Originally Posted by pooker

I purchased a large amount of gift cards from Marriott (they had a good promotion going on). The gift card T&C's states that it is accepted at any Marriott property. The gift card facilities messed up on my order so they sent me an e-gift card with my amount. In the e-mail and in Marriott's T&C's it states this is to be used like any physical gift card.

So far I have had two hotels seemingly decline it. I was told from gift card services that this was accepted at all Marriott's. I e-mailed Marriott and they replied and stated that these hotels would accept the gift card. I am currently a guest at one of these hotels and they called the hotel on my behalf. I was told that they spoke to the manager (who would be reaching out to me today, which never happened) and they verified it with Joe (a Marriott employee) that they would in fact accept my gift card.

After not hearing from the manager all day, I went downstairs to verify that everything was good to go with my gift card and to question why Jessica never reached out to me. I was informed that they will not be accepting my e-gift card and that although Marriott did call, the person they talked to had no authority to make a claim like that.

I was made to feel like I was scamming the hotel and it was hostile for me. When I inquired why the manager never reached out to me, I was merely informed that they will talk to me on checkout (11/25).

I e-mailed Marriott again and called customer service (my phone call was a documented 40 minutes long because of the wait). They told me that while all Marriott's should accept this gift card, it is up to the individual facility.

I ended up eating candy bars for Thanksgiving due to the two hotels charging everything to my credit card and maxing them out. I was unable to withdraw funds from my bank due to the holiday. Marriott said there is nothing they can do about this. Gift card services said while they were at fault, there is still nothing they can do. It is up to the hotel's discretion on whether or not they accept a gift card (regardless if it is digital or physical).

I just wanted to give a warning to people out there. If I knew this could of happened I would of never purchased these gift cards. I didn't know that accepting gift cards was discretionary.

I guess I am curious on what some of you would do in this situation. I am honestly tired of arguing and I am thinking about just cutting my losses and having this gift card go to waste. Marriott says there is nothing they can do.