pinniped

I really, really hope that Marriott isn't starting to play tricks with its gift cards. Attorneys general in several states have made it a priority to go after merchants who use deceptive practices regarding gift certificates, and one popular category of deception is selling the instrument and then refusing to accept it for "sale" merchandise.

I've never had a problem using a gift card, regardless of the title printed on the front. Well, I've had problems on occasion with clerks who've never seen them, but never an issue like the one described here. Marriott's a better company than the firms that AG's bust for running gift certificate scams: I sincerely hope this was a rogue manager and that he gets his behavior corrected ASAP.

cfischer

While I think most properties accept them for anything (incl. Starbucks etc.) I believe they are technically only good on commissionable rates. I was once told I couldn't use the card on an LNF rate and wrote off the loss. LNF is non-commissionable and if you read the fine-print on the travel card it does exclude such rates.
If I get 19/20 I am actually happy to get another 10% off.

Smart Shopper

cfisher: Marriott offers a variety of instrument for Marriott specific payment like GiftCards (= publicly available prepaid card), Travel Cards (cannot be applied to group, special corporate/negotiated, catering, associate or other discounted/non-commissionable rates), Gift Cheques (may be used for all publicly listed and available room rates and packages), Bonus Bucks (various restrictions like paying publicly available room rates apply), Elite Offer Certificates, etc. All these instruments go with easy to find T&C. To avoid disappointment, everybody is advised to read these lines carefully before s/he buys in.

However, topic of this thread is, if customers are allowed to pay (in part) with Marriott GiftCards if they redeem an Elite Exclusive Offer which entitled them to stay 2nd weekend night for free if the pay a publicly available rate, simple answer is yes. If a hotel does not accept payment by Marriott GiftCards, people don't play by rules established by and communicated from Marriott.

As Marriott Travel Cards are heavily discounted (contact a Marriott Sales Manager in your region, if interested) you either were pulled over the barrel or talk about a different instrument like a Marriott GiftCard.

pinniped

From the client's perspective, "commissionable rate" means nothing. That sounds like travel-agent-speak. If you sell me a gift certificate and I attempt to use it to buy your product, I am not going to care about that kind of fine print.

I would not have the same expectation that I should be able to use a Marriott card at Starbucks, or a Starbucks card at Marriott, or Company X's card for Company Y's product. (Although more often than not, I don't see a Starbucks store inside Marriott hotels, I see Marriott selling Starbucks coffee.)

I realize it gets confusing when there's a restaurant leasing space in a building shared by Marriott - we see this confusion with the EEO 2-for-1 Dining certs - and I wouldn't expect that restaurant to accept Marriott's gift certificates or cards.

Well, yes, they should be discounted. If I invest $1000 today, then my total future cashflows had better be greater than $1000 by an amount that makes sense given my risk tolerance and the timing of the cashflows (represented in this case by the Marriott stays that consume the card).

Buying any kind of gift certificate at face value doesn't make any sense whatsoever unless there's a "hook" that you can monetize. I just paid slightly over face value for a giftcard because of the bonus points promo because I know (a) I'll consume the giftcard balance within about 30 days and (b) I can reasonably well quantify how and when I'll use the bonus points and roughly what value in present terms they have.

If a vendor is selling certificates that have restrictions preventing them from being used "cashlike", then odds are they're going to be a raw deal no matter what since you're forced to overpay the fair market value for whatever product you get back.

bdschobel

I agree. I am a lifetime Platinum member with more than 1500 Marriott nights over almost 30 years. I am very much interested in Marriott's various rules and take the time to learn all I can about them. Even so, I am unable to keep straight all of the various types of gift cards (by whatever name) and the subtly different terms and conditions on each one -- let alone the interactions between them and other Marriott instruments like Bonus Bucks and EEO certificates. Expecting the average traveler to keep all of it straight is totally unreasonable. Even Marriott's own employees can't do it.

Bruce

potterew

Does anyone know how often Marriott offers the opportunity to purchase gift cards and get bonus points? I would like to get a gift card for use in the summer and was wondering if they traditionally offer the deal in the spring timeframe.

LKO

I loved the America Express promo last spring where you got 20% off gift cards. I'd buy some more if they offered that again!

stallion114

Has anyone tried buying Marriott Gift Cards from drupstore.com for batter cashback?
I need about $2000 for an upcoming trip/remainder of my megabonus.

Fatwallet lists drugstore.com at 6%
and giftcards at 1.8% (is that for all gift cards or just drugstore.com GCs?)
Marriott shopping portal is offering 6pts/dollar and I have not found anything in the T+Cs about GCs being excluded.

Has anyone done this successfully? I never bought in Dec thinking that the registry would last forever...

Thanks

bk3day

I've considered doing what you propose but have yet to pull the trigger.

It's been awhile since I've checked the T&Cs but one issue that deterred me was that drugstore.com charges extra to ship GCs.

jsehl

Has anyone else had any issues when paying for a stay with Marriott Gift Cards? I had a $2500 card from the bonus points promotion a few months ago, so I've been using it for several stays.

