Marriott Gift Card is essentially preloaded Visa branded stored value card that can be used as if it would be Visa and it shows as Visa payment on the receipt.

IMHO it is better to use usual credit card when checking into the hotel and when checking out settle the folio to the gif card. This way the hotel doesn't hold "extensive" amounts from the gift card that drop off only when the charge is finally settled.

All right. So I tried to check out with it with the Gift Card FAQ print out and STILL they would not even TRY to swipe it. They claim that their 'accounts' department will not allow them to accept these. Furthermore I tried to get them to call Central Gift Card Services to get the story right and they refused. They say that Central Gift Cards Sevices agent misspoke and they will not accept the cards.

THere MUST be someone else who I can escalate this to. Miss Preston Marriott cannot possibly be the end all be all.

Does anyone know if it would be possible to pay with a card then reverse the charges later and charge the gift card?

OR

Does anyone know how the orginizational charts are structured at Marriott so that I can talk to someone more senior than Miss Preston Marriott?

Stephany,

I presume you have a MR number.

Everytime I have rung Marriott Rewards in London they have been excellent in sorting out any issues. I am a plat prem, but they were always good before I reached that level.

From the UK the number is 0207 012 7312

Tom

a month ago I checked into a Marriott gave the GC at Check-in along with 1 Premium Pound Cert. Somehow they goofed and ended up charging me $144 more then should have so my final bill showed up with a refund to me. Only they refunded my CC that I have on my profile and which was used when I made the res, and not my GC. I called the 800# on the back of the card (its a US#) and they went in and reversed the charges by chrging my CC so now no refund and putting the $$ back onto my GC

Sounds like that is going to have to be what I do. It is such a shame as I will be staying at this particular Marriott through September for four nights a weeks so wanted to take advantage of the gift card promotions they have.

Has anyone had any luck escalating above the Marriott manager?

You are dealing with some stubborn people. The Marriott Gift Card is a Visa stored value card. The hotels account department sees it as a normal Visa transaction. I would NOT leave from the hotel before they have swiped the card.

I was forced to check out of the hotel with out the gift card in hopes that I could resolve this after the fact.

I have now called every number I have for Marriott and still no avail. The elite Marriott number in the UK claims that ONLY the hotel can reverse the charge and charge the gift card and given my battle this week i KNOW that they will not do that for me.

There MUST be some other way to handle this. Has ANYONE used one of these gift cards in the UK? If so which one? Are there any other Marriott number I could call that has the power to reverse a charge?

Thank you so much for all of your advice.

Theres a US 800# on the back of mine 800-442-6132 thats the 1 I called and they took care of it for me. Problem is for me it was a Toll-free call here in the US. You will have to pay for it I believe, but if You have abunch of theses GCs and will be staying as much as You say then You might have no other choice.

Make sure you have you GC acct # when you call its also on the back of the
card

Just notice a Url;gifts.marriott.com says can be used if you have questions etc, try it but I personally would rather speak to someone , but if it will cost me alot to call then Id do the email thing and hope that takes care of it. Include your # maybe they will call You.

hope this helps , lets Us know what happens

From the UK you can use Skype to call 1-800 numbers in the US by the way...

Surely the real issue for you is to be able to use the gift card for your future stays rather than getting your first stay reversed. This is where Marriott Guest Services should help you - what did they say about future use of the gift card?

It is an issue to get the previous stays reversed as this is the second full week that they have had problems. Thy first week she wrote down the number rather than swiping it saying that she would take care of it. When I tried to get this week's stay figured out, she said that they could not use last weeks or this weeks.

As the stay is in pounds and I have the charge for the gift cards on the credit card as well, getting these 8 nights reversed (at £115 a night) reversing these two weeks makes quite a difference at the end of the month when I have to pay my CC bill.

The hotel STILL says that they cannot use these cards even on future stays even though I know the central Marriott people know that I can.

I can see your frustration, it maybe you are the first person to try and use $ denominated gift cards in the UK.

I am UK based, and I bought $2,000 worth of gift cards at new year to get the 25,000 points bonus. I have not used them yet, but intend to use them in Quito and Washington DC later on this year. As both locations bill in $ I expect it to work.

I am staying in 2 Marriott hotels in the UK in the next 7 days. Out of interest, I will present my $ denominated gift cards and see how they react. I will let you know how I get on next week. I won't actually use them as the $/£ exchange rate they give at hotels is always outrageous. You may find that using your giftcard for bill payment costs you a lot more in $ than your credit card for that reason.

Tom

I absolutely hate repeating myself but the hotel sees these gift cards as Visa cards ont heir system. Just ask them to run them as Visa cards and don'tleave before they have done that. Plain and simple.

If I could get the miserable Marriott Front Desk Agents to swipe it, I would be fine. The fact is that they REFUSE to try. Flat out refuse.

I just got off the phone with the 800 number on the back of the gift cards. They stated that they do not have the power to reverse any credit card charges. They have, however, offered to call the hotel directly and WALK them through the process for taking these. At least she has, without a doubt, confirmed that this hotel is being a pain and I should be able to use these at any Marriott that can take a credit card. She also gave me the EXACT steps to punch these in manually (and yes, you do need to enter a 4 first to have the system recognize it as a Visa)

I am back there again tomorrow (lucky me) when the general manager is back so I will at least be able to deal with someone more senior.

I will keep you posted on how it goes.

I had the same problem at the Marriott Chateau Champlain in Montreal. I gave the card to a waiter in the restaurant and he handed it back to me saying he didn't know what it was and wouldn't accept it. I than emailed Marriott Customer Service asking what good these cards were if Marriott personnel didn't know how to redeem them. I received an answer back to my email within a day.
Dear Mr. General45:
As a hotel liaison for Marriott Corporate, I am in receipt of your email concerning your experience in redeeming Marriott gift cards. Please accept our apologies for your frustration in this matter. Your past experience has been noted in our office and at Marriott Corporate office. Your feedback is valued and we appreciate you taking the time to share it so improvements can be made! The Chateau Champlain Marriott will be replying to your email too.
Please know that each employee who handles monetary transactions is trained in all aspects of possible forms of payments. Your feedback helps us know that training on gift cards needs to be reviewed!
If I can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact me at [email protected].
Your patronage with Marriott is appreciated!
Sincerely,
Nancy Soener
Customer Care Regional Liaison
Marriott & Renaissance Customer Care
Email: [email protected]
Now I don't know if anyone has been retrained since this incident but maybe she can help you out. I did receive a reply from the hotel along with 5,000 points^ for my trouble. A few weeks later I did use a card to pay for breakfast but instead of just charging the amount of the meal and tip which came to $16.00 the waitress cashed out the whole card and returned with $34.00 change, not exactly what Marriott had in mind when designing the card but at least it was accepted for payment.