I did a quick search on the topic and nothing has been written since 2005... so I figured it was time to re-open the debate. Being a platinum based in Singapore my stays are almost exclusively outside the US... but I'm using the Marriott credit card - and find that I am consistently being short-changed on points credited per stay.

So before I take this up with MR support - what is officially not counted towards the points earned?
- Taxes?
- Service Charges?
- Internet?
- Car/Local Transportation?

Food/Accommodation are a no-brainer to me.

I stayed at the Sydney Harbour Marriott for AU$1423.94 - posted to my CC at US$1113.27 - the base earnings for MR were 7958.

I highly doubt that US$318 of that bill was taxes (itemized GST on the bill was AU$129 - so I feel that I've been short-changed ~2000 points here.

Then I stayed at Renaissance Makati for PHP 18966.28 - posted to my CC at US$414.50 - base earnings for MR were 2200.

Another big discrepancy that cannot be explained by taxes - but 25% of my bill was transportation - so I'm not sure if that's eligible.

Most recently I stayed at the Putrajaya Marriott for RM2824 - posted to my CC at US$833.17 - base earnings for MR were 6106.

Another case with a lot of transportation.

I haven't done an exhaustive analysis of each and every stay and trying to analyze the points posted... but I have all of the bills for the past 12 months - and if I can get a clear understanding of what is/isn't eligible - I'm going to run the numbers and see if my theory has backing...

If so - it would be quite infuriating for MR to be 'skimming' off the points credited via some opaque/non-public exchange rates!