First off, are the gift cards supposed to be charged before the stay (as if you're paying in cash) or when you check out (as if you're paying with a credit card)? I would assume when you check out, but I usually tell the clerk when I check in that I have a gift card just so they won't charge my credit card early before I have a chance to put the charge on my gift card.

The first time I tried to use it, the hotel rep seemed confused on how to charge the card. He was surprised that the amount of the card exceeded the amount of the cost of the stay; he actually didn't return the card (I remembered later and got it back). Then when he charged the card, he rounded up the amount to the nearest dollar, so I was effectively overcharged by however many cents below a round dollar amount the amount of the bill was. When I checked out, my folio listed a refund for that amount, but to my credit card, so I could never get that refund (since a charge was never actually put on my credit card).

I later worked it out after several emails and phone calls with hotel management.

Then more recently, I had 704.38 remaining on my gift card which I wanted to use to pay for part of my stay (whose total cost was over 2000). The hotel rep was nice enough to call to find out the remaining balance on my card, but he then assumed that it would be okay to just charge 700 to my card. The weird thing is that he intended to keep the card (as he would if the card was emptied out). I had to specifically ask to charge the whole amount of the card. Later, I found that he only charged 704 to my card (and he still had the card). I called and asked to have the remaining 38 cents, but he didn't have the authority to charge less than a dollar. I eventually had to go through Marriott Rewards and have the manager of the hotel clear the original transaction completely and recharge my gift card for 704.38. Granted, the rep may have intended to return the card to me and forgot, but I still think it's weird that he didn't want to automatically clear out the card.

So I ended up fixing all of the problems, but I feel sort of dumb having to make all these calls for fractional dollar amounts. Am I doing something wrong? Should I not even mention I have a gift card until I check out? More than once for a long stay, though, my credit card has been charged in the middle of the stay, so I wanted to avoid that situation.

Tanic

Marriott gift cards seem to confound FD reps more often than they should. I never mention that I am paying with a GC until checkout; then have the bill total deducted from the GC. If you will be in a hurry checking out, settle the bill night before leaving.

I always have the GC returned to me even when the balance should be $0.00. On more than one occasion, there was a mistake where my credit card was charged and the GC still had a balance. Treat the card like cash, do not let the hotel keep the GC. Some hotels make a copy of the card for their own files.

It is helpful to know the card value before using it since the FD cannot deduct more than the stored value; they always can deduct less. I use a sticky note attached to each card. Check GC balances here.

ncfinfan

I'll second to make sure you keep the card when it has a $0 balance. I had one hotel reverse the charge for a reason they couldn't explain. I found the charge on my credit card. Pulled up the receipt from my expense report showing it was charged to the gift card and had to call and have them change the charge back to the gift card. If I didn't have the gift card I could of had problems.

The gift cards are processed like Visa cards and usually if you tell the FD they will be able to process them. But you should always plan for extra time to check out.

EmoryFlyer

I've had more than one clerk say that they were required to keep the gift cards even though the balance was ZERO....from one property to the next, there's very little consistency. The good news is that you can clearly tell if the clerk did the right thing by getting a new receipt after the gift card transaction and matching up the last four digits on the folio (under VISA which is how gift card redemptions appear) to the actual card itself. Doing that, even when paying the reminder with a "real" visa, has helped determine if the clerk made an error or not. It's also proof for if there are any issues later.

Counsellor

Many of us already know this, but it bears repeating -- some properties have equipment that doesn't read the gift card correctly when it is swiped and doesn't recognize it as a stored-value VISA card. In those cases, tell the desk associate to add a "4" in front of the gift card number.

Otherwise most check-outs go routinely if you mention the gift card can be treated like a VISA card.

And I usually mention when checking in that I'll be paying with a gift card so the check-in associate can code the stay not to be routinely closed out ahead of check-out (where they charge your card automatically when they do the notional invoice they slip under your door).

nacho

Somehow I had so much trouble using the gift card in the US - they really know what it is. However all the FDs I talked to saying that processing a GC is not the same as swiping through a visa. I saw that they swiped the card, typed things and swiped. The whole thing took like 3 minutes but it's unnecessary work. Once I was asked by a FD the balance of my card, I said, 'I don't know since I don;t keep track of remaining value'. Then she said that if the amount left in the GC is less than the bill, they can't deduct money from the GC that has insufficient, so she had to know in advance that there was enough money in my GC.

One thing it might be useful to know - Marriott don't charge your folio until midnight after your check-out date. I was told by various FD because I ran down to pay as soon as I saw the bill under my door. They said no worries since they won't charge your CC until midnight on the day you checked out.

I tried to mention to FDs that I'm going to pay with a GC and they all say that it's ok, just do it at check-out.

It's so troublesome - for both customers and FD. In Germany I used it 2 times and they never needed to typed anything, just swiped the card once and it went through.

Once they over-charged me on my GC and be able to cancel the transaction and charged the right amount afterwards! I was worried since the FD asked me how to charge me with the GC. I told her to treat it as a visa and she swiped through the machine, no problemo.