GateGuardian

When is the best time to use the gift card? At check-in, mid-stay, check-out?

Here's my experience so far:

• Renaissance Plantation Florida - Presented e-gift card at check-in, FD applied the whole GC to the bill without any issues.
• AC Hotel Sunrise Florida - Presented physical gift card mid-stay and FD was only able to charge the nights that I have stayed so far and told me to come back down during check-out to charge it again.
• Westin Fort Lauderdale North - Presented gift card at check-out and FD said they'll have to take a photocopy and let the manager or backoffice take care of it. I just gave up and decide to use the physical GC for another future stay.

Schnit

in my experience all of the above. Most FDA don't know how to use them. So you need to try every person you see

asovse1

If they send me an email before arrival, I remind them that I'm gonna be using a gift card and I hope they're prepared to process it. Usually they respond that they're equipped and trained to do so which is a good way to shut up the front desk associates who say that their property doesn't take them.

I send another chat on the day-of asking if it's okay to use gift cards and I usually try after breakfast on the final day to settle my bill, working in time for a contingency at my actual check-out time.

crimsona

Successfully used at Marriott Waikoloa on Big Island of Hawaii.

Had many separate stays due to limited night availability during a conference and using 35k and 50k nights from multiple accounts. I basically went to front desk once a day to settle my bill via giftcard. By the end a bunch of their staff brushed up on the use of givex

Marriott Victoria BC also processed the giftcard no problem, at close to spot rate last year.

Delta Kamloops BC processed giftcard on day of checkout, was CAD GC and a CAD bill so no forex involved

FlySkyHigh

anyone having trouble managing their giftcards lately? Can't seem to sign in

https://gifts.marriott.com/login/

margarita girl

No issues for me today. I signed in to check my balances before paying my bill.

margarita girl

I checked out of a Marriott hotel in Bangkok on Feb 28. I had verified at check-in two days earlier, that they would be able to process gift cards, and I was told there wouldn't be a problem. Nevertheless I tried to pay my bill at 10 am on check out day even though I wouldn't be leaving until 8 pm. The FD Mgr worked at it for quite a while before saying there was a problem and the credit wasn't going to the correct property. I offered to leave my gift cards with her (I had 3 cards with a total of just a few dollars more than my bill). Around 4 pm, they still hadn't resolved the problem, so I said I was fine with leaving the cards with them if they were OK with me leaving without paying the bill. (They were able to check the balances on all the cards.) They agreed.

Finally today, Mar 4, I see that 2 of the cards have been zeroed out and there is just a small balance left on the 3rd card.

Would it have been easier to pay with a credit card, sure. Would I rather have the slight inconvenience and get 20% off my bill, you betcha! For anyone wanting to get rid of their gift cards, I would be happy to buy them from you.

I had a friend staying at a Marriott hotel a few weeks ago and he sent me this note afterwards.

"By the way I dropped off the gift certs at the front desk and told them to process them as a deposit on my account.

The next day they called to say they didn’t know how to use them, and I said OK that’s fine I will take 1 night free in the hotel and give me back the certs and I will use them in the next hotel.

GUESS what, they learned how to use them."

That's not my style, but I had a good laugh.

flyerUSA

I'm trying to use one of my Amex offers before it expires on March 31....
Get 20% back on purchases, up to a total of $50

- and my next hotel stay won't be until April.

I'm assuming that buying a gift card online won't trigger the $50 credit?

So my next idea was to visit a Marriott hotel in NYC and buy a physical gift card in person at the counter, but I'm not sure which properties actually participate and do this. Hoping to save myself a million phone calls or running around the city and see if anyone here has personal experience doing this in New York or advice on which hotel to visit.

(I have already considered reaching out to an April hotel to pre-pay that reservation but my plans are too unreliable and I can't lock myself into a prepaid situation.)

Thanks all!

crimsona

Successfully used e giftcard at le meridien taichung

Exchange rate applied: 30.527 ntd to USD

Google exchange rate: 30.49

Marginally in my favor

Looking at their interface, I can see how most locations can charge spot rate by selecting local currency, and shady locations like sky city Marriott Hong Kong charge obnoxious exchange rates.

There's a drop-down to pick the currency, and it's either local or you can select a foreign one. A location can select USD, calculate a terrible rate and then charge the giftcard for that amount

margarita girl

Interesting, I�ve never run into that situation and I will be staying at the SkyCity in a few days. I�ll report back!

lsquare

So what's the strategy to get the the hotel to use local currency when processing a gift card?

crimsona

All locations I've been to have done it in local currency. How to make a rebel location do it properly, I don't know.

I always charge it into a Marriott Amex brilliant to deter dynamic currency conversion to begin with

lsquare

So you use the e-gc and the Brilliant in the same transaction to force the system to charge you in local currency? How can I check all these steps before the transaction is processed?

crimsona

Not forcing anything. They have to use givex to process the giftcard. The hotel can charge any value to the giftcard, it's up to the hotel what currency and amount they choose to

If I don't trust the hotel to dcc, I'll just use the Amex and not a giftcard at all

margarita girl

I can confirm that the Marriott SkyCity is now using the correct Givex rate which is very close to the rate I'm getting on my XE app. It was a difference of 0.2% in hotel's favor which is quite acceptable. I asked for the conversion rate before authorizing processing the gift card, and the FD agent gave me a printout of what was on my card.