Marriott Rewards (including Ritz-Carlton) - Gift card question

I see there are some good gift card promos, I never used a hotel gift card before and I'm new to Marriott too.

So I just buy a gift card and use it at check-in or check-out to pay for my stay, right? The reservation says "Your reservation is guaranteed to your MasterCard". It means they are not going to charge my credit card before check-in, correct? I've seen hotels doing that even though the resevervation said no pre-pay. I actually was surprised the hotel did not require anything pre-paid on a promo rate. It's actually a Renaissance. If they charge my credit card, I would not be able to use my gift card(s). Then I would have $1.5k worth of gift cards unused :) Unless they refund the credit card.

Also, can I use multiple giftcards to pay for one stay?

your question is hard to understand (rambling), but if your reservation was not a pre-paid, then the CC is only used to guarantee the reservation and is not charged until you checkout, however with a GC you use the GC for the actual payment (and the CC is not charged).
Yes, you can use multiple GCs if you have insufficient in the first card the remainder can be charged from the second............

I see there are some good gift card promos, I never used a hotel gift card before and I'm new to Marriott too.

So I just buy a gift card and use it at check-in or check-out to pay for my stay, right? The reservation says "Your reservation is guaranteed to your MasterCard". It means they are not going to charge my credit card before check-in, correct? I've seen hotels doing that even though the resevervation said no pre-pay. I actually was surprised the hotel did not require anything pre-paid on a promo rate. It's actually a Renaissance. If they charge my credit card, I would not be able to use my gift card(s). Then I would have $1.5k worth of gift cards unused :) Unless they refund the credit card.

Also, can I use multiple giftcards to pay for one stay?

In order to try to make sure the front desk doesn't check you out using your credit card on file, I let them know when I check in that I will be using a gift card as partial or complete payment for the room on check-out, and ask them to annotate that in my file.

That usually works, but on the few occasions where it didn't (where they did an anticipatory "express check-out" using the credit card on file), I've been able to get it reversed when I do check out in person. Your problem should arise only if you *don't* check out in person when you leave, but rather allow the "express checkout" to be done automatically (and since you have the gift card, you'd almost have to check out in person for it to be used).

There is one other solution -- apply the gift card before check-out. At some time during your stay, make a "partial payment" against the final bill using the gift card. This ensures the gift card is applied, but won't guarantee to pay the full bill since the final amount is not known for sure until you actually depart.

And as BKKLEE notes, you can use multiple gift cards on one invoice.

Thanks! Good info ^