it sells them that company's rate online. Travel buyers told Business Travel News on October 15, on condition of anonymity, that the check is reaching some large accounts in phases. Marriott didn't comment to BTN. Its own Help Center spells out how it works.
The company calls it Corporate Qualified Rate Validation. A traveler who enters a corporate code on Marriott.com or in the Bonvoy app may be asked to sign in to Bonvoy, type a work email address and enter a code sent to that inbox.
Gmail and Yahoo addresses don't count. A traveler can be verified for one company at a time. Once verified, the guest sees the company's rates in a "Verified Special Rates" section and doesn't have to repeat the check every time.
Bookings made through the company's own booking tool aren't affected. An assistant booking for her boss can no longer do it on Marriott.com. She goes through the company tool, the phone or the hotel.
Why the codes leaked. A corporate code is a short string of letters typed into a box. Buyers told BTN that Marriott's three-letter codes are easy to guess. Websites keep running lists of corporate codes for several hotel companies, and one of them argues openly that hotels expect codes to leak, because checking costs staff time at the desk.
Until now, the only check came at the desk, and travel managers told BTN that hotels don't always make it. By then the room is sold and the discount is gone.
What Marriott gets. Every corporate rate booked direct now arrives with a Bonvoy profile and a verified employer attached. The rate a company negotiated goes to that company's people. Marriott can count what each company's people actually book on its website, ahead of the next negotiation.
It also clears a hurdle Marriott named in July. Drew Pinto, its chief revenue and technology officer, said then that when employees book direct instead of through the company tool, Marriott wants their travel managers "on board and supportive." A travel manager signs off on that more easily when the direct channel guards the rate she negotiated.
The catch. The buyers are anonymous, and the rollout is partial: the Help Center says travelers "may" be asked to verify. Marriott hasn't said how much leaked codes cost it, or how many accounts are switched on. Buyers told BTN no other hotel company had announced a similar check.
What it means for hotels. At a Marriott hotel, corporate guests from a switched-on account who booked on Marriott.com arrive already checked. Guests who booked before the switch may still be asked for ID, Marriott's page says. Ask your Marriott sales contact which local accounts are live, so the desk knows which is which.
For everyone else, the read is the channel. A corporate traveler who books Marriott direct now does it inside Bonvoy, under a verified employer, at the rate her company negotiated. That is the booking Marriott wants travel managers to stop routing through the company tool.
Marriott's page still asks for corporate ID at check-in. It says the new check should mean fewer guests have to show it.
Read also: Marriott built a private pipe for corporate travel. Now it wants the buyers to use it.
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