Originally Posted by
margarita girl
There are a few unusual things that I have paid for with my gift cards. One is Hop On/Hop Off bus that was charged to my room. I also bought stamps which I charged to my room. Any bar/dinner bills that are (or can be charged) to your room can be paid with a gift card so that means that you'll get a 20% discount even on tipping!
Anything within the folio can be paid with GC, provided of course the FD knows how to process a GC. That seems to be a total luck of draw of the properties you stay at.
Originally Posted by
margarita girl
I'm guessing Marriott takes the hit on the 20% discount (not the property) and they probably make up for it with breakage.
The property has no knowledge on how you acquire the GC (purchased or actually a gift received), let alone the cost to acquire such GC. As in most AMEX offers that are from specific merchants, it is the merchants bear the promotion cost. Marriott is no different.
That said, in 2023 the meaningful, useful AMEX offers are far and few in between, not limited to the usual Marriott offers.
Originally Posted by
ElevatorEnthusiast
Very surprised at the speed of redemption at the Marriott Marquis New York - I apologized in advance for having 3 separate cards to redeem (from various family gifts + my Ambassador yearly gift). The FDA said no problem, typed like a whirlwind, verified the balances, and emailed me my new receipt within 2 minutes. So, it definitely…can…be easy to redeem these if the agent is informed of the process.
Those properties who know how to process GC are truly very competent, take no time to finish the job. Those who dont know how, and yet dont want to learn (there is a manual at the accounting dept I once discovered in a local Sheraton), are the truly annoying lots.