Is there a way to liquidate the $300 stay credit the same way one can do with the Aspire? Presumably if I can find a hotel that charges my card upon booking, book a night, then cancel it, it would work. But Marriott doesn’t seem to have advance purchase room rates that allow refunds far into the future — am I wrong?
I’ve already tried booking an advance rate with “cancel within a day” language, then cancelling the booking at the end of that period, but nothing was charged to my card.
(Dealing with this benefit has been a bit of a nightmare, to be honest. During the time I had various Amex offers active I ended up speaking to nearly every Marriott\SPG front desk in NYC fishing for gift cards that were never available.)