4 person/room in Italy not allowed???

Some rooms allow only 2 and some allow 3, 4 or maybe even more. If you put in 4 and get no results then look for a different hotel outside of the Marriot chain.

Suggest you choose a room with two double beds--I don't think they care, as long as it's a family. Have done this in the past with Hilton's and nobody cares--use those points! Seriously, do it that way.

I would call the Marriott Rewards desk. That is what they are there for...and they can help you. Your children are minors!

They should be able to accommodate your request. Try calling their reservation line instead of using their online tools.

As the others have said call Marriott. The following is from the room description on the web page for the Courtyard hotel at Venice airport:

Two large twin beds or one king. No extra bed allowance.
Up to two adults and two children up to 14 years in one room sharing existing beds

Might be a little tight depending on how large the twin beds are.

The Marriott Gran Flora in Rome allows one roll away in some rooms (does that make the max 3 or 4 per room?). No matter what kind of room your looking for its tough to get on points at the Gran Flora.

Not every hotel offers quads. Call (or email) the hotel, tell them what you are looking for and see what they have to offer.

We traveled with three kids and stayed at a variety of family rooms, two rooms and apartments.

Most of the US chain hotels in Europe (i.e. Sheratons, Marriotts, Hiltons, etc) have a max room occupancy of either 2 or 3. There are extremely few chain hotels that will allow 4 in a room. With Marriott I have only found some of the London hotels and the Vienna Marriott that will allow 4.

I have stayed at the Grand Flora and it will be very difficult to fit 4 without being cramped. That said a lot of the Italian hotels have hefty charges if you have more people than you put on the reservations. For example showing up with a 2nd person when you made a rez for 1. This is especially true for most of the Starwood hotels (Westin, Sheraton). Also, the Grand Flora is one of the most difficult hotels in the entire Marriott system at which to redeem points (check out flyertalk.com for all the details).

Please be very careful with your room type - what Jerry says "choose a room with 2 doubles" is not the norm in Europe.

A Double room - fits two people - 1 double bed

A Twin room - fits two people - 2 twin beds (NOT two double or queen beds)

A Quad room - sleeps 4 people - may have two double beds or 1 double with 2 twins/cots, etc.

The best way to figure this out is to contact the hotel directly (or maybe contact Marriot reward desks directly, I've never acutally used their rewards) and tell them who is in your family and ask what they have that will accomodate you. My emai is usually like this:

We are a family of 4 - 2 adults and 2 children ages 10 & 14. We would like to stay with you on x - do you have accomodations that would fit us?

And yes, I've stayed in both Rome and Florence with 4 of us in one room. In Rome we had 2 double beds and in Florence there was 1 double, 1 twin and they brought in a cot for our youngest.

Thanks for all the feedback! When we experienced this in Paris I did call the Rewards line. My boys were 8 and 12 at the time. Know what they told me when I asked them what people with children did in Paris? "People don't bring children to Paris" HE REALLY SAID THAT! We ended up having to get 2 rooms- side/side which would have cost us OVER $4000 USD if we had pd.
Saw the Venice info also online- can 2 adults REALLY sleep in a large twin bed? Is it like a "double?" We are average sized people but still....
Also was not able to redeem points at Gran Flora- correct call there!
Do they have adjoining rooms? I don't recall this as an option in Paris.
Thanks again!