"JOH is listed on FlyerTalk's "List of publicly usable Marriott reservation codes" as one of the widely-circulated three-letter ticker codes. A self-identified J&J employee was cautioned: "the code is not meant to be shared publicly — the proper way to get it is to email someone from your company." hotelcorporatecodes.com lists JOH at 10-15% discount with "⚠️ Sometimes" verification. FlyerTalk general pattern: pharma/healthcare corporate codes at full-service Marriott yield ~30% chance of check at urban US properties, near-certain in Europe/Asia, essentially zero at select-service. The code's ticker-symbol obviousness means it circulates widely, which has historically triggered audit flags at some properties."

"I swear the front desk employees are trained to resist and encouraged to lie. They try to save the rooms for members with higher status or complainers. I've booked King rooms and they'll assign me a double or a queen. The first rep will tell me they're fully booked and there's nothing they can do. But once transferred to a manager, King rooms magically appear!"

"I don't do mobile check-in if I'm wanting to upgrade. I check the app before I go in to see if any suites are available to book during the duration of my stay. If there is I just say "Would it be possible to get upgraded to an available suite with my platinum benefit?". Of course this is typically at the hotel that I stay in about once a month for 3 day at a time for work. The front desk pretty much knows me and know that I am fairly low maintenance."