Okay, actually an interesting discovery:

When I click on “reserve a room” via the BBC website, that loads my browser with a cookie that helpfully tells Marriott what days and so on and so forth.

That cookie then stays in my fuckin’ browser.

So I get the OOPSIE NO ROOM FOR YOU SLOWPOKE popup, right? And I go back and twiddle with my settings, still no room. Then I try to search for a room via Marriott’s own site, not attached to the BBC landing page, but the cookie is still active.

It keeps giving me fuck-offs. No rooms for the designated period, no rooms for the designated period.

My solution — I fixed it, it’s all cool — was to open an incognito browser (Chrome!) and start the search from scratch. Got a room for $151/night, nbd. Tiny bit more than the group rate but whatever. I’m booked.

Sean Nittner you might want to bring this up with Marriott, because I would have otherwise gone off to some other hotel, been a sad panda, and secretly blamed you, Marriott and the Bay Area GOP for my woes.