Originally Posted by CJKatl

Here's what I don't understand about the welcome gift vs. points...

I can purchase whatever soda/wine/ice cream I want and put it on my expense report, so the money spent isn't out of my pocket...

But the points are mine.

So why does anyone - save someone who is self-employed - ever take anything but the points?

At 80 check-ins a years, and 500 points per check-in, that's 40k points, or 1/3 my seven nights in any European hotel reward.

With that said, I've never had a Marriott property not offer me the welcome gift, and I stay in various properties across the country, rarely stay in the same hotel twice in the same year, and check-in three or four times three weeks out of the month.