Originally Posted by
LongviewTX
I've never used UR Mall so cannot speak about specifics, but AmEx network (or whatever a similar vehicle for AmEx is called) requires you to pay with the AmEx card. In other words, you don't get points if you pay with gift cards - if UR Mall is similar it probably requires you to pay with your Chase card and thus cannot be double-stacked with credit cards from staples.com.
However it seems like cashback sites not affiliated with particular credit cards (ebates, mrrebates) do offer some cashback so this idea may very well work.
I have both a Chase Sapphire Preferred and a Marriott Visa so I can confirm this is correct.
Going through the the Ultimate Rewards Mall you must click the link directly from the mall and check out with that card. You cannot go to staples.com directly and collect bonus ulimate rewards points.
Buying $100 worth of Marriott cards throught the Ultimate Rewards Mall will net you 400 Ultimate Rewards Points.
When you stay for 1 night with the $100 gift card you will net 10 Marriott points + whatever bonus for elite membership (20% for silver, 25% gold, 50% plat).
This is not any better than paying for $100 worth of room with the Marriott Visa card as it will get you 500 Marriott points. If you wish to sacrifice 1pt/$1 for this transaction for the sake of getting UR points instead of Marriott points go for it.