As part of any CRM program, Marriott knows a lot about its customers and deals with them accordingly. People who spend a lot on room service may get better rooms and more attentive service. People who are serial whiners may wind up in broom closets.

While points are not truly cash, they do hit a property's bottom line. So, while some managers simply toss points around, others recognize that there is an out-of-pocket and crack down. Yet others just figure that the fraud rate as discussed above is likely quite low. So, it's worth making a good customer happy over doing something drastic to a fraudster.

Sooner or later, every time you read a threat about how points have been "devalued" or somehow Marriott has ruined your life because it hates you, think back to the frauds proposed in this thread and ask yourself why it's happening.