Is this hotel/points offer legal?

Hello all! - I have a trip planned for late April. Was looking for offers and whatnot on different message boards and I found this person offering to use his points for my planned 2-night stay at Mandalay Bay and then I would pay him cash. Is this legal and legitimate?

He says, and I quote... "Just send me your full name and I'll book the room. I'll meet u at the registration desk and you will be required to provide ID and a credit card for incidentals. After u get the keys, u pay me cash. Hotel will confirm the room is paid for."

It's only saving me about $75...but, hey, to me $75 is a solid amount...and what will amount to a free poker tournament for me! I can book through the room for $475 for 2 nights (after my MLife discount) through the Mandalay website...but he said he can do it for $400.

Should I take advantage of this $75 off or is it too risky? Thanks!


JD

 

Personally I wouldn't touch it. Lodging issues can completely ruin a vacation and you don't know this guy. Why take the chance over what amounts to, say, dinner at a mid-range restaurant?

 

Don't waste your time with this. Aside from the small print that I am sure says this wont be allowed, you are risking 400 to save 75. Not good math.

 

don't walk away from this deal------run

 

Peace of mind is worth more than $75, you should pass on this offer

 

WHY? $75 possible savings worth maybe getting ripped off when he has his name on the room & charges up big bucks on your credit card? You have no proof that was not part of the agreement.....RUN!

 

If it was a friend or relative that you trust, fine. A stranger? Never.

See what @sybgal says above. If he IS running a con, he could charge hundreds of dollars to your room at MB stores before you even get to your room.

 

Friend/family - maybe.

But - what if he does not show up in the first place. That gamble just went south and you have to pay rack rate.
Mlife would cancel his account if they find out. And probably yours.

But, the biggest is that he could run up a serious amount of charges on YOUR credit card.

Slick little scam.

 

But when you check in, you can opt to disallow room-charging for those whose names are not on the registration, or disallow it altogether.

If the possibility of running up charges on the room is the only point of vulnerability here, this can easily be closed off.

 

On what grounds? This is a points booking, not a comp offer with a gaming obligation.

Imagine you had a relative who was going to Vegas and you offered to cover their room with your points. Happens all the time.

How is this any different from that?

 

I used to do this sort of thing a few years ago (probably did it about 75 times) and never had a problem. I used to sell my comped rooms to fellow poker players at about 75% of the going rate for the hotel but I did it thru a very popular poker message board and I was a highly trusted contributor. I would not suggest doing this with just some random person that is not vetted.

How I used to do it was I would book the comped room in my name, meet the person buying the comped room from me at the check in, they would give their ID and CC to the front desk for the deposit along with my ID and once they were checked in I would get paid.

Again, I was a very trusted contributor to the message board so I wasn't going to screw someone over.

The person you are buying the comp from can't just take their name off the room once yours is put on so if they were shady they could just get an extra key when you're not in the room and ransack it or run up a bill charging to the room.

My advise would be to not go forward unless you 100% trust the person you are buying the comped room from.

 

The room would be in the name of the guy running the scam and he would be adding the OP to the room; no way around that. Not only could the scam artist charge to the room, he could obtain a key at any time as the room would legally be in his name. His points, his reservation, his room.

 

Not disagreeing with you... but I'm just not 100% sure this is fully true. He may have made the reservation with his points, but if he is not the registered occupant of the room (because he did not check in, OP did), I don't think that he would have that capability.

Say for instance I was to go on Expedia right now and book a room for you at Mandalay Bay. I filled in your name under "guest information". I paid with my credit card, the room is reserved. You go to check-in, they know to expect Breanna, not me. You give your ID and credit card, check in, and go to your room. Say then I come through and try to gain access. The reservation isn't under my name, even though I paid for it. So I highly doubt that I would have the ability to get a room key or run up any charges.

I recognize that booking on points is a slightly different mechanism. But again, guest information and payment information are two different things. It would be best for the OP to call the hotel and confirm this, I think. Regardless of what they say I think that a marginal risk of some kind will remain. But assuming the person who booked it doesn't have their name on the actual reservation, I can't quite see how this con would stand to work.

 

Come on.

 

Timeshare presentation. Go for it.

 

Don’t know what to tell you other than you’re wrong. The room is being booked in the scam artist’s name and he is adding the name of whoever would take him up on this. No ifs and or buts; that is the fact.

 

If the room is booked and checked in by the person with the points, or the comp - his name will ALWAYS be on the room. If not, it is not his room.
(and by the way, he does not need a key anyways, nor does he even care)

As to those that give rooms to friends, of course it is done all the time. (we do it)

As to taking away points - look at the fine print. Casinos, airline programs, hotel programs, etc all have rules that they can close you account for any reason - in particular transferring points/benefits/etc to others. Their program. Their rules.

 

https://www.mandalaybay.com/en/booking/room-booking-v2.html?ecid=em_2018_03_mb_PMBNS83&mc_cid=93e616a94e&mc_eid=c3cbc9e9e0#/step1&promoCode=PMBNS83&kbid=335345&arrive=2018-04-05&depart=2018-04-07&numGuests=2 was your price from mlife as good as the one available on this link and include $75 of free credit?

 

Don't waste your time on this. Use my points instead and you save $76. hehe. just kidding.

But yeah, unless you know the guy, I wouldn't do it.

 

Definitely not allowed. And definitely not worth it.