Was at a brand new Aloft in Orlando area last week. Nobody knew how to correctly process gift card, BUT ALSO REFUSED to take the instruction sheet I brought with me! At the end the FD person at check in took a picture of the GC, a night supervisor did the redemption with a "Forced Redemption" method - yes, this is exact words shown in my gift card account. Forced Redemption. The folio showed $0.99 was charged to the AMEX card and the balance charged to the gift card. In reality the full amount was charged to the gift card as "Forced Redemption" and a $0.99 refund showed up on my AMEX 3 days later.
Thankfully the next hotel, a Springhill just a couple miles south, knew exactly what to do with gift cards.