Since Staples seems to be broken in terms of Marriott GC activation, I needed a new route and had found that Lowes could sell and activate them fine (as I had posted when using my Freedom card). So I tried a new route, I bought the $500 Home Improvement Gift Card at OfficeDepot (5X with my Ink), then went to Lowes and bought 5 x $100 Marriott GC. No problem, they took it with no questions. Nice way to get the 5X and clear out the $500 card in one swipe.
Luckily Lowes and OD are in the same shopping center, so I went back and got two more $500 HIGC and cleared one for five more Marriott cards and actually used the other one for some home improvement

Time for new hose, plants, mulch, etc....