MyPoints response to this question
 

I was thinking about "buying" a $50 MR gift card with my MyPoints, so I posed the same question to them. Below are the T&C's (but NO mention of expiration dates):

Dear Loomis,

Thank you for contacting MyPoints Member Services.



Below you will find the actual terms and condition listed on the
Marriot Cheque.


Marriott Terms and Conditions

1. Marriott Cheques are valid at all Marriott Hotels & Resorts, JW
Marriott hotels and Resorts, Renaissance Hotels and Resorts, Courtyard,
Residence Inn SpringHill Suites, TownePlace Suites, Fairfield Inn, and
Marriott Vacation Club International locations. Marriott Cheques are
NOT VALID at ExecuStay by Marriott.

2 It is not necessary to be a registered guest to use Marriott
Cheques.

3. If a registered guest, charge goods and services to the room and
present the Cheque at the front desk at check-out. If a non-registered
guest, present the Cheque at the time of purchase. The total charges
will be reduced by the face value of the Cheque.

4. Credit must be established at check-in by presenting a valid form
of payment, which may include presenting Marriott Cheques.

5. Marriott Cheques may not be accepted at concessions within the
hotel not owned or operated by Marriott or Renaissance. Please confirm
with the hotel prior to making the purchase.

6. This Cheque is issued by and is the property of MI Fulfillment
Services, LLC. Marriott Cheques are not redeemable for cash. Change will
not be given on Cheques presented as payment for goods and services.
Cheques are void and will not be honored if sold for cash or other
consideration.

7. Marriott Cheques may be supplemented by payment of cash,
acceptable checks, or valid credit card.

8. Marriott Cheques may be used for all publicly listed and
available room rates and packages, but cannot be used for convention, group,
travel industry, tour, advance purchase, catering, or group room rates.

9. Marriott Cheques are not replaceable if lost, stolen, destroyed
or expired.

10. Marriott Cheques are transferable when gifted.

11. Any tax liability, including disclosure, connected with receipt
or use of this Cheque is the recipient's responsibility.

12. Marriott Cheques may not be resold or auctioned online.

For more information please contact Marriott's corporate office or the
Marriott hotel you will be staying at.

Please respond to this message if you have any additional questions.
Thank you for being a loyal MyPoints member.

Best Regards,
xxxxxxx
MyPoints Member Services

----Replied Message----

From: Loomis
To: [email protected]
Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2008 06:36:16 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Expiration date on Marriott gift certificates? --> Ref
#[1MFnx93Dr75SPmp]


>Dear MyPoints,
>
> Could you please let me know what the terms and conditions are on
the $50 Marriott gift certicate reward? Specifically, is there an
expiration date and/or penalty for not using it in full within a certain
amount of time?
>
> I could not find those details on your website. Please advise.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Loomis
> Long-time MyPoints Member

I would never buy the card again. If you lose the card, your money is lost. They will not cancel the lost card and re-issue another card.

You are so right!
 

I bought two for the Delta Amex Suit case specials.
Then I bought 3 more for the Marriott 10% discount.
Then another one, which was ground shipped to a hotel after I checked out and it took a month for them to rescue it. I finally got a credit for the last one months later.

Too this day a year later, when I am going to use up the last of them at Marriott Hotels only, I am struggling with confirming there is still one of them not eluding my use of it.

The Marritt Guest Services is very relunctant to give meaningful information, other then give you the automated balance on the card. My conclusion is there is a high turnover of assistents answering the phone.

:td:

I would think the new mC's Drew and Marie could help with this. If they do not notice your post; PM them - they have been great about helping in this type of situation.........

Experiation date! Great!
 

There was talk of a ONE YEAR experiration date.
One card had 1/11 for the Exp date.
When I asked about it, I was told that the Exp meant 1/2011! If I didn't use by then, I must have lost it! :D:mad:

The gift cards do not have an expiration date. They have a date on the back and after that date the card will become inactive, but all you have to do is call and have Marriott reactivate it. You won't ever lose the money on the card.

On my cards the expiration date is quite a ways out, so I doubt I'll even have to call and reactivate any of them.

I'm trying to find out how much, if any, surcharge is added on to the FX rate when these cards are used outside the US.

Discussion is here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=812450

Marriott Gift Cards are Risky to Use
 

Just a heads up to everyone.

Recently I almost lost hundreds of dollars because a hotel employee incorrectly processed my Marriott Gift Card (MGC). And this was far from the first time I experienced a problem at the Front Desk getting my bill paid with a MGC. At checkout, the Marriott employee took an extraordinarily long time to process it and got defensive when I politely mentioned that if it was a problem figuring out how to use it, don't worry about it because I needed to get going to get to the airport for my flight. But finally she said it was all taken care of and the card had been used up. By that time I just took a quick glance at the bill (she kept the card to throw away), seemed ok and dashed off to the airport.

Only later when I looked at my credit card account online did I realize that my Credit card had been charged for the full amount and the gift card had not been used at all!

I subsequently found that:
1. The MGC telephone instructions to report to them if a MGC is lost or stolen apparently is just for show (I'm referring to the message you get when you call them, the back of the card does indeed say it is not replaceable). They will do nothing to try to invalidate a lost or stolen card and enable the owner to get a replacement. They were very emphatic about this. No waiting a year to see if it is used before it expires, no blocking of its use by another party, no nothing.
2. It only is through rather an extraordinary level of service offered by the hotel's management that lost value can be recovered, because there is no way to prove what the value of your card was or even that you presented it at checkout. It ultimately came down to the hotel being willing to make up for what happened, even though there was no physical evidence of what had happened.
3. All of this means it is much riskier to use a MGC than a credit card (for which the consequences of it being lost or stolen are generally much, much less severe).

Given the multiple incidences of Marriott employees having a great deal of trouble processing a gift card in my experience, and the significantly greater risk of using MGC versus a credit card, I won't be using them in the future if I have a choice. Hopefully, at some point, Marriott will fix these issues which make the use of MGCs so not worth it for me. I would refer Marriott to a model where some subway cards are fully replaceable if lost as long as you register the card number online when you purchase it. Surely Marriott could do something like this with their gift cards.

Doesnt the gift card line on the bill show something like visa card and the last few numbers of the actual gift card? Maybe that is what to look out for? I used one recently and had a visa card payment for the amount of the GC and a amex payment for the balance.

Definitely a good idea to look and the front desk clerk kept my GC after the transaction...is it possible to keep it?

I've had somewhat similar experiences quite a few times. Front-desk staff have trouble switching one VISA card for another -- and the gift cards appear just like VISA cards. I always look carefully at the bill to be absolutely sure that the correct card was charged -- and many times it hasn't! And I keep the card, even after the balance has been reduced to zero.

I also had one occasion a year or so ago where the wrong card was charged. I was able to fix it after the fact, but only because the hotel cooperated.

Bruce

You should never throw the GC away before you have confirmed that the balance is actually zero. Also if there are any credits coming from your previous bills that you have settled using the GC the credits will go there too.

It is a no brainer that using a GC is riskier than using a MC/Visa/Amex. You loose your dispute rights that come when paying using a CC.

I feel that this comes down to poor employee training as I had to process gift cards once for a masterbilled group booking and everything went through just fine. Unfortunately, due to discrepancies in training, I would say to present the gift card at check-in and have you account credited for the amount of the gift card in addition to receiving a receipt for the amount of the credit. Keep this receipt for the duration of your stay and present it at checkout if need be. I don't think Marriott Int. Cor. can be blamed so much for this as the "hands-on" training provided by the individual properties themselves.

I have used Marriott GCs in several locations: London, Cancun, Amsterdam, Paris.. Each time, they had to go into the back office to ask how to use it. While it might show up as having been used like a Visa on the bill, the London hotel told me they have to process it in their system like an Amex.
Regardless, training on this is very poor at all the hotels. Either get rid of the Gift Cards or train the employees right.
With laws in many states regarding Gift Cards, I am so surprised at Marriott's seemingly bad customer service regarding refunds/lost/stolen cards especially since they allow you to buy a card with a value up to $9999.

The idea that if you lose or misplace the gift card, or it is stolen, Marriott will flat out refuse to cancel and replace the card is below what you expect of Marriott, or any other reputable company. I can understand why Marriott might want the risk of loss on the customer, but how much effort would be required to cancel the missing card and replace it (even for some minimal fee)? Of course, if the missing card is never used, Marriott stands to pocket the value (unless the holder reports the card to the state escheat office or the like).

Always Keep the empty cards for two weeks and then double check the balance before tossing the card. A charge can be authorized on the card and not settled. If this is the case the card may show a zero balance, but when the authorization expires, the amount authorized will show on the balance of the card again.

I've had the card processed incorrectly a handful of times and I just hold the card for two weeks. If unsure, call the gift card phone number and a CSR can identify what charges may still have an authorization hold, but have not yet settled.

A related note: When checking into a hotel, if you use the gift card, this will automatically authorized the gift card for the amount of the stay plus incidentals. It may take a few days to settle the final bill to the card, so if you checkout early or have few incidentals, the card balance may be incorrect for a while.