Marriott Rewards gives 10 MR points per dollar spent (exclusive of taxes, etc.). For overseas stays where the rate is denominated in a non-dollar currency, they use an exchange or conversion rate to calculate how many dollars is equivalent to what you paid, and then apply the 10 points per dollar (plus any elite bonus).

The question I have is where they get the rate they apply? I've been following this for about three years now, and it seems (with few rare exceptions) that they use a rate that is artificially low.

I got to calculating the other day for three recent stays in Euroland. (It's easy to calculate "after tax" since the tax has to be shown separately on the bill.)

The following table (if it works out) shows the results:

Column 1 is the date of the transaction;
Column 2 is the exchange rate (dollars per euro) my credit card billed me;
Column 3 is the basic interbank rate for that date according to www.oanda.com ; and
Column 4 is the rate applied by Marriott Rewards.

12-22-03 . . 1.27 . . 1.23 . . 1.18
01-11-04 . . 1.31 . . 1.28 . . 1.255
02-13-04 . . 1.31 . . 1.28 . . 1.24

As you can see, no apparent rhyme or reason to the calculations, except that the Marriott rate is always significantly lower than the actual rate paid, or even the interbank rate.

So, where are they getting their rate? And why is it so much lower than what the MR member is actually paying? Over the last couple years, I've lost thousands of points because of that.

I've done a "search", and although the question has been asked, in one form or another, various times, no answer has been provided.

(It would be really nice if we could persuade Marriott to use the same conversion rate their hotel properties use, wouldn't it? )