generally I wouldn't however Sabreena is listed on several websites and it is standard practice to use first name - dot - last name for your Marriott contact
................ (although asians generally only use the first letter of their last name following the "dot").........

Thanks to all for the help and advice.

Update
The hotel contact emailed indicating they WILL accept the eGift Card. It took a couple days for them to give me the difinitive answer because they wanted to be sure. I'm confident it won't be an issue, although I was told to present the card at check-in.

It has also been confirmed that the points for the stay will be credited the same as if I used any other method of payment.

The only question that remains is whether I get the CC points credited like I stayed in a hotel (5x) or a lower amount. Even if it's a lower amount, I come out at least 5k ahead using the eGift Card.

In Addition
I'm going to purchase cards as gifts this holiday season. I've got a niece and a nephew who are both high school juniors looking at colleges. Both families could get good use out of the cards. In the past, I've given points to both families, but given my redemption for two rooms over twelve nights in Budapest, Amsterdam and Thailand last year, and my upcoming six nights, two rooms in Paris the first week of April, that resevoir is running pretty low right now.

I stayed at CY Hong Kong last year and they took a big amount as authorization on my cc - I stayed for like 9 nights and they authorized about HKD 7500 for my stay. She said it's the room rate plus something per night for 'security' just in case. I thought, sure as long as you don't charge me I'm fine.

I paid with GC and that went smoothly - it was because the FD manager was there to take care of it.

I stayed at CP and HIE in Hong Kong and they also use authorization too.

Just checked out of Hamburg Marriott Monday and when we checked in we told them about the Gift Card and the FD was a bit shocked and then said she can 'prepare' for the payment. At check-out they didn't give me any receipts since I paid with Gift Card, Marriott takes the receipt.

TBH I won't buy eGC - think about how the European Marriotts are going to handle this? They saw the card and they were puzzled and what if they don't even see the card? I have been emailing to MC here on FT to report my bad experience for using Gift Cards but so far there is very little improvement - on the contrary one hotel stopped taking GC payment over the weekend since September.

Any good experience with eGift-card?
 

Hi all,

I'm thinking of purchasing gift-card, but the shipping fee will cost me an additional 19 USD...So does anyone has any good experience with the e-gift card?

Besides, if I purchased the gift card and register it under my name, can I use it to pay for the room which is reserved under my girlfriend's name? Will she get her marriott points for that stay?

Thanks a lot, guys.

Regards.

For my stay next week, I emailed the property to specifically ask about using the eGift Card. The contact wrote that the property will accept the card, but I had to show it check-in. I've printed both the card and the email (twice), stapled the two things together and put them in both my computer bag and the suitcase being used for the trip. I'll report back whether there is any issue; hopefully the extra caution will alleviate any issues.

CJKatl, thanks a lot for your information. If possible please let us know whether it works well or not=) Thanks a lot.

the basic rules say reservation must be in your girlfriends name who must stay in the room as a registered guest and who must pay for the invoice, HOWEVER due to MRs consistent inconsistency it's possible your payment may negate her points or it may not........... to insure her stay/points, why not just buy limited GC in her name and let her use it for payment - then no problems.............

Will do. Clarification: My trip is THIS week. Time's a-flyin'. I'll post on Thursday, after check-in.

Gift card vs. e-gift card
 

I just bought a $1000 gift card with my Marriott Chase card. 5005 points posted for the purchase ($1 shipping). So you definitely get 5 pp$ with this purchase.

Oh, and I got the standard points when used at a Marriott last week.

Can gift card be used online at Marriott official website? or I need to book with cc and change the payment (credit back to cc and repay) to gift card?

If I'm following what you are asking, here are the steps:

1. Make your reservation, holding it with a credit card.
2. Contact the hotel to make sure they will accept the Gift Card or eGift Card.
3. Order the gift card online, paying with your Marriott CC for the additional 5x points.
4. At check-in, present the Gift Card or eGift Card. Your credit card will still be needed to secure any charges above the Gift Card amount.

There was no hitch checking in with the eGift Card last night. It had already been noted on my reservation and there was an employee on duty ready to do what needed to be done. Emailing the hotel ahead of time letting them know I'd be using the eGift Card is likely what made the check-in so easy.

Thanks a lot for your information, glad to hear that.

While AMT promo code is applied only for giftcard purchase, the 10points/dollar promo is applied on both egiftcard and giftcard purchase right?

And do they have name printed on that e-giftcard/email? Can I for example, buy the e-giftcard using my name and my marriott number(to get the 10points/dollar promo), then give it to my parents to use it? Will I have to be there during the check-in if my parents wanna use my egiftcard to pay for their room?

Correct. I purchased an eGift Card, entered my MR# during checkout and received a confirmation email indicating the 10x points were applied. The original email suggested it was for Gift Cards, but had a statement that said something like, "if you need faster delivery, use an eGift Card." I then called to confirm the deal applied to eGift Cards, too.

Two names appeared on the eGift Card: the purchaser and the recipient. The purchaser gets the 10x credits. The recipient uses the eGift Card to pay for the room, and would need to be there at check-in.

I used my full name as the recipient and my initials as the sender and it was very clear where each designation went on the eGift Card.

FYI, the physical gift cards have no name on them, they look just like the ones you buy from the check out line at the grocery store. And $1000 or less is only a $1 shipping charge, IIRC.

Thanks a lot for your information. So, do we still have to register the egiftcard under the giftcard account which would help us to get the refund in case our giftcard is lost?

And things seems to be more complicated in my case...We are travelling in four, and I would be the one purchasing to get the points...2of them are not frequent travelers, but some rooms/nights are booked under their name, so in this case, if I purchase it and put their name as recipients on the e-gift card, they would have some balance after paying for those nights booked under their name.

So, do you have any idea, whether I can use the e-gift card, with my name as recipient, to pay for my friend's room while I'm present there? Will he get the marriott points? Besides, it seems that it's ok to leave the recipient/purchaser info blank...So what would actually happen?

Thanks a lot, CJKatl...