i still have a small balance on a GC i purchased last year with the wedding promotion. I never had any issues using it in the past but have not used it sinc last year. will that card still be treated as in the past , or will it fall into the abiss i am reading here?

So - are they going to honor the BOGO? And are you contacting Marriott to let them know the GM & BM need training.

What he actually means is DO name the property ;) :D

Cheers.

I've had troubles with a honeymoon card.

The best choice is use credit card

To get back on topic -

Has the Gift card situation started to stabilize as yet? I see a new offer on Marriotts site about getting a $50 Hertz Voucher for every $250 gift card purchased. I am debating whether to bite since the gift card spend has gone up year on year. In 2009 it was $50 Hertz voucher for $150 Marriott, in 2010 it rose to $50 Hertz voucher for $200 Marriott and now $250.

I would still buy it if I can immediately liquidate the Marriott gift card without any hassles. Seems that's not the case these days.

Seamless experience checking out 2 days ago in Baltimore. Folio reflected Gift Card Redemption <amount>, Card # nnnnnnnnnnnnn, Balance: 999.99 Auth 999999

Staying at different property next week and will report results after that stay.

I want in on that deal.

Thanks for the heads up on the Hertz vouchers. My megapile of vouchers from last summer is depleted and just about to expire; it's time for more.

Unfortunately I can't find the T&Cs for the Hertz vouchers. They normally last 8-12 months but no indication on this promotion, not even an expiry date of the offer.

I bought about $6000 of the $150 vouchers in 2009 (I think), and the first batch didn't have any expiration date on them at all. I skipped last year's Hertz promo because I used those undated ones I had. Now I am all out, and ordered another 15 $250 cards. I assume they'll be dated 12 months from day of issue, so it's not really smart to carry too many around.

Still a decent deal though.

Don't worry, I didn't....
;)

Don't know yet. Had another conversation and it centered around the "you're on an extended stay rate that's 45% off the regular rate so you're making out cheaper than if we break up the weekends into their own reservations" song and dance. I can see their argument, especially since this place is booked solid for the near future. But, we shall see....

Here's a funny one from last night:
I used room service for the first time and though, WTH, let's use a dining bogo. Girl totally didn't get it. I ordered 2 entrees. she calls me 10 minutes later and says the chef (?) doesn't know what i'm talking about and she ordered me only one entree. I said, come up and get the coupon. She comes up, gets the coupon and calls me back in a couple saying, it's a half-off coupon, you can only get one entree at half off. Now, if I wasn't hungry, I'd let it go for today but I was HUNGRY. So, I told her to put the chef on, who gave me a little attitude as he read the first line a little snottily "More moments to share enjoy half off dining". I said, "Keep reading. Skip down to the paragraph with the dates and read from there." Silence... So, I read, "When you order... the second entree of equal or lessor value is free..." "do you see that now?" He said, yes. I said great, no problem, 2 salmons, thanks. And 10 minutes later, I had my 2 salmons...

The staff may be a little under-trained but the food is GOOD. And the concierge lounge has take-out containers for the food. ^ Never seen that before. Gonna have to spread that word around....

Actually I'm w/ ohmark on this one. I'm a bit tired of folk complaining about properties & then not posting what properties they're having problems w/. Yeah it's nice for folk to vent (and that's about all it is), but you're not helping your fellow FTers avoid a problematic property when you don't mention which one it is. Given in your specific case you had MULTIPLE problems w/ the property (which doesn't say much for the management), I don't get why you'd 'protect' them by not mentioning the property.

OVMV.

Cheers.

OVMV?

1. Where I'm at is actually posted in a certain sticky.

2. Tonight's dinner - by a different person - was handled perfectly.

3. I'm basically a nice guy and think people deserve a chance to fix their problems. I'm going to be here for at least a couple more months. I have a feeling that they'll be so well-trained that there won't be any problems. ^

It's interesting to see that nothing has changed in 4 years. Here's a post of mine from April 2008, re gift cards:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/9652504-post28.html

"I tried to use a gift card at a Residence Inn last summer. It was a nightmare. They could see the $100 balance, but couldn't figure out how to charge it. The manager at one point suggested that I pay with credit card, then mail my $100 gc into Marriott to be applied to the balance.

I agree that Marriott should train their staff how to process their gift cards. How hard would it be to email all their managers step by step instructions for them to tape to the wall? I mean, seriously, this is not Rocket Science here."

FYI, I ended up calling Marriott and asked them to work with the manager to find resolution. They did manage to finally charge the card and deduct the balance from my folio. But it left a sour taste in my mouth and I haven't bothered with Marriott gift cards since then.

BTW, are these cards the same as the ones you find at grocery stores? Because I've been considering giving these as gifts, but won't if they are still problematic.

I just ordered 4 gift cards of $250 each and the order confirmed that I'd get 4 x $50 Hertz vouchers. Hopefully I should be able to burn through the gift cards without much hassles.

I'll post the T&Cs of the Hertz vouchers once I get them, especially the expiration date. That (and the experience of using the gift cards) is going to determine how many more I stockpile